The construction has started...

...and we have pictures to share with you! A few weeks ago, we blogged about the completion of the first phase of our Road to Success Campaign (the fundraising) and we are now happy to report that phase two has officially started! The best part of this project is that it is being done by local Mayan families…so the money we have raised is not only benefiting the orphanage, it is also benefiting the local families by providing them a source of income for their laborious work.

Road to Success Campaign is a Success!

Great news! We've completed another project (well almost...we raised the funds and now the work can get started!).
Casa de Sion will soon be building its access road connecting the orphanage to the water wells, providing potable water for the children and surrounding families. Thanks to your support, we were able to complete this project and add it to our growing list of amazing projects! Thank you for your support.

The Puerto Vallarta Dump is officially closed

We want to let you know that the Puerto Vallarta city dump closed in June. Several hundred people were working at the dump and unfortunately, this is going to intensify the poverty of the families living in the area around, since for many of them, the dump was their only source of income and support for their families. The people who use to work at the dump will now have to find other ways to provide for their families, meaning that some of the children, who were attending school, may be forced to work along side their parents to help provide for their families.

As a result, the organization officially changed its’ name to Feed the Children Vallarta (I know that some of you will be happy to hear about the name change!); they are no longer Children of the Dump; they are students and champions of Feed the Children Vallarta.

We will continue to provide yearly support to the School of Champions, which serves the children of the communities around the dump.

Puerto Vallarta

Our love of Mexico brought us once again to Puerto Vallarta despite the crazy media blitz around the H1N1 virus. And, just for the record, there were absolutely no signs of the virus anywhere…everyone looked very healthy and energized for the summer months.

Given that it was already June by the time we left Canada, we were well overdue for our yearly visit at the Children of the Dump (which is slowly becoming one of our favorite yearly traditions!). This time around, we brought many English books to be donated to the School of Champions, which will be building their own library over the summer months. Thanks to the Vancouver Public Library who donated these books to the Isa Mundo Foundation, the library will be well stocked and the children will be able to enjoy learning English and developing their reading skills while discovering great stories along the way.

We also took advantage of our trip to PV to visit Pasitos de Luz, a free daycare facility providing children with severe disabilities with a caring and loving environment, treatment for individual rehabilitation, nutritional meals, physical stimulation, massages and therapy. Pasitos also provides regular evaluations from medical specialists, including occupational and speech therapists; as well as providing free orthopedic equipment. In addition, Pasitos provides moral and emotional support to the families of these children. The people that work at Pasitos de Luz are an inspiration to us all; the enthusiasm and love that is felt for the children is amazing! Gracias Yolanda y todos a Pasitos! Ustedes son una inspiración para todos!

We are currently in full research mode in figuring out how to best help Pasitos...and we have lots of ideas!

Latincouver - La Plaza Latina

Isa Mundo was invited to the launch of Latincouver, an organization that aims to strengthen and celebrate Vancouver's Latin American communities. Latincouver hopes to become the leading social, culture network and business portal for the Latin American community in the city by hosting a number of activities including business networking forum, social gatherings and cultural events.

Latincouver is aware of the growing Latin population and diversity in Vancouver and the contribution it is making in the art, music, culture, cuisine and business in the region. The organization will be a forum to help connect the city with the Latin community and share it's diverse cultures its residents.

To learn more about Latincouver, check out their Plaza Latina.

Host Papa Joins the Isa Mundo Family

As of June 1st, Host Papa is a proud sponsor of Isa Mundo and we are thankful for the support and committment of Host Papa to host our website as a way of contributing to many of our projects.

We are proud to promote Host Papa as their vision alligns well with Isa Mundo. The company has taken the initiative of going green by purchasing 100% green renewable energy to power their data center, web servers, office computers, laptops and office space. These energy sources supply its entire equivalent energy consumption into the power-grid with certified 100% renewable green energy sources, such as wind and solar-powered energy.

HostPapa has won numerous awards and is consistently being ranked as one of the Top 10 web hosting companies. They take great pride in servicing their customers and continually out performing even their own expectations.

Thank you Host Papa for taking care of Isa Mundo!!

To learn more about Host Papa and services they provide, please visit their website at www.hostpapa.com

Update on our Road to Success Campaign II

We have already received many donations for our Road to Success Campaign and are only missing about $500.00 to complete this project. We hope to complete it by the end of this month in order to send the money to Casa de Sion by the end of the summer. Volunteers will be there to help build the road that will link the orphanage to the water wells.