Amistad International: Wishing you a Blessed Holiday Season

Webpage of this email: http://amistadinternational1.blogspot.com/

Christmas 2009

Dear Amistad friend,

I didn't want to miss this opportunity to thank all of you for your generosity in 2009. Most of you are not only participants in Amistad's work, but dear personal friends who encourage us with notes and emails, positive thoughts, prayers and gifts. We want to make sure you know that we don't take any of these kindnesses for granted.

I made a short list of some of the things you've accomplished this year through Amistad International.

At Paula Leen's Murwira Orphans' Home (MOH) in Marenge, Zimbabwe you've provided a loving home and education for 40 children, not to mention food for over 2,000 in the community. In the past 12 months, you've helped us deliver over 50 tons of food for distribution to the ill, widows and elderly in the area around Marenge, and also at the hospital in Mutare, and at Des Paul's outreach to the poor in Harare. The orphanage is the only employer in the area, providing work for 80 persons.
You've given over 3,000 meals per month for the 150 children who attend Amri School in Kenya. The students receive a hot nourishing meal each day which includes bread, beans, rice, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, fruit and milk. You've also provided salaries for 12 teachers, principal, cook and guard and rent of school house.
In Mexico's Western Sierra Huichol you've supplied the following services: 24 emergency medical flights, 84,000 hot meals served to 210 Huichol Indian children at three schools: Tecolote, San Miguel and Tuxpan, 250 ill or injured were transported to hospitals and 12,360 lbs. of food and clothing distributed. Five dental teams served 220 patients, and two opthomology teams fitted 150 pairs of donated glasses.
You've helped Pathfinder Academy in Kitale, Kenya, complete their dining hall/kitchen complex. Amistad donors are currently helping to build seven greatly needed classrooms which will be completed in 2010. The Worthington, Ohio, Adventist Church provided new chairs and tables for the dining hall.
You've provided 24 scholarships so that Buddha's Smile School's 5th grade graduates could go on to middle school. Your gifts bought tuition, books, food, uniforms and afternoon tutoring at BSS, located in Varanasi, India. You've provided monthly overhead expenses (salaries, books, uniforms) for BSS. This year many of you dug deeper into your pockets, providing a prosthetic leg and medical expenses for Sukdev Saini, husband of school founder Rajan Kaur, after he suffered the loss of his leg following an accident in June.

This has been one of the hardest economic years for many of us in our lifetimes. But still, our faithful partners came through to keep a great many of our Amistad projects going strong, and we thank you.

I believe that kindnesses done for others don't just disappear: they return to us in blessings of many kinds. And so our holiday prayer for you is that this season, and this coming year, will be a year of many blessings.

Gratefully, and with affection,

PS: The year isn't quite over, and if you've been intending to give a tax-deductible gift to Amistad International, you can still do so. The easiest way is to give to Amistad via PayPal: the gift comes to us instantly, and you can use your credit card, too, in case you're building up travel points.

Just follow this link, and click on the yellow "Donate" button.

Photo above: Tom and Karen Kotoske, founders of Amistad International

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Contact information:
To telephone Amistad International: 650-328-1737
To send a check: Amistad International, PO Box 455, Palo Alto, CA 94302
To e-mail executive director Karen Kotoske: tomamistad@aol.com
Our website: http://www.amistadinternational.org/
Our blog: http://amistadinternational1.blogspot.com/
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