The kids ate the cuisine

Mrs. Melone's third grade, are the one class who has followed me with this journey like no other. So, I had promised them an Ethiopian Feast and I followed through this past week. I went up to Edgewater to pick up Injera and then I made Yemiser Wat(spicy red lentils) and Aklit(potato/carrot/onion stew). Boy these kids were adventurous. Many of them reported that the spices tasted like their grandma's from Mexico. Many of the kids love the injera!!! And as you can see in the picture, Alan gives it a big thumbs up!!!

Ethiopian Party

This classroom threw me a going away to Ethiopia Party!!! They made signs, wished me well and even learned a little Amharic. Very fun, thanks Ms. Durkin, Ms. Pusek and room 202!!! I'll bring you back lots of photos.

small fun donations

Here are some of the donations I am bringing for the kids at AHOPE as well as kids on the streets. When I was in Mexico, I had a hard time saying no to kids who begged but I found if I had something fun for them, they seemed to be as happy as if I had given them money.

The big bag of watches is for the kids at BIG AHOPE, there should be enough for everyone. Thanks to Silvia, my mom, Meyer Family, Julie, Cheryl, Kristen and to Kelly and Bill for buying all the rest!!!!!

I'm in the Newspaper

Guess what, I got interviewed for the local paper and they published a story about my trip and the projects the kids at school did for Ethiopia Reads!!! Here is the link, I'm still trying to find a hard copy(we thought it wasn't coming out until next Friday).

Thanks to Jen Fortney for sending out all the publicity stuff!!!!

Oh and guess what, the way I found out it had been published, because I got an email from author, Jane Kurtz, who helped found Ethiopia Reads!!!! How crazy is that??

JEANS DAY!!!

I have an awesome school and to make them even more awesome, they did a jeans day fundraiser for AHOPE. Each student who brought in a dollar could wear jeans. The money will go to fund a field trip for the children at AHOPE. The kids were really cute about the whole thing, one little girl didn't even wear jeans but brought a dollar to help out anyway. That rocks!!!!!

We raised $478!!!!! Can you believe it??

More thank you's

A big thank you to Julie Mensik for organizing a donation drive at her boyfriend's bar. While the turnout was small, I still certainly appreciated the support and donations from Julie, Chris, Liz, Stephanie and Silvia!!!!

Thanks for all the watches Silvia!

Thank you to my babysitting kids, Sydney and Isabelle and their parents Bill and Maureen for your kind donation and all the cool watches!!

Thank you to all my friends at school who have continued to donate $$ especially Pat Barlow, Louise Puzek, Olga Vazquez and the Specials Teachers.

Gloves!!!

An old, dear friend of mine who is a nurse at RUSH donated many, many, many pairs of sterile surgical gloves which is something needed by AHOPE. It is on the donations list and Marianne said it was definitely something the nurses there wanted. I am stuffing as many as can fit into my suitcase and then shipping the rest to Vanessa at Flights for Change. This is an awesome organization of Continental flight attendants who take supplies to AHOPE several times a year.

THANKS MARGARET!!!!