A Busy Fall

It has been a really busy fall!  In Canada our support committee has collected a whole bunch of school supplies and sent most of them to Shelley and I here in Panama.  However, our commitment has always been to provide some support at home as well.  So this fall, Barb L. loaded her van and took 6 boxes and 5 backpacks for a back to school program at home in Guleph, Ontario.  Linda at the West Willow Neighbourhood group happily received our gift.

Barb & Linda

Backpacks ready to go!

Last year, 153 students from JK to Gr 12 were given backpacks filled with age-appropriate school supplies for back to school.The  supplies that we just donated were used to help fill  backpacks this fall.

Here in Panama, Shelley and I received 8 boxes of supplies from Canada last Saturday!  This week we will be distributing most of them to at least 5 native schools here in the Bocas del Torro region.

The container from the USA has arrived!

Finding our stuff...

Loading a Taxi

The supplies finally reach our boat!

 School supplies that are collected in the Guelph, Waterloo, Fergus regions are collected and stored at Speedside church.  Then our committee sorts and packages for shipment to Shelley and I....  They then go via a courier to Florida where they are loaded on to a container that takes approximately one month to arrive here in Panama.  From Panama City the container is trucked to a place called Almerante where it is loaded on to a ferry which takes it to Bocas del Torro...  From there Shelley and I take it by taxi to a water taxi, who takes it to our boat....  We store the stuff on our boat until we prepare to give it to schools in our area.  We take the supplies by dinghy or panga to the schools.  The bottom line is, every pencil and piece of paper we distribute goes a very LONG way and is helped along by MANY people.  Thank YOU!  Your gifts of money and supplies make all this possible...

 On Sunday we invited a couple of cruising kids to our boat to help us sort out the supplies for distribution to schools in this area.

In a few weeks Shelley and I will be heading to the San Blas Islands in the south east corner of Panama where we hope to deliver more stuff to more children...

This is an exciting time!  More pictures in the coming weeks!