Community Services

FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES
HELP FOR THE ANDES YEAR 2002

n January we initiated a tour of the south of Chile, including the cities of Concepción, Temuco, various districts of the Villarrica area & other nearby towns, with the object of meeting & entertaining people of all ages through lively shows performed by a program called “Despertando Sonrisas” (Awakening Smiles), by which we promoted values & showed them our love & joy. As an illustration, amongst other places, we visited the Casa de Acogida Padre Hurtado, run by the Hogar de Cristo Institution, which lodges a number of youngsters from high social risk segments between 12 & 18 years old; the Antunehuen Old Folks Home; and the Alsacia Daycare Center for orphans from 3 to 15 years old.

With the help of 8 monitors, psychologists, therapists, art, drama & music teachers, we undertook a program in the month of February in the District of Lo Barnechea, City of Santiago, with the purpose of providing assistance to 50 children of the slums of Las Lomas in the areas of education & moral values. This social program included recreation, art & culture, & also served the purpose of providing them with a vacation of sorts, since these children had never had any. The recreational activities enabled us to help them gain awareness of the differences between good & bad behavioral patterns
We provided all the children breakfast, lunch & snacks, & in the afternoons they were able to go to an amusement park.
Later on in the year, in a joint effort with the Red Cross from the District of Independencia, our Foundation was able to assist 30 children with Down Syndrome through workshops conducted by its volunteers & aimed not only at the children themselves, but also at their mothers. The workshops were conducted by psychologist Roxana Muñoz, Irene Vera de la Puente & speech therapist Rosa Luz Alba; short conferences & support seminars were also conducted in order to help the mothers heal from their emotional wounds. They were also attended by the members of “Despertando Sonrisas,” who provided entertainment, choreography & clown shows.
Within the context of our social assistance program, a series of Social Assistance Workshops were created & conducted during three months in Villa San Luis, District of Maipú. These workshops majored on the area of hairstyling, with the goal of providing women vocational training that would enable them to generate income for their families through their work. Since then we have been able to establish that the results of the workshops were very positive for the people who attended them.
It is worthy of mention to state that our Foundation has received a number of donations of frozen fish that were distributed to the District of Independencia Red Cross & the Down Syndrome Daycare Center run by it; the Santa Clara & Santa Verónica Homes; Missionary Communities; Niño y Patria Foundation, sponsored by Carabineros de Chile; the Association of HIV/AIDS Patients; members of Comedores Libres (Free Dining Halls) & many others.
Additionally, during the severe winter rainstorms & with the help of personnel from the Red Cross from the District of Independencia, we delivered food products of various kinds in the districts of Batuco, Maipú & even as far south as Temuco, while through the “Pasos Sureños” program, we collected clothes that were delivered to the Pueblo de Dios Church Therapeutic Community for distribution in Mapuche tribe areas suffering from extreme poverty.
In passing, we should also mention that our Foundation arranged the reconstruction of a multi-sports court belonging to the “Niño y Patria” Home run by Carabineros de Chile in the District of Ñuñoa. This court was out of commission due the heavy rains. We also obtained a sports scholarship for a youngster from the above-mentioned Home at the La Reina branch of the Universidad de Chile Sports Club.
In the area of “Humanitarian Aid” we made efforts towards securing a donation of containers from a Swedish foundation by the name of “Helping Hands”, which included medical equipment & supplies to be donated to a number of hospitals & healthcare centers that serve the poorer segments of society. Wheelchairs, eye clinic equipment, x-ray machines, lab equipment, scanners & other supplies were provided.
In the month of September we organized a three-day seminar at the Santiago Sheraton Hotel on the interesting subject of “Body & Soul Healing” with an attendance of nearly 30 people. The seminar was conducted by Dr. Jorge Veas, Universidad de Chile gynecologist & obstetrician, & majored on an analysis of the effects on volunteers of the loving interaction they provide in the course of visitation services at hospitals. Among these effects, the most noteworthy ones mentioned were the strength that is acquired by giving to others-that in turn enables us to love them more-& how we can learn to persevere in our efforts without letting ourselves be negatively affected by the sight of so much pain.
Our Foundation provided constant assistance at the Down Syndrome Rehabilitation Center, District of Independencia, with the help of Dr. Rosi Sanfilipo, Mr. Hainz Jurgan, speech therapist Rosa Luz Alba & teacher María Izquierdo. Some of the help provided included medical assistance, food, cleaning supplies, school supplies, and even an outing to the countryside, where we played games, conducted activities & had a picnic with the children & their mothers.
With the help of a large number of volunteers, we organized the delivery & free distribution of toys for almost 1,000 children from poor families. These toys were donated to our Foundation by the “Helping Hands Foundation” & were shipped in a container. Sorting out & delivering these items entailed a huge effort due to the enormous amount. Additionally, we arranged a donation of batteries for many of the toys, which was made by “Rayovac Chile”. The toys were distributed among the various centers that our Foundation helps on a regular basis, such as the Centro de Desarrollo Integral El Trampolín, in Villa San Luis; Boys Homes from the “Niño y Patria Institution”, sponsored by Carabineros; Down Syndrome children attended by the Red Cross from the District of Independencia; children from the District of San Bernardo, children from the Pediatric Surgery Ward of the Felix Bulnes Hospital; & children from Christian missionary families. A group of volunteers even made a trip to the north to deliver a donation of toys to a home for female victims of child abuse run by the “Laura Rodríguez Foundation”, in the town of Los Vilos.
Christmas celebrations were also held at several of the above-mentioned centers & were organized by the volunteers of the “Despertando Sonrisas” program. We had clown shows, children’s choirs & also the attendance of Mrs. Lara Clown, a Foundation volunteer who lives in Boston, U.S.A. She happened to be visiting Chile & decided to join the shows in order to spread happiness & smiles not just among the children, but also at old folks homes, such as “Mi Hogar” in the District of Recoleta, which is run by Hogar de Cristo.