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Saturday, August 23, 2014

Our You Tube Videos....

Just before we left Canada we visited a number of service clubs hoping one or more of them would help us in some way.  In preparation for this Shelley and I made a video that explained our work and our goals...  Obviously we didn't do a very good job, as NONE of the service clubs we presented to thought our work was worthwhile enough to support.  Oh well, we will keep doing what we do, with our without service clubs...

In the last month our churches have been busy collecting stuff that we hope to receive in Florida sometime in October.  We will take the first load to Cuba and hope to receive the second load in Cozumel Mexico at Christmas...

By the way, here are the links to our two videos.  Essentially they are the same, only one is much shorter and contains much less personal stuff.

The Long One (12 minutes):

The Short One (4 minutes):



Feel free to share either of these to whoever you like...

|Cheers,
Kyle & Shelley

Saturday, July 12, 2014

We Found Some GREAT Stuff...

Shelley and I are on our way through New York. At the moment we are in a little town called Waterford NY. Today we went for a bike ride and found a Dollar Sore going out of business.... They had 44 children's paint sets and 30 hand fishing reels... we bought them ALL for $50! After we got to the boat we shrunk wrapped them and found a home for them until we get to Cuba... Here are some pictures:

Thursday, July 3, 2014

We Are On Our Way!

As planned, we departed from Hamilton, Ontario at about 8am on July 1st 2014.  After 9 years of planning and about 4 years of actual preparation, we have begun what we hope is a journey of a lifetime...

We are making our way down the eastern seaboard of the United States over the next 4 months.  The main reason we are taking so long is that we are going to do our best to avoid hurricanes and rest up before getting busy with our new ministry.

Right to Write is a culmination of many hundreds of hours of effort by many people.  Thank you so much to the team at my church for committing to support us as we get going.  We are planning a major effort to gather supplies in July and August while the back to school sales are on.

Just before we go from Florida to Cuba we hope to receive a skid full of school supplies that we will be able to distribute in Cuba in November...  Our plan is to park the boat in Varadero and distribute the goods with the help of aa local driver who we hope to find when we get there.

In early December we plan to go from Cuba to Mexico and spend Christmas with some of our family and friends....  In the new year we will work our way south from Cozumel, Mexico through the western Caribbean toward Panama next spring.

Please follow along as we journey to schools all over the world....

Blessings,
Kyle & Shelley

Sunday, June 29, 2014

We are READY!

Today was our last day at church... We are so appreciative of everyone's generosity and kindness...  On Tuesday we will be leaving Canada and heading down the eastern seaboard of the USA...  We hope to be in Cuba in early November....


Yesterday my brother-in-law installed our Logo on to our boat.... We will wear our "Right to Write" logo proudly as we travel around God's beautiful earth....

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

May Update.....

Early Sunday morning I went to work and discovered two BIG CONTAINERS OF SCHOOL SUPPLIES!! Our friend Mark held a mini health fair with the proceeds going to our Right To Write ministry.... It was wonderful!



What an awesome day! 



We have loaded the boat with about 500lbs of supplies and there must be another 1500lbs in storage at Speedside Church...  We have raised more than half the money we hope we will need and we have 9 churches on board, collecting for us!  We are VERY PLEASED with the support we have received so far and hope to be giving supplies away by early November....  We leave on July 1st, but hope to spend the first few months dodging hurricanes and relaxing along the eastern seaboard of the USA.  As soon as we are comfortable that hurricane season has ended (somewhere around November 1st) we will make our way to Cuba.  There is a new marina in Varadero so we will likely park the boat there and use land transportation to distribute supplies during the month of November....  In early December we will head to Mexico where we will give whatever we have left to children there.  At Christmas, some of our family and friends will be seeing us and we have asked each of them to bring an extra suitcase full of school supplies with them so we can get re-stocked for our trip through Central America to Panama in time for the next Hurricane season in 2015....

Friday, April 25, 2014

2 More Churches on Board....

Last week I attended a Board meeting for the Rockwood/Stone Pastoral Charge...  After a short presentation they were kind enough to agree to each take a donation bin!  Thank you to the kind people at the Rockwood/Stone PC!

Blessings,
Kyle

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Amazing Ladies....



Today our ministry was blessed with the work of 14 amazing woman from Speedside United Church, who in less than one day made 378 hand made PENCILCASES!!! 


I arrived to find these ladies organized into a fast paced production line that was turning out 50+ pencil cases per hour! As is par for the course I timed my arrival just in time for a delicious lunch also made by some of the women...

This whole day was organized and co-ordinated by Mrs. Edna Harper, who not only oversaw the production today, but has created a few hundred more of these cases all on her own...  What an amazing person... what amazing people...

The children who will receive school supplies from us will now be getting a beautiful, hand made, draw string case to store them in.  Every single yard of fabric and notion needed to make them was generously donated by people in the congregation...

All I can say from the bottom of my heart is THANK YOU!!!!

Here are a few pictures of the production team in action:
The measuring, folding and ironing crew....
The Sewing Crew






The tricky bit.... Threading the string....

Our Intrepid Leader! 
We NEVER go without lunch!
3 working Stations
Isobelle & Eleanor Cleaning up Lunch...

The Finished Product!
24 Pencil Cases Neatly Sealed for Shipment