Hey everyone, this is Ashton.
My mom hasn’t announced it yet on this blog but WE ARE GOING TO BULGARIA ON MAY 6th! After 8 years of putting on Children for Children concerts at Christmas to raise money for the orphanages there, we’re really excited that we get to go and actually meet the kids we’ve been sending money to for all these years and do some volunteer work in the orphanages.
Click any of these links if you want to read more about the concerts we've done:
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2008/12/children-for-children-and-joy-school.html
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2009/12/concert-success.html
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2010/12/overview-of-christmas.html
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2012/12/almost-snowed-out-concert.html
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2013/12/fighting-blindness-and-helping-orphans.html
If you don’t know where Bulgaria is - that’s OK - it’s in Eastern Europe above Greece and below Romania. They speak Bulgarian which my mom speaks since she served a mission there (that's when she first got to know all about the orphanages and did a lot of volunteering with the orphans). There are tons of kids in orphanges because they they don’t have a foster care system plus during 40 years of communism, people were taught that kids would be better off in an orphanage if the kids had special needs or if the parents were having any issues. The problem is that the government does not have the necassary funds to support these orphanages very well and the kids don't have great supervision or very good food or medical care, plus they don't get to participate in extracurricular activities. And, of course, they don't have loving parents to care about them.
Here are a few pictures of orphanages and orphans in Bulgaria
As part of this trip, I am going to be doing my Eagle Project so I can earn my Eagle rank in Boy Scouts (an Eagle project involves me leading a project to benefit a non-profit organization - I chose One Heart Bulgaria). I’m going to be putting together little gifts for the 60 orphans in one orphanage that is for kids ages 7-18 (with the help of a lot of people in my community). I’m also going to be planning some games and English-learning activities that we’ll do at several orphanages. My mom is going to be doing a special training to teach the orphanage staff and volunteers about positive discipline and building self-esteem in kids plus answer any questions they have. They generally don't get a lot of training so this will be a great thing.
I found out that one of the orphanages with 80 kids ages 7-18 is in need of a computer and some Bulgarian books (they have a little room that they want to make into a library) so I'm trying to get some money donated so that we can buy those things for them once we get there (we’ll need to get the computer and books in Bulgaria so that the books are in Bulgarian and the computer has a keyboard with the Cyrillic alphabet that they use there).
If you could help us get the money we need for a computer (about $250) and books (about $200), that would be amazing!
Click below to go to One Heart Bulgaria and make a donation - any amount will really help!
When you're confirming your donation, click where it says "Add special instructions to the seller" and make sure that you state that your donation is for the Loosli Family Book and Computer Donations. Here's a screenshot of the link you should look for:
If you want to learn more about the orphanages in Bulgaria, here’s a short video that we made to show at our Children for Children concerts.
If you want, you could watch this video about the orphans with your kids and if they want to help raise money for the computer and books, they could do extra jobs around the house to earn money from their parents, and then their parents (you) could donate that money. If they earned five dollars, that would buy one nice book. Also, you could ask you kids if they would like to substitute a family outing for a game night or movie night, and use the money that you would have spent on your outing to donate towards the books and computer for the orphans.
- Ashton Loosli
j.mp/AshtonLoosli
P.S. After our time in Bulgaria, we will be visiting Italy, where my dad served his misison. It'll be really cool to see where both of my parents went on their missions in one trip! We'll see some sweet sights and eat some great pizza.
Here are a few pictures of orphanages and orphans in Bulgaria
As part of this trip, I am going to be doing my Eagle Project so I can earn my Eagle rank in Boy Scouts (an Eagle project involves me leading a project to benefit a non-profit organization - I chose One Heart Bulgaria). I’m going to be putting together little gifts for the 60 orphans in one orphanage that is for kids ages 7-18 (with the help of a lot of people in my community). I’m also going to be planning some games and English-learning activities that we’ll do at several orphanages. My mom is going to be doing a special training to teach the orphanage staff and volunteers about positive discipline and building self-esteem in kids plus answer any questions they have. They generally don't get a lot of training so this will be a great thing.
I found out that one of the orphanages with 80 kids ages 7-18 is in need of a computer and some Bulgarian books (they have a little room that they want to make into a library) so I'm trying to get some money donated so that we can buy those things for them once we get there (we’ll need to get the computer and books in Bulgaria so that the books are in Bulgarian and the computer has a keyboard with the Cyrillic alphabet that they use there).
If you could help us get the money we need for a computer (about $250) and books (about $200), that would be amazing!
Click below to go to One Heart Bulgaria and make a donation - any amount will really help!
When you're confirming your donation, click where it says "Add special instructions to the seller" and make sure that you state that your donation is for the Loosli Family Book and Computer Donations. Here's a screenshot of the link you should look for:
If you want to learn more about the orphanages in Bulgaria, here’s a short video that we made to show at our Children for Children concerts.
If you want, you could watch this video about the orphans with your kids and if they want to help raise money for the computer and books, they could do extra jobs around the house to earn money from their parents, and then their parents (you) could donate that money. If they earned five dollars, that would buy one nice book. Also, you could ask you kids if they would like to substitute a family outing for a game night or movie night, and use the money that you would have spent on your outing to donate towards the books and computer for the orphans.
- Ashton Loosli
j.mp/AshtonLoosli
P.S. After our time in Bulgaria, we will be visiting Italy, where my dad served his misison. It'll be really cool to see where both of my parents went on their missions in one trip! We'll see some sweet sights and eat some great pizza.
What a FABULOUS opportunity for your family!! My daughter is going to Peru this summer for a humanitarian project, Mike kept encouraging me to go too, and now I wish I had signed up. But your whole family?? Wonderful! So happy for you to be doing this trip. Let me know how this international travel goes with 7 of you. We're going to England next June (2016). xx
ReplyDeleteSomehow I missed the special instructions screen! The $5 donation from james _ alli is for the library!
ReplyDelete