Everyone’s heart is warmed up by something, be it cute puppies, or people in love, we all have something that upon seeing it fills us with joy. Here at Chaa Creek, it’s hard to peg down a single thing that makes our souls soar, but one of them is definitely the look of surprise on a child’s face after an unexpected act of kindness.
Each September, a new school year starts and our elementary school children go back into the classroom in pursuit of the ascent of knowledge. About 1/4 of Belize’s entire population is comprised of primary school aged children – that’s about 82,000+. Suffice to say that ours is by definition a growing population. In the farming, working and subsistence economies of the villages, it’s the children who are most at risk to be underprivileged.
Thinking ahead of the curve, the Pack-a-pound team at Chaa Creek collected and stowed away school supplies all summer in order to set out as soon as the school year starts. The school selection process is on a need basis and the school visited this time was a new school the team discovered just before the start of summer. The last words said in the conversation were “We’ll be back, so expect us soon”.
The team arrived at Bullet Tree Seventh Day Adventist school in the height of class and borrowed a few of the lower division students to share the awesome news with!
Even for Belize, this is a small primary school, with about one classroom for each grade, and some being shared. We were met by the principal, who after searching her memory for a second managed to remember the promise made before 🙂
When pack-a-pound donates to schools, one request is always made, that the supplies taken go to the classes with the children who are most in need, and from reports by the schools visited more than once, the children are always ecstatic to see the truck pull up.
If you’d like to learn more about Pack-a-pound and Chaa Creek Cares as a whole, click here.