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Winter 2000/2001Thanks to All of you The Children’s Chance (TCC) is a volunteer, nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. We have delivered over 900,000 books, 300 used computers, 600 sets of encyclopedias, and over one million National Geographic magazines to Jamaican schools and libraries. From a small beginning of one school in 1980, this down-to-earth project is now working with 105 schools and 140 libraries throughout Jamaica. We were serving 100 children in 1980 and we are now serving over 500,000 schoolchildren. Your support has helped make our dream become a reality. 1999-2000
Record Years Our first box of books was sent to Jamaica in 1980. Now, 20 years later, we have shipped 32,000 boxes containing 800,000 books. We sent our first 40-foot cargo container in 1990. We shipped 18 containers between 1990 to 1998. In 1999, we shipped 7 containers and in 2000, 6 containers to date; 600 tons total. Our goal is to ship our 1 millionth book in 2002. We have also shipped thousands of stuffed animals. Our first book party took place in our basement with 10 volunteers, and we boxed 30 boxes of books. We were very impressed with ourselves. Our last book party in November with 60 volunteers, we boxed 1800 boxes and were dually impressed! Many hands make the work easy. Featured Volunteer / Robbie MonkOur featured volunteer for this newsletter is a young man from Minnetonka, MN named Robbie Monk. He is a senior at The job organizing and supervising the unboxing, sorting and boxing of the books was well managed by Robbie. He had a great group of volunteers who had a fun and rewarding time helping out. The volunteers were so enthusiastic we ran out of books around noon. The momentum was high and Robbie was ready for more so we made a run to TCC storage. We boxed up an additional 7000 books by the time we were done that evening. Robbie’s mom, dad and sister were there helping and supporting the cause all day. We boxed 15,000 books for Jamaica’s children that day. It still amazes me. Robbie also raised $400 from collecting and recycling aluminum cans to help with the shipping costs of the books. It has been a pleasure working with this young man. Robbie Monk is a natural leader and a great example of the Boy Scouts tradition. TCC, myself, and the children of Jamaica owe him a debt of gratitude. Thanks, Robbie for the great contribution you made possible.
Letters
from Jamaica Dear Mr. Gresser, Thank you so much for the most generous donation of books to our library programme at the Stella Maris Foundation in Kingston! The children have been so excited and pleased with them; they are being used well! The books you sent to us have really added significant volume to our small library. Some of the older children worked over a period of two days during the Easter holiday to sort the books and arrange them on our shelves. They now borrow books on a regular basis and are reading so many of them. Sincerely, Amy Money US Peace Corps Volunteer
Dear Peter, I have received the shipment of books and believe me they
were delivered on the very spot where I first met you and because of that
meeting our community is now in possession of some of the finest books in the
world, thanks to The Children’s Chance. Your effort and commitment has certainly brought joy to
Jamaica’s children and there will be a fine library system in Accompong, and
your support is greatly appreciated, and has helped make our dream become a
reality. God bless you Peter and all those working in this book
project. Yours respectfully, Colonel S. Peddie - Maroon Leader
Dear Sir, The Principal, Staff and Students of the above mentioned school wants to say a
‘big thank you’ for Two Hundred Twenty-Seven (227)
boxes of books received on June 8, 2000. This humane gesture will certainly be recorded in our
minds for as long as our lives last. We
really appreciate this great effort and we are sure that the Lord will bless
you richly. Again we thank you. Yours faithfully, V.R. Smith Harris (Mrs.) - Accompong Primary/Junior High School
Dear Sir or Madam, My name is Tatiana Winter and I am a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Jamaica. I have spent the last year helping to incorporate environmental education into the curriculum at Mayfield All Age School. I am just starting my second year of service and am very excited about the projects we’re working on, such as constructing a grade one classroom and intergrading computers into the curriculum. I am writing to express my gratitude for the many materials you’ve sent to Jamaica. I’ve seen first hand how the books that were sent from The Children’s Chance to the library system have greatly improved our local library. Our library in Southfield, St. Elizabeth is frequented by many community members: students, teachers, local business men and women, housewives and farmers. Your generous donations have expanded the resources of our library and are keeping it vital. Oftentimes we give of our time and resources and never see the benefits. The Children’s Chance has improved the quality of many institutions in Jamaica and has touched many lives. Thank you again for your interest and dedication to the people of Jamaica.Sincerely, Tatiana Winter - U.S. Peace Corps
Dear Sir, I thank you for donating the computers and books to
Lyssons Primary School. The books
you have sent have influenced me to read books at my standard and be able to
laugh at the same time. I especially like the book ‘The wolf next door’.
While the fun lasts my mind is building up with new words and ideas,
once again I appreciate your kindness, as we are very lucky because some
schools do not even have a chance
to even pick up a book, so we are very grateful. With Our Thanks, Elise Hall - Lyssons Primary School
Dear Sir/Madam, I thank you for all the books. They are wonderful. They help me to do my work. They are very interesting and important. The encyclopedias have all the information I need and all the answers I need. The computers are fine and they are interesting. They show me some wonderful things I have never seen in my whole life and I give thanks to you. I hope God bless you and keep up the good work for us. So keep on sending encyclopedias, computers, and books and make the people in the world able to learn. Have a wonder-ful life.Yours Truly, Jonica K.Burton Hope Bay All-Age School
Dear Benefactor: I want to sincerely thank you for the contribution of the children’s books you sent the Peace Corps office. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, one of my projects is teaching remedial reading at two area schools. Working with these kids is the most rewarding thing I am doing here in Jamaica. For example, I have had the fortune of watching Andrew, a seventh grader at Staceyville, go from having trouble writing the alphabet last year to grabbing books to read as soon as he gets into the library (a.k.a. my classroom) this year. I don’t presume to think I taught him so much in only a year, rather I believe he just needed someone to take a little time with him. I would like to tell you a little about these schools that will each receive several boxes of the books you donated, Staceyville All-Age (grades one through nine) and Fort George Primary (grades one through six). Both schools, like so many down here, suffer from a lack of education and recreational facilities. Staceyville All-Age has an enrollment of over 700 students. The entire faculty consists of a principal and seventeen teachers; the school has no substitute teachers, no school nurse, no music teacher, no teachers’ aids and no librarian. Fort George has a much smaller enrollment (under 200 students), but only six teachers-the principal does double duty as the third-grade teacher.at Staceyville, classrooms have no doors, and until last December, they only had three walls; the side facing an interior courtyard was wide open. The library is a 12 x 20-foot room with some outdated textbooks and only one shelf of reading books. The school has one typewriter, one risograph (a cross between a photocopier and a ditto machine), poor lighting, no audiovisual equipment and no computers. Conditions are no better at Fort George; the “classrooms” are separated by chalkboard partitions and the library has space for books, but only two shelves along part of one wall have books. Hope for a brighter future does exist. Many of the teachers are highly motivated to improve the situation at the school and on the communities, and many children are striving to learn. For over a year, my mom has been regularly sending books donated by family and friends, and with these books I have a micro library at my house; kids come by every evening to exchange one borrowed book for another one. At Staceyville, Mr. Pinnock, a sixth-grade teacher, has started a community youth club; Mrs. May, the acting principal, always has a kind word and helping hand for young and old, alike’ and Mr. Walter, a fifth-grade teacher, is very enthusiastic about improving the school grounds and educating everyone about the environment. To that end, many students have planted trees around the compound, with some children celebrating their birthdays by planting a tree. On behalf of both school, I thank you for your donation.Sincerely, Scott Clark Peace Corps Volunteer
Golf and Raffle FundraisersTCC had its 10th annual Golf Tournament on a brisk October day with 60 golfers. The day ended with a pig roast dinner and a raffle vacation for two to Jamaica won by Mike and Jacqui Krueger. They will be going to the all inclusive Grand Lido in Negril, Jamaica in January of 2001. Thanks to the Issa Family, owners of SuperClubs of Jamaica for donating the prize. A big thank you to Tim O’Connor for donating Timber
Creek Golf Course in Watertown, and all of the green fees for the 10th
year in a row. We had a raffle drawing in early December for another SuperClubs vacation. Kent and Michelle Anderson were the lucky winners. Thanks again to the Issa Family of SuperClubs.These two fundraisers netted us over $7,000. We will ship 35,000 books to Jamaica with these proceeds.
More Volunteers Hennepin County “Sentence to Serve” program has been a great help to TCC. Six to fourteen individuals show up at book parties have no clue what their “service” is for that day. They get their assignment, get involved and leave feeling really good about helping out the children and families of Jamaica. We are collecting more stuffed animals
to send to special needs children.
The toys should be in gently used condition, and no larger than 18”
high. They can be dropped off at
Peter Gresser’s house or the Hopkins Post Office.
The joy they will bring to the children of Jamaica is heartfelt. The minister at Grace Community Church in Shreveport,
Louisiana heard about TCC. His
congregation collected, boxed and mailed to us over 2000 stuffed animals for
distribution. The U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers in Jamaica have been distributing many of the stuffed animals for us and we greatly appreciate their help.
Cash Contributors of 2000Foundation Contributors
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