| | |  Vallarta Living | September 2008 
Children of the Dump Summer Newsletter
 Arthur Fumerton - PVNN
Summer news from the School of Champions, an after-school program operated by the Children of the Dump, a non-profit organization helping the children living around the Puerto Vallarta dump get an education so they can have an opportunity for a better job and a better life.
Summer Camp a Huge Success
This summer from July 18 through August 8th the School of Champions hosted a summer camp for over 100 of the children who live around the Puerto Vallarta dump. Every Monday through Friday, the camp started at 10 am with breakfast and ended at 2 pm with lunch.
Between meals, activities included arts and crafts, computer classes, dancing, indoor games and soccer. After camp 20 kids enjoyed swimming every afternoon from 3 pm to 6 pm in a local private swimming club.
Each week there were day trips to Cafe Roma for pizza and to Vallarta Adventures for a "Swim with the Dolphins." Mr. Farkas, owner of Vallarta Adventures, generously offered a free swim with the dolphins to the 120 children who attended the School of Champions Camp.
The camp ended with a huge party at the Sheraton Buganvilias, who donated the Grand Salón and staff for the party. Cheeseburgers, ice cream, cake and clowns were enjoyed by all 110 kids who attended the party.
We would like to thank the following donors to our camp program, without whose help the program would have been impossible:
• Vallarta Adventures
• Cafe Roma
• Sheraton Buganvilias
• El Arrayan Restaurant
• Treehouse Bar & Grill
• Coca-Cola Company
• SENSARA
• EMCO
• Kim Hall and Peggy Tremayne & family
School of Champions Starts September 17
The new school year begins on September 17 at the School of Champions. We expect to have over 300 children show up during the first few days to enroll in the two sessions, 10 am to 12 noon, and 4 pm to 6 pm.
At the same time we start our school feeding program for about 1,800 children in 8 primary and kínder schools. Our "hot meals" program and the day care centers continued operating throughout the summer. By the end of September we will be feeding about 2,300 meals each school day.
These programs require a constant inflow of donations to support daily operations. We had hoped that the State of Jalisco’s new VIVE program would grant us funding this year to sustain our operations through the end of the year, but they informed us that the funding would be delayed until sometime next year.
We need help to be able to continue our programs. We need school supplies, specifically notebooks and back packs, as well as cash donations to support daily operations. With the economic situation in the US and Canada our normal funding has significantly decreased during the past months, and we are asking for special consideration from our supporters and contributors to help us the remainder of this year.
To help us please send your donations to:
In the US: Children of the Dump
227 E. Carol Way
Phoenix, AZ 85022-3054
In Mexico: Desayunos Para los Niños de Vallarta A.C.
P.O. Box 125
Puerto Vallarta Jal., Mexico 48300
For more information, send an email to arthurefumerton(at)yahoo.com, or call 011-52-322-293-4984.
 The Children of the Dump was founded in 1998, originally as Feed the Children Vallarta. Through private donations, the program feeds more than 2,300 children daily, operates nine day care centers and an after-school program for grades 3 through 6; teaching them English, math and computers. The goal of the Children of the Dump is to ensure education through grade nine and to educate the children of Puerto Vallarta in the skills necessary to rise above poverty. To learn more about Children of the Dump's programs, click HERE or visit ChildrenOfTheDump.org. |
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