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Ines in Paris

Newsletter July 2015

Sunday July 26, 2015

La Vida raises over £30,000 in 2014!

Inline ImageDear Friends of La Vida,

We had another successful fundraising year in 2014 raising over £30,000, bringing our total to over £415,000 since La Vida was founded in 2006.  We have approved a number of new projects this year: Viva a Vida in Salvador, Brazil, a drug preventative programme; Corpolatin, a childline in Colombia, through the charity COTA; Pasitos de Luz, providing milk for disabled children living in extreme poverty in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and funding Ecological Stoves for 10 families in rural areas in Guatemala.

Many thanks to all our supporters who came to our silent auction evening at the Maddox Gallery, Mayfair on Wednesday 25th March 2015.  It was a great social evening with drinks, canapes, Latin entertainment and we enjoyed the artwork of the celebrated New York artist Willard Boepple. A huge thank you to our sponsors Maddox Arts and Lofoten and the following artists for their generous support: Sergio Antelo Perez, Renata Fernandez, Sylvia Fernandez, Smael Vagner, Jorge Padilla, Keiko Gonzalez, Jamir Johanson, Luz Letts, Jose Talamas, Ale Prade and Gaston Ugalde.  We sold all the paintings and raised over £14,000.

In June we had a champagne evening and fashion show event hosted by Akris at their Bond Street store.  20y10 launched their new collection of exquisite jewellery and donated a unique 18 carat gold and diamond pendant to La Vida which we auctioned shortly afterwards.

Next year will be our 10 year anniversary and we hope to achieve our target of raising half a million pounds by the end of next year!

Finally we have recently launched our new La Vida website. Please visit www.lavida.org.uk to check it out.

The La Vida team would like to thank you all for your continued support.

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Ines Navarro and friends run for La Vida in Paris

Inline ImageMany thanks to Ines and her friends Concepcion and Marie who ran La Parisienne 6km and raised £835 for La Vida.  Ines beat her target of completing the race in under 40 minutes.

 

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New Life Mexico – Pasitos de Luz – providing milk for disabled children in Mexico

Inline ImageWe are teaming up with New Life Mexico again to fund 10 litres of powdered milk a day for the next year to provide essential nutrition to disabled children from low income families living in extreme poverty at a non-profit organisation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. “Pasitos de Luz’ was founded by the mothers of the disabled children. 122 children are now registered in the programme with up to 40 of them attending every day.  Most of these children are unable to feed themselves and are on a liquid/soft food diet.

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New Life Mexico – Ecological Ovens for families living in rural Guatemala

Inline ImageLa Vida will provide funding for 10 ecological ovens at a cost of £150 per oven. These will replace the open pit fires currently used inside the home which use a substantial amount of wood, are inefficient, hurt the environment and cause serious health problems affecting respiration and vision and burns are also common.

The stoves are manufactured locally and use 60% less wood and they have a chimney so the smoke can leave the house through the roof. The benefits are substantial with an improvement in the family’s health, saving up to two days a week not having to spend time collecting and chopping firewood and the children have more time to study and play. There is also a positive impact on the environment since hundreds of trees can be saved every year.

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Dental project in Argentina – Todos Juntos

Inline ImageFounded in 2005, Todos Juntos provides free dental care, preventative education and hygiene programme to deprived children between the ages of 4-17 living in the slums of San Martin in Buenos Aires.

Todos Juntos opened three dental Sonrisa clinics within the first four years of operations. In 2012 about 7,000 children received 35,000 treatments, equivalent to a three-fold increase in two years.

In addition, Todos Juntos regularly organises the dentists to visit schools and kindergartens to teach the children how to use toothbrushes and toothpaste. By providing these preventative care sessions the children learn to avoid the terrible dental decay that has been documented in the older children who visit the clinics.

Todos Juntos believes that the value of a healthy smile cannot be underestimated. The Sonrisa clinics play a vital role in providing children with a healthy smile and in spreading the message that dental health is an important habit to develop. It helps children build confidence and an improved life without the stigma of decaying teeth.

Click here to visit their website and find out more.

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Villa Maria Primary School in Lima, Peru

Inline ImageThe Villa Maria school we support outside Lima, Peru was granted Asociacion Civil status by the authorities – this means that it is a registered not-for-profit organization in 2014.  It was granted a full operating license meaning charity status which will open up opportunities for further funding from other institutions.

In 2014 the school put in place a strategy to reduce dropout rates by working with parents through an ongoing training and monitoring scheme.  This resulted in no dropouts last year and avoided children falling behind in certain subjects.

We are looking for new sponsors so if you are interested in finding out more please contact rosie@lavida.org.uk

To see what the kids have been up to check out their facebook page here or look at this recent You Tube video.

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