Oh Canada... Heat, Barbecue, and lots of sponsors!

This was a long weekend that I will remember for a long time. It was awesome! Between Friday and Monday we were able to get a total of 15 children sponsored! The sun is out in the city and the heat is extreme. It reminds me of El Salvador, where everyday is around 32 degrees!

Today I heard a story I really enjoyed. William, a nice young gentleman, stopped at our booth after I said "hi." We started talking about the children we had on display and how their social, economic and family situations puts them in great danger of becoming one more number to the 115 million children already living under exploitation and labour conditions. I told him about Hrant, a young boy from Armenia that we had at the booth. William was moved by his story and decided to sponsor him. He wanted to do it through the bank but there was no one answering the phone when we gave them a call (don't you just hate when that happens?!). William said to me: "It seems this is going to take a while so, I promise I will come back today, I have to go to the bank anyway and I'll bring my information." After a few hours William came back to sponsor Hrant. The reason he needed to go to the bank was to take some money to buy his girlfriend a wedding ring! He showed up at the booth with the wedding ring packed nicely and left the booth with the ring and Hrant. It was such a nice moment.


During the weekend we had a Barbecue. Everybody brought something and I have to admit that hanging out with these guys is extremely fun. We didn't stop laughing all night and we were all having a great time together. One of the sponsors that Mel signed up actually joined us; Liz happens to work at the mall and she has become part of our crew. We are going to miss Liz, we all wish we could take her with us! Big props to John who turns out to be an amazing cook! It was like having a barbecue expert cooking for us! Sunday night we all went bowling and had a lot of fun. I think we laughed more than actually participating in the bowling!

Tonight, as proud canadians, we celebrated Canada day at the lake watching fireworks and had a blast together. Today (Canada day) is a great opportunity to remember that our lives are blessed with so much and that we live in a country that offers the opportunity to meet our basic needs. We are so fortunate to live in abundance and that we have the opportunity to work for a great cause.

Canada is a great land, with a lot of kind hearted people that are willing to help, we (fundraisers) just have to ask them.

The Lantern Project
-Javier Cuellar-