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Recurring Donations With a Bonus!

3/15/2023

 
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In 2022, CAA partnered with Global Giving, a US-based charitable crowd-funding platform, to provide a safe, easy, and convenient way for CAA members and friends to donate online to support our philanthropic activities. In addition to providing a variety of support tools and programs to help smaller grassroots organizations like ours become more knowledgeable and effective in our fundraising efforts, Global Giving also provides several special incentive fundraising campaigns throughout the year (like last November’s Giving Tuesday) that we can participate in to help increase donor engagement.

One great program which Global Giving offers year round is the Recurring Monthly Match Program. When someone commits to a recurring monthly donation of $10 or more to a project, after the fourth consecutive donation, Global Giving will provide CAA with an extra bonus donation equivalent to donor’s monthly donation amount.  For example, if you make a monthly recurring donation of $25 for four consecutive months, in the fifth month Global Giving will provide CAA with an additional bonus donation of $25.

CAA has a number of members and friends who are currently participating in this program by making a recurring monthly donation to one or two of our projects or, in certain cases, to all three of them! Needless to say, we are extremely grateful for their commitment and believe the program provides significant benefits to both the donor and CAA. The benefit to a donor is that once they determine an amount that fits within their budget, they can “set it and forget it” and know that their efforts will be amplified by Global Giving. The benefit to CAA, is, of course, the obvious one of the donors’ contributions plus the Global Giving financial boost. Of equal importance, however, is the fact that recurring monthly donations provide CAA with a level of predictability to our ability to support our projects and make commitments on an ongoing basis to our local recipient organizations.
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If you would like to participate in this program by making a recurring monthly donation to any or all of our projects, you can do so below.  We thank you for your generosity and support!
Feeding Hungry Families   www.globalgiving.org/56450
Brighten the Lives of Children www.globalgiving.org/57142
Give the Gift of Education  www.globalgiving.org/18714

Sofia*

3/10/2023

 
This year, the Education Committee asked our scholarship students to fill out a questionnaire detailing their future goals, likes, and possible obstacles. This furthers our initiative to focus more on planning forward, earlier in the Colegio experience, to help students begin to identify goals and careers; and to help students begin to think of the academic achievements and vocational courses necessary to achieve those goals. This information also informs and drives the new tutoring initiative we are piloting for our students in 2023.

Below is an installment in a series that showcases the hopes, dreams, and interests of individual students in our CAA Scholarship (beca) program.

*The names have been changed to protect the identities of the students.
I joined Sofia and her brother Jaime* while we were helping prepare materials for our February beca award meeting. I came specifically to get to know some of the students that CAA Education Committee members have been following for years through attending their award ceremonies. Sofia’s brother introduced himself and reminded me that he had been a beca student and had graduated three years ago. What a thrill to see this evidence of the ripple effect of the Education Committee’s work in one family! His English was excellent and he is currently a student at Technologico de Costa Rica in Cartago. Both he and Sofia, chatting in rapid English, spoke of the motivation of their siblings, all of whom are pursuing advanced education. This is in a family where the father is unable to work due to cancer and other family members pick coffee.
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This school term, Sofia was one of only 35 colegio students taking the exam to be admitted to Colegio Cientifico, located within the campus of UCR San Ramón. As the name says, Colegio Cientifico emphasizes the sciences and shares labs and resources with the university. Sofia’s favorite subjects are chemistry and biology and she hopes to study microbiology and possibly cardiology after graduation from colegio. When asked how she knew about the opportunity to test for Colegio Cientifico, her brother said he encouraged her to apply and provided the contact information for Sofia to follow up.

On her questionnaire, Sofia told us that distance and finances are the barriers that could impact her education. She credits CAA for helping with finances. Later, I caught up with her at a meeting about tutoring opportunities and Sofia told me that her acceptance by the colegio includes an apartment in San Ramón for her, solving the distance issue. I wondered how I would have felt as a high school junior, living away from my family and enrolled in a competitive high school. However, Sofia’s recent letter answers my concerns since she uses words such as “esfuerza” (effort) and “superacion” (overcoming), which demonstrates her outlook. Sofia lists her activities as swimming, basketball, drawing and poetry. I found her to have an engaging and infectious personality, not just for her outstanding academic record, but for her obvious enjoyment of her favorite movies and music. Getting to know her a bit has been its own reward.
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~Andrea Carter, CAA Education Committee

Blankets for Babies Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary!

3/1/2023

 
Each month for the past five years, Blankets for Babies has supplied 20 newborn packets stuffed with handmade necessities and more to the moms of underprivileged babies born in the San Ramón Hospital!
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That means, not counting the recent addition of onesies, lined rubber pants, and baby carrier slings, the Blankets for Babies group has made and delivered:
  • 1200 mats (360 yards of plastic sheeting)
  • 1200 blankets (600 yards of flannel)
  • 1200 toys (dogs, bears, monkeys, elephants, rattles, et cetera)
  • 1080 crocheted hats over 4.5 years
  • 480 masks for moms during Covid-19
  • And SIX THOUSAND burpies! If all those burpies were placed on top of each other, the stack would be more than 100 feet tall!
Many many volunteers have donated countless hours, mountains of supplies, and millions of colones. We love and appreciate them all!

CAA added Blankets for Babies as an alliance last year and provides support so BfB can continue giving these items to the hospital.

A big thank you to everyone who comes the first Friday of every month to work on these items. They work for several hours and then share a delicious potluck lunch.
For information about Blankets for Babies San Ramón or to contribute to this program, please visit the Blankets for Babies page https://www.actionalliancecr.com/blankets-for-babies.html on CAA’s website.
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