It is The Season for Sharing

Most of you know that I have a soft spot for Guatamala thanks to my friend Kelly who opened up my eyes to the poverty that so many children live in down there.  Kelly's beautiful daughter Caylie is from Gutamala (you can see this beauty at her blog. http://www.waitingforcaylie.blogspot.com/ & we also sponsor a child in Gutamala so she can attend school. We do this through a Non Profit Agency called Mayan Families and for the past couple of years they started a program called Holiday Tamale Baskets. This is just one program they do among many for the needy children and families in Gutamala.
For $35 you can give a Christmas Tamale Basket and feed a family of 12 or more. The Christmas basket is made of plastic and will be used afterwards by the family to stack and wash dishes, hold food etc. The food items will include: Oil, 15 lbs of Rice to make the tamales, a block of drinking chocolate (this is traditional to drink at midnight), a loaf of bread with which they eat the tamales at midnight, raisins for the tamales, grapes, apples, sugar for the Tamales, 5lbs of meat, tomatoes, one pound of coffee and leaves to wrap the tamales.

Can you believe that $35 can feed a family of 12 or more? Rob & I can't even go out to dinner without spending that much for two of us.
Do we all struggle to survive these days, YES we do, and yes money is tight for most people right now, yes it sure is for us, but what we've had to give up is our extravagances, we are so privlidged to live in this country that we take for granted so much. We feel angry this Holiday season because we can't give our kids a $100 video game this year or a $80 pair of shoes, Wow, what is that about. We are guilty of it. We don't want to buy shoes from Walmart because someone might know they are not from Macys or a designer name. Really!! does having all the stuff really improve the quality of our lives.
I think if I can spend $35 to feed a family of 12 then I will feel even better than I would if I was walking around with Gucci shoes on. I can certainly live simply so others can simply live. $35 is a pedicure. I will paint my own toes so I can give a need family a Healthy Christmas Meal.

To make a contribution for the Christmas Tamale baskets please go to the website

http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateOnline
and go the General Donation section to send a donation. If you would like to nominate a special family or a sponsored student to receive your basket please send us their name or student number by e-mail to Sharon@mayanfamilies.org
If you would like to pay by check please send your donation made out to Mayan Families to:
Mayan Families
P.O. Box 52
Claremont, N.C. 28610

If you would like to give this gift in Honor of someone special, please send us an email at dwight@mayanfamilies.org  giving us the details and we will put them on our IN HONOR OF web page.....if you would like to include a photo of your "someone special" we will also post their photo.......to have an e-mail sent to the person you are honoring - please send us their email address.

Thank you for your support.
Best wishes,
Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES
Tel: 619-550-2608
http://www.mayanfamilies.org/

This is the season for giving. We also donate to local charities for the needy children in this country as well. I am fortunate enough to work for a company that affords us the opportunities to give back to our community. Today we all wore jeans for $5 each, that collects a lot of money for our local community charities. And we are currently collecting food for our local food bank and between now and the end of the year we'll have many fund raisers and opportunities to help the children in our own comminuties as well. My favorite local charity is Kids In Distress, http://www.kidsindistress.org/ they do so much for the needy children in our comminuty.
So I challenge you this year, give back. Instead of going crazy buying expensive gifts for everyone on your Christmas list dontate in thier honor. The reward you get back is priceless.

Wishing Everyone a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season!!