El Primero Dia en Camino Seguro (Safe Passage)

Hola! Emily and Patty here.
Traveled into Guatemala City today for our first day at Safe Passage! Our first stop was at the municipal dump where the the families of the children work. The overlook of the dump is at the edge of a cemetary and the first sign of it were the vultures, which were perched EVERYWHERE-- on tombstones, trees, hovering over the landfill and resting on the sloping ground. The concrete of the cemetary ended abruptly and the ground fell away to heaping piles of trash. At first we did not realize that what looked like moving trash was actually more than a hundred people sifting through it. Starting our day at the dump was good because when we arrived at the Safe Passage facility we really took in how amazing that opportunity is. Settled between concrete buildings and fenced in slums, the facility is a little oasis, complete with a peace garden and giggling children running around each other. It was really cool to meet the girls that we will be working with because it made us all relax a lot and know that this project is going to be great. For a little artistic icebreaker we all drew what animal we felt like today. All of us Mainers drew animals wilting under a bright yellow sun or ones that love cool water, but most of the Guatemalan girls drew butterflies.
Everything is great so far and we are all so so so thankful that it you that helped bring us here.
Adios for now! (I wish I knew more Spanish)
Emily

Java Gala for Guatemala! Thank You!

The PenBay Art Club would like to extend a huge thank you to those who attended the Java Gala for Guatemala last Saturday evening at High Mountain Hall! This event was an incredible success and thanks to the constant support from the community, friends, family and local businesses, we have reached our fundraising goal of $12,000.

We would also like to extend our most heartfelt thanks to our families for their support and encouragement. Special thanks go out to Fiona Fischer, Caroline Webb, Elena Thomas and Sarah Haselton for greeting our guests with their lovely smiles and to Calvin Parent and Gage Lyon for providing us with their jazzy guitar sounds that set the stage for a wonderful evening. Many thanks to Lorraine Streat, Maureen Egan, Elfie Owen, Elinor Klivans and Swan's Way Catering for the yummy, yummy food and sweets. Last but not least, thank you to all of the many people and businesses who so generously donated everything from beautiful, original artwork and handmade soaps to knitted socks for our silent auction.

The next month will be a busy one for us. We will be gathering art supplies and planning the tile installation that we will be creating with young women our age who attend the programs at Safe Passage (safepassage.org) in Guatemala City. For those of you who are not familiar with the Safe Passage program, Safe Passage provides educational opportunities and integrated health and social development services for 535 children, ages 1 to 21, from about 300 families working in and around the Guatemala City garbage dump. In addition, the program meets regularly with parents, integrates parent volunteer work, and offers adult literacy classes for parents.

We will be in Guatemala from April 14 to April 25. You can keep in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/penbayartclubguate or follow us on our blog at penbayartclub.blogspot.com

To share our experience at Safe Passage with the community that made it all happen, we will host a talk and slide show later this spring. Keep your eyes open for further information on this inspirational event.

Thank you all so very much!

Emily Seymour
Julia Kosowsky
Mackenzie Gassett
Madeline Owen
Sarah Streat

WOW, THANK YOU!

Yesterday we passed our half-way mark--$6,000!! This is all thanks to our generous five-town community, and our friends, and family who have all supported us so much. But there is still the second half to go, so don't stop supporting! You'll see us on the weekends selling raffle tickets and crafts at The Bagel Cafe, and please come to our Java Gala for Guatemala, February 27 6-9pm at High Mountain Hall for live music from local talent, coffee and sweets from Swan's Way Catering, and silent auction items from local businesses and artists! You won't want to miss it!

Our Team

Sarah, Patty (chaperone), Madeline, Julia, Karen (chaperone), Mackenzie and Emily.

We are a third of the way to our $12,000 fundraising goal! We are continually amazed by all the generous support from the community! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our cause thus far, none of this would be possible without you.

Java Gala for Guatemala - Looking forward to seeing you there! Saturday, February 27 at High Mountain Hall in Camden, Maine from 6 pm - 9 pm. Save the Date!

“Connecting youth to the community through art.”

January 4, 2010

Dear Friends and Family:

We are a group of five high school students from Camden, Maine contacting you to ask for your support.

Two years ago we started an Art Club at Camden Hills Regional High School with the mission statement, “Connecting youth to the community through art.”

Last year we became aware of Safe Passage (www.safepasssage.org), a non-profit organization based in Yarmouth and working to help make the dream of education a reality for the children whose families live and work in the Guatemala City garbage dump.

We decided to collaborate with the local group “PenBay Friends of Safe Passage” to create the “PenBay Art Club”. We are working with the founder of PenBay Friends of Safe Passage, Karen Hansen, towards raising enough money to travel to Guatemala in April of 2010. We will be collaborating with girls our age who attend the Safe Passage program. Our project will be to jointly design and create a permanent mosaic installation for their main building.

One of our primary goals for this trip is to connect teens from our community to teens in the Safe Passage community through art. We also hope through our grass roots fundraising efforts to set an example and inspire more young people to organize service-learning trips, not only for Safe Passage but for many other such worthy causes.

Upon our return we will be sharing our experiences from this collaboration as a way of furthering our goal and thanking our supporters. We hope to build upon the vital connection between Maine and Safe Passage, initiated ten years ago by Hanley Denning, the visionary founder of the Safe Passage program and a Yarmouth native.

Any contribution to our cause will be greatly appreciated. Checks can be made payable to 'PenBay Friends of Safe Passage' and mailed to PenBay Art Club c/o PenBay Friends of Safe Passage at PO Box 153, Camden, Maine 04843.

Thank you so much for your gracious consideration of our request. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

PenBay Art Club

Madeline Owen

Emily Seymour

Sarah Streat

Mackenzie Gassett

Julia Kosowsky