Dear Friends,
In February 2009, Theresa O’Connor went to El Salvador with GATE, a non-profit humanitarian
organization that provides immersion experiences for folks from the
U.S. and Canada to Latin America. GATE also collects & distributes
monies for the support of water projects, social justice reform,
scholarships and youth education programs.
The work she is involved in with GATE is a
project named “Cherie’s Kids”, a youth leadership formation program.
The purpose of “Cherie’s Kids” is to raise money that will be used to
sponsor workshops and follow up groups for at risk teens living in
poverty in El Salvador. The weekend workshops will teach them
leadership, self empowerment and life skills. The teens then go back
into their villages to form and facilitate groups with pre-teens
(8-14), to teach and embody what they have learned. It provides them
with the tools to develop spiritual and social values that enable the
youth to be of service in their communities and become mentors and
agents of positive change within their social structure. Without these
leadership training experiences and support for the building of healthy
peer groups, the youth have a greater risk of falling into addiction,
gangs and living on the streets without hope for a better life or
future.
Theresa and Carlos Garcia co-founded “Cherie’s
Kids” in 2008 in honor of Theresa’s good friend Cherie Pierson-Smith.
Before her untimely passing in 2007 (due to illness), Cherie expressed
her great love for children in the way she was able to transform the
hearts, spirits and lives of many young people. The program was
launched in 2008 and four weekends were held with a total 125 teens
attending and following up with next steps.
Part of Theresa’s experience in El
Salvador this February was to record footage of the youth leadership
program and to do interviews with the teens, in order to make a
documentary. This will then be taken into schools and churches as part
of a presentation here in the US. In this way we will be able to link
the children and adults here with our sisters and brothers in El
Salvador.
We invite you to contribute to this life changing
leadership work by making a tax deductable donation. Your donation is
100% applied to the youth program through GATE. It costs $40 per teen
to attend a weekend and $1600 for each weekend program of about 45
teens. You may consider sponsoring a whole weekend, which is a powerful
way to honor the important, life changing people in our lives, whether
they are still living or have passed on. Information about those being
honored can be forwarded to Carlos to share with the youth, giving them
yet another example of how one person’s life can positively affect and
support the lives of many others.
To
make a tax deductable donation via paypal, click on the link below, or
write check payable to GATE, on memo line write Cherie’s Kids. Mail
to: GATE Charitable Giving, 912 Market Street: La Crosse, WI 54601
We thank you and appreciate your loving support
of the work we are doing. With each life that is changed, we are that
much closer to improving and uniting our global family.
With much joy, gratitude and love,
Theresa
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