This past week has been busy collecting order forms as well as putting the last touches on the books before they are sent to the printer where we get our first draft.

This year we doubled our numbers,  we printed 15 books!  We have over 1100 children involved from not only Ontario but also from Hong Kong!

The Write to Give Day is also shaping up nicely.  We are currnetly working on obtaining sponsorship for the event.  THe event is scheduled for May 6th, 2010 at the Branford, Sanderson Centre.

For more information about the Write to Give Program, please head to www.WritetoGive.com.

I was filling the students bowls with cereal (I run the Breakfast Program from my Grade One Room at Jarvis Public School), one of my students poked his head in the door.  It turns out he had something for me.

Inside a huge plastic bag were three backpacks.  He had brought them especially to school for me to take on my trip to Africa this coming March.

The gift brightened my morning : ) Thank you to Jayden and his family for that thoughtful donation.  I will be sure to bring some pictures back of the kids with their new backpacks!  Thanks again Jayden!

I am proud to say that we raised $395 to go towards Haiti Relief.

To raise this much money students were given the opportunity to purchase tickets to have the chance to pit a teacher in the face.  One teacher from each division was chosen to get a pie in the face.

The staff were such great sports.  I felt very fortunate to work with such great people and I was over the moon that the fundraiser that I and some colleges set up was met with such great success.

To the right is my principle after one of the students pied him in the face!

What a great day!

This past weekend Stu and I worked on the Write to Give Gift Shop!

We are pretty excited to get the books online for everyone to see.  The students did an excellent job.  You will see in Gift  Shop we have the books from Series Two.

We will be adding all books to the Gift Shop shortly!

Thanks everyone!

The earthquake that rocked Haiti just 11 days ago has taken the lives of more than 111,000 people.

WTA and the Write to Give Program has decided to donate $2 from every book  sold in the next printing session to help those in Haiti.

At the present time we have students from Waterloo, Hamilton, Brantford, Africa and Hong Kong and working hard on short stories that will be published in the next two months.

Please check back on the site to read further details later this week.

Thank you for your support.

This past week our school (Jarvis Public School) has been busy raising money for families in Haiti.  Tickets are being sold for 50 cents or three for a $1.00.

Thanks to the community support - we have raised $300 + so far!

Next Tuesday, during our Good News Assembly students names will be drawn from the tickets for their chance to pie a teacher in the face!

I will be sure to blog about the total amount raised and will also post some pictures.

World Teacher Aid - Winter 2010

Well the past few months have been busy.

As the Write to Give Program and the charity continues to grow, I found it hard to balance teaching full time and working on Write to Give and World Teacher Aid.

This Christmas, my husband and I decided that it was time for me to take a part time leave from my full time teaching job at Jarvis Public School. I am now working Tuesdays, Thursdays and every other Friday.

I am so thankful for my staff at Jarvis Public School, they are all very supportive. I am into my second week of part time now, and I love it. The extra time allows me to regularly update my website and comminute with the teachers and most of all time to help WTA grow.

So you’re probably wondering what has been happening! So here is the latest news and updates.

Write to Give

The Write to Give Program is continuing to expand. We have published 14 books to date and involved over 1200 students and 70 teachers. The word is beginning to spread. I have spent the last two weeks visiting schools as well as contacts within the board.

At the moment we have teachers on board from not only the Grand Erie Board, but also the Waterloo and Hamilton/Wentworth Board as well. So if you know anyone – who would like to participate. Please spread the word.

Please make sure to mark May 6^th, 2010 on your calendar. This is the date of our second annual Write to Give Day at the Sanderson Centre in Brantford, Ontario. If you have not seen the short video that was put on Brantford.com last year – make sure to check it out. Just go to www.WritetoGive.com.

Kenya Projects

We continue to work with our contact in Kenya. Our feeding program continues to run smoothly. When we visit again in March we will also be visiting other sites that need help.

One is in a place called Rongai in the Nakuru District of Kenya. About 500 families have been resettled in this location. In this area the government has set aside for them land for a school, hospital and police post. These families are part of 3,600 families who have been camping at Mawingu IDPs camp in Gilgil.

We hope to see how we can help through running a sustainable feeding program as well as looking into option of building a school.

Uganda Teacher Program

Our Teacher Program also continues to run smoothly. In fact, just this past December we helped the school purchase a cow. Our goal is for the students to have the milk for their feeding/breakfast program and the rest of the milk will be sold in the community. The profits made will then be given back to the school to help buy education supplies.

Donation Page and Write to Give Gift Shop

After finally getting all the paper work together and sorting out a merchant account (this all took a little longer than I thought). We are very close to being able to display a Donation Page on our site.

The Write to Give Book Shop is also on its way. We have published 14 books now and I can’t wait to display them on the site and give others a chance to purchase them.

Also in this area, you will be able to get a chance to purchase King Williams Bracelets. He has been very hard at work. In fact, I have over 700 bracelets downstairs right now and there are 700 more being made for our next Write to Give Day in May!

That is all for now, like I mentioned earlier, please be sure to regularly check out the sites www.WritetoGive.com and www.WorldTeacherAid.org now I have a little more time I will be adding more blog posts and updates!

Thank you again for your continued support as we continue to grow and learn!

I wish you a happy New Year!

Take care,

Amy McLaren

]]> http://worldteacheraid.org/winter-2010-newsletter/feed/ http://worldteacheraid.org/project-update/ http://worldteacheraid.org/project-update/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:54:03 +0000 World Teacher Aid http://worldteacheraid.org/?p=418 As our relationship with International Community Development Africa continues to grow.

We are looking at growing our support and relationship with the organization.

Currently, WTA supports a feeding program in Nairobi.  Each month funds are sent over a report is sent back highlighting what was spent/bought at the local market.  This feeding program is going extremely well.

Last night I received an email from Irene, our main contact about other projects we could assist with.

Here are some we are currently looking at supporting.

An early childhood education class, that has eighty young, young students.  They are looking for support to cover powdered milk, millet/amarantha (vitamin O, sugar and corn flour.  Irene has put the basic diet together for the children as this, in some cases will be the only meal they get a day.  To feed these children it will cost $250 children per month.  When I think about it, this is the cost of two of our groceries bills for a month and that only feeds my husband and I!

Another project  we are looking at is helping out by building a school in Rongai in the Nakuru District of Kenya.  This is an area where hundreds of IDP’s have been placed.  The government has set aside land for education and a health centre.  We are currently working out those details now.

We still continue to sponsor teachers in Uganda.  Make sure you check out a few of the past emails we have received from the teachers, they are doing well and are adjusting to taking care of a cow that we recently purchased for the feeding program.    The cow will help the small school bring in funds for the students and teachers by selling any of the extra mile not used in the program.

Here is a picture of the cow!

Well that is just an update

Thank you for your support!

For more info. please go to www.WritetoGive.com

Thank you!

She had a $10 donation from her son, Beau! Beau is only four years old, but wanted to do something to help others. So he saved some of his money and asked his mom to give it to me at school!

Thank you Beau!

For the past year now they have been saving and rolling their pennies.

This past Sunday, Stu and I attended the service and were presented with the kind donation. Wesley United raised a mile in pennies for us, and for those of you who are wondering…that is 84, 408 pennies!

WOW!    That is a lot of pennies.

All the pennies came to a total of $885.00. The money will be used to pay for a teacher’s salary, this will pay for one academic year in Uganda! Wesley United received a picture of the teacher they are sponsoring and will receive monthly emails from the teacher himself.

Thank you so much Wesley United Church!

I received some wonderful news today!
Wesley United Church in Jarvis has raised one mile in pennies. They have been working on this goal for this past year. Thank you to everyone involved!
More details to follow in the next couple of weeks. I will be sure to pack my camera and video when we head to pick up the huge donation!

This means over 700 students are involved and we are publishing seven books before Christmas (this is the total number of books I did for the WHOLE year last year).

This December we will have non fiction and fiction books, check out

some of our titles:

The “How To” Book For The Holidays
28 Things to Do When You Grow Up
Countries Around the World…and MUCH MORE.

Make sure to check back to this site, or our Write to Give site where you will be able to purchase a Write to Give Book online, they make meaningful Christmas presents for children this season.

Also - please continue to spread the word. I am now taking a waiting list for our next printing session. This will be in March.

Thank you to all the teachers who have been SO supportive.

For those teachers from the Grand Erie District School Board, please keep an eye on the board website. The program will be featured on the site the week of Oct. 5th.  Here is a video recap…

This year is even more exciting than the last as we are working on fiction and non-fiction books.

Spots are filling up fast - so if you are interested in participating please go to www.WriteToGive.com and click the “Get Involved” tab so we can get your class started!

Our merchant accounts and paypal accounts have been set and 1Shopping Cart has graciously donated a shopping cart account for us to use.

Keep your eyes open!

Thank you so much for your support and having Stu and I present in Jarvis.

What an amazing honor Stu and I had today at the Rotary Club of Norfolk Sunrise,  in Simcoe, Ontario.

Stu and I arrived at 6:45 am this morning to present to the club about World Teacher Aid and the Write to Give Program.  We were welcomed by Ross Gowan and Stu’s high school principal, John Wallis.  After setting up the power point and the projector we enjoyed a nice breakfast.

Our presentation began at about 7:30am.  We spoke in details about our programs overseas as well as our plans for this coming year.

After presenting, we were awarded a HUGE honor.  Ross presented us with the Paul Harris Fellow Award.

It was an amazing moment that I will remember for years to come.

Thank you to the Rotary Club of Norfolk Sunrise  for their support and kindness today.

Not only did we receive the award but many of you donated to World Teacher Aid.  Your contributions will go towards a teacher’s salary in Uganda.   Thank you.

We were invited to speak about World Teacher Aid and the Write to Give Program. It was a wonderful morning and a great opportunity to meet some local community members, as well as see some of my former students and their families.

Thank you for your support and special thank you to the individual who donated $25 to support our programs.

I would also like to thank Kathy, Marie and Don for inviting us to speak at the church as well as helping us prepare for the visit.

We hope to come back soon, thanks again!

Inside was several pictures and a letter. In turns out her son, Thomas and his friend Lucas decided to make a stand and sell fresh lemonade this summer. The boys decided that the proceeds should go towards World Teacher Aid. They made $9.00 in sales.

Way to go boys! Thank you for your support this summer and I can’t wait to try some of the Perfect Lemonade - thank you for the recipe.

I received a donation for $500 from the Mac and Marie Reid Fund at The United Church of Canada Foundation.

I am so grateful for the donation, this will provide for our feeding program in Kenya for a month and a half, feeding 278 children a day.

Thank you for your kind donation.