$13,000 RE Cares Grant awarded to CDV

Corazon de Vida has been awarded $13,000 from an RE Cares grant. This money will be used in the 2009/2010 school year for tuition, uniforms and transportation for a total of 100 students from Hacienda, LaRoca and Casa de Paz. Elsevier RE Cares is proud to be a corporate sponsor for Corazon de Vida.

San Diego RE CaREs Receives Award

Corazon de Vida's 2007 Child Sponsorship Dinner was held this past weekend. It was a wonderful fund raising event at the Mission San Juan Capistrano. San Diego RE CaREs received the Community Partnership Recognition Award for Project Hacienda. I was so proud to represent such a wonderful group of heart felt volunteers and donators here at Elsevier, Harcourt and EPS.

CDV and SD CaREs thanks you for all of your efforts of putting a little more hope in the lives of the Hacienda children!

Rena Cuadras, San Diego Re CaREs Chair and Champion

Back Pack and Kindergarten Tuition Drive

We kicked off the backpack drive and the collection was over whelming. All San DiegoReCaREs divisions donated. Harcourt collected $550 with a cleaver idea. Employees placed $20 towards a backpack and placed it on a wonderful art display done by Jen Jackman.

$330 was used towards the backpacks and $220 was donated and matched to $500 and provided five tuitions for the kindergarteners. All together we collected over 75 backpacks and enough for the 11 kindergarten tuitions.

Special thanks to Cassondra Hudson at Sears Essentials in Mission Valley. (She Rocks!) Our goals were met and more, by the generosity once again from San Diego RE CaREs employees!

Update on Camp Collegio

Camp Collegio was put in place this summer and has been a success. A teacher was hired to teach computer classes and has enabled Roy and Elena to win a school contest using their computer skills. Reading and studying in their new/clean room is more enjoyable. The Secondaria and Prepa sudents are expected to have internet access soon to do their homework. Also as a treat, manners classes were given and upon their completion included a dinner at a restaurant. This was well received by the students, as they sat down like gentlemen and ladies and had a wonderful time together.

Our future plans include enhancing the Library at Camp Collegio!

ReCaREs Second Trip to Hacienda

We rounded up again for a second ReCaREs trip to Project Hacienda. 23 RE employees and some family members attended.

On this trip we spent more time interacting with the children. We had a great chilli dog lunch and did some art projects. And as always they love taking pictures. Allison brought down a p0loroid camera and LOTS of film so that each child would have their own picture to keep. A great time was had by all and looking forward to more trips in the future. See more pictures.

Thank you to all who volunteered!

Registration Now Open for August 23 Trip to Hacienda!

We're very excited to announce that registration for the next RE-employee trip to the Hacienda orphanage with Corazon de Vida--which will take place on Thursday, August 23--is now open! To register for the trip, please visit:

https://www.sporg.com/registration?link_type=reg_info&form_id=253FD15879

(Please note that registrants need to check the $0.00 trip fee box in order for the system to process.)

As on the last trip, family and friends are welcome to come along.

And, of course, please be sure to get your manager's approval to participate. Since this trip takes place on a regular business day, RE employees can use one of their "Two Days Off" to attend this unique and rewarding event. (Please check with your local HR rep or RE Cares Champion if you're unsure of the procedure for requesting "Two Days" time off.)

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Rena Cuadras at r.cuadras@elsevier.com.

Anyone interested in going to Hacienda this Saturday?

Anyone interested in going to Hacienda this Saturday? Apogee Electronics thought they would have more people but we still have about 10 seats open. Link is here if anyone is interested in joining us. A very fun group....Ford Models and Apogee employees (Apogee and a couple of other donors just bought Hacienda a van!). San Diego Pickup would be East Mission Bay/Claremont around 8:15am.
https://www.sporg.com/registration?link_type=reg_info&form_id=ED70DD0EA4

Updates from Hacienda

Many good things are happening at the Hacienda de la Inmaculada:

New 15 Passenger Van:

A 2004 15-passenger van was donated on July 8 to the Hacienda. They will keep their existing van to transport supplies and use the new van for children only. This van has AC, CD player, seat belts and new tires. The orphanage name and verse will be painted on the sides.

Teacher Assistants:

High School students Ana Cristina and Patricia are doing classes M-F from 7:30 AM to 12 noon. The first thing they do is help brush the teeth of each child after breakfast and get them into the habit of keeping good dental health. They do one-on-one training for 1 hour on a few students that are behind in their studies and teach a group of kinder and grades 1-4 on math, writing, reading and other basics. The feedback from Madre, the teachers and students is 100% positive.

Primary School Graduation:

On Monday July 9, three students graduated from primary school - Carlos Eduardo, Maria and Irazema. They participated in the ceremonies and received their diplomas. A total of 6 students will be going to secondary school in late August.


Long Term Help:

A team of 4 Mennonites arrived this week to help. They will scrub floors, clean toilets, do laundry, change diapers, wash dishes and much more. They will stay for at least four weeks. In mid August, 2 missionaries are arriving for the long term to help with child support, administration and over all day in/day out orphanage care.

George Perez
Corazon de Vida Foundation

Camp Colegio Update from Hacienda

I was at the Hacienda today for a brief visit.

4 ceiling fans were installed upstairs and 1 installed in the library. Today was a very warm day and it circulated the air nicely. The RE Cares grant is already benefiting the Hacienda children!

The nursery will be moved to where the uniforms are currently as there is more space. A fan will be installed there as well. Attached is a photo of Cristina and Patricia. They will start Monday to help the pre-school and kinder kids.

I will keep you updated.

Thank you very much ...

George Perez
Corazon de Vida Foundation

RE Cares Awards Grant to CDV for Project Hacienda

Twice annually, charities around the globe have the opportunity to submit grant proposals to Reed Elsevier for support of activities that further the RE Cares mission of education for disadvantaged youth. Often, local RE offices or employees act as the sponsors for the applications. This spring, we submitted an application for funding on behalf of Corazon de Vida, asking RE for $17,500 USD, the remainder of our budget for Camp Colegio (the full budget is $25,000 USD).

Amazingly, the RE Cares Champions from around the globe agreed to fund our application in full! This is such awesome news, and means that so much more is possible for the project, and for the kids of Hacienda. Thank you to everyone who has supported this project, particularly our colleagues from other offices. Your support has literally made all the difference!!

Trip to Hacienda and the Launch of Camp Colegio an Enormous Success!

On Thursday, June 14 39 RE employees, 9 of their family members, and four representatives from Corazon de Vida visited Hacienda. The employees, both home-based and those from RE offices in Los Angeles and San Diego, came from all divisions of the company.

They brought with them an impressive array of donations, which were put to use interacting with the children and transforming the classroom for the summer's activities.

Before....

And After!

From all accounts, it was a rewarding and fun day for everyone present...

Until Next Time!

Office Depot Matches Donation Order

When Helena Clarin (Assistant to Sal Gelardi, Sr. VP of Global Bk. Sales & Mktg.) went to place our order for Camp Colegio in the days before our recent trip, she was inspired to try to take it to the next level. Said Helena, "I got excited ordering for them. I want to see those nice shiny red dodge balls going to the kids!" Helena got in touch with her contact at Office Depot, Helen Mazzo, and asked if they might be willing to match our order--and they generously agreed! As you can see, the jump ropes, basketballs, soccer balls, children's scissors, craft supplies and all the other goodies were enjoyed immensely by the orphans and volunteers alike! And the doubled order means twice as much fun for these kids (and lots less fighting over things!).
For many of them, this was the children's first chance to jump rope or shoot hoops.

Huge thanks are in order to...

Sal Gelardi, for generously giving us the chance to go on an Office Depot spending spree for Camp Colegio!

His amazing assistant, Helena Clarin, for going above and beyond in her support of this project!

And most of all to Office Depot, particularly Helen Mazzo and her colleagues, for your inspiring, unquestioning act of goodwill. There is absolutely no doubt that all of the donated supplies will significantly improve these children's lives!

Spanish Children's Books Arrive From NYC Colleagues

Ximena Diego, Children's Book Review Editor at CRITICAS Magazine, has kindly sent picture books, nonfiction titles and beginning-readers series books for the children at Hacienda. These books will greatly support our 'Camp Colegio' project at the orphanage this summer.
CRITICAS Magazine, An English Speaker's Guide to the Latest Spanish Language Titles, is a Reed Business Information (RBI) publication located in New York City. We'd like to thank our collegues for their generous gift and for supporting our project!

Operations Exec to Donate Ceiling Fans

Kirsten Chrisman, Vice President/Director of Editorial Production, has generously donated two ceiling fans to Project Hacienda. These will be essential to the success of our summer camp program, Camp Colegio.

Camp Colegio will provide the children with a unique opportunity to strengthen their reading, computer and English-language skills, which will only improve their progress once school resumes in the fall. Components of the project will include tutoring, field trips, two visits from RE employees, ESL and computer instruction, an RE-employee pen-pal program and a summer-long Read-a-Thon. The project will launch with a RE-employee-only bus trip visit to the Hacienda orphanage on June 14, 2007. Employees will get to know the kids and also prepare the schoolroom for summer use.

The improvements to the classroom will include the installation of the donated ceiling fans, which are greatly needed since the space becomes unbearably hot during the summer months. Kirsten's donation not only addresses a pressing need, but also frees up the funds that would have been used to purchase them new.

San Diego Facilities Department to Donate Kitchen Supplies

The San Diego Facilities department is continually leading by example in the San Diego RE office. When they learn of a need in our community, usually through the efforts of the local Cares committee, they always step up to the plate and find a way to help. For Project Hacienda, they decided to pool their money and purchase desperately needed, restaurant-size kitchen supplies. This weekend, George Perez of Corazon de Vida will meet with the cooks in Hacienda's kitchen to ask them what would most help them continue to make three meals a day for a home of a hundred people.

Led by Julie Stone, Associate Director of Office Services, the Facilities team includes Frank Torres, Leslie Cress, Christina Villegas, Brenda Armenta, Patrick Bowes and Ryan Friel-Neal. They are a great example of a caring group of individuals that chose to work together to make a big difference to the lives of those that call Hacienda home. Yet, if you ask them, they'll most likely tell you it was really easy to do a lot!