Christmas Parties Update

Here we are!  The last weekend before Christmas!

We have two charity projects going on during Christmas week: the Christmas party at the Sisters of Mother Teresa Shelter and some giving goodness at a Gerontology Rehabilitation Center on Kalvariju, in the Verkiu forest (Stations of the Cross).

For the party at the shelter, I would like to thank Judith for her generosity!  Thanks to her the children attending the party will each receive a snowman baggy with a candy cane, a Christmas tattoo, a felt ornament or a little Chrismtas critter -- plus some other homebaked goodies.  I also have a humongous teddy bear to give away to the lucky winner of a drawing.

Also, thanks to our members we gathered more than enough gifts for the female residents of the shelter; we still need a few for the male occupants.

On Monday we'll be preparing food crates for the families.  On Tuesday morning we'll be preparing goodies and decorations for the party at 2 pm.

Most of you probably don't know about the event at the gerontology center.  When Barbara and I decided that we wanted to target older folks for our gift-giving at the MMS, I had contacted a home near my house to find out how many residents they had: 140!  We ended up asking for a more manageable number of gifts for the Mother Teresa shelter.  But I had already got the gerontology center excited! 

So I've managed to put together 65 gifts so far, which will be used to embellish common areas (dining room, living rooms, etc.).  With a little groveling on my part, the Italian Embassy generously donated five of the beautiful blankets they were selling at the Christmas Bazaar, plus four pandoro (my favorite:  a kind of panettone without the dried fruit and with powdered sugar to sprinkle on top) and other yummy sweets.

In the midst of my scouring Vilnius for goodies, Barbara called up and asked if I wouldn't mind having some money for the party at the shelter -- a donation of some extra proceeds from the Christmas Bazaar!  We came to a decision to split the donation between the shelter and the gerontology center.  So now both recipients have money to buy extra Christmas trees, decorations and food for their holiday celebrations!

I hope to see some of you at the shelter on Monday or Tuesday!
Sydney
IWAV Charity Coordinator