Palae Metta

The ChAngels Spring Party will focus on supporting the women and children of Palae Metta.  We will be sewing pockets onto towels to stuff with flip-flops, soap and teddy bears - all needed items for these moms and their families. 

Palae Metta is a clinical residence for women and children living with HIV/AIDS in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). Residents who live in Palae Metta receive antiretroviral, supporting medications and vitamins, nutritious meals, basic clothing and linens, mosquito nets and toiletries in a warm, supportive, home-like setting. Many of the residents are vulnerable girls and young women from rural ethnic areas. Palae Metta's goal is get these young women and children healthy and back on their feet with the skills and networks they need to lead healthy, productive lives. Residents are welcomed into a network that provides emotional counseling, job retraining and/or school (depending on age and level), basic financial and life-skills training and the opportunity to join support groups and savings groups.

Because HIV/AIDS is so stigmatized in Burma, staff work closely with residents, their families and communities to reintegrate the young women and children as productive, respected members of society. To date, Palae Metta has served up to 40 people—including 15 children, 15 pregnant women and their children, 5 outpatients, and 5 emergency cases when beds are available—with 17–23 residents at any given time. Built in 2010 with the generous grant from the Barnett family, Palae Metta operates thanks to their continued support.

Puppy for a Cure

Last month Kate and her family brought home this adorable Australian Labradoodle named Mackey.
Mac, Mackey or Macintosh was part of an event called Spring Fling, which takes place each April in Half Moon Bay, California. Spring Fling is a 16 hour event that includes a golf classic, lunch and shopping boutique and an evening bash-with all proceeds going to benefit JDRF, the leading funder of research aimed at finding a cure for type 1 diabetes.  Kate's older sister Mary was diagnosed with this auto-immune disease when she was in 1st grade.  Until there is a cure found she must inject insulin in order to stay alive, while carefully balancing her food intake, stress and exercise to keep her blood sugar levels even.  Type 1 diabetes is different than type 2 diabetes, which is often a result of poor lifestyle choices, like diet and exercise.

The ChAngels have helped support Spring Fling and the Walk to Cure Diabetes to raise awareness and Mackey did his part too by staring in the live auction.  It was a big surprise that Kate's family won him and now ChAngels meetings often involve a puppy playdates!  Welcome, Mackey-you are a ChAngel at heart!

You can learn more about JDRF type 1 diabetes and Spring Fling here.

In February, ChAngels visited the Opportunity Center, a local family shelter in Palo Alto. It was a happy and fun visit. We brought dinner to the shelter families: lasagna, bread, salad, cookies and brownies, and drinks.

The families at the shelter were very thankful and welcoming. Since it is a family shelter, there were many kids that night, so we brought along a craft to entertain them. The children enjoyed making Valentine's cards and bookmarks, and us ChAngels girls had so much fun helping them. Some of the kids played basketball with two Menlo high school students who came to help us through Menlo School's Community Cooks project. It was great to have Jack H. and Jack K. with us.

The shelter families were so kind an grateful, and they loved the food. We were even able to send everyone home with leftovers. The families we met were all friendly and we enjoyed getting to know them. I think all the shelter moms liked having a little time while we entertained the kids, and the Valentine's notes they made for their parents were really cute.

The ChAngels all agreed that this was such a feel-good evening that we'd like to do it again someday.

Thanks to all our wonderful friends and supporters! Our 4th Annual Persimmon and Baked Goods Sale was a big success. Thanks goodness us ChAngels like to bake because those pumpkin and ginger bread loaves were very popular!

Giving 2.0

ChAngels is so proud to have a mention in Laura Arrillaga-Andreeson's new book on philanthropy entitled, Giving 2.0. Several ChAngels members were able to attend her book launch event at Stanford University, and thought her remarks were amazing and inspirational.

Ms. Arrillaga-Andreeson defines a philanthropist as: "Anyone who gives anything—time, money, experience, skills, and networks—in any amount, to create a better world." We like that definition and want to give all those things! She also spoke about the need to be strategic, collaborative and proactive in one's giving, and always to remember to evaluate the outcome of one's giving to make sure it is meeting one's strategic goals. She also pointed out that we all need to stretch our giving further right now in this economic downturn.

Ms. Arrillaga-Andreeson speaks a lot about how her parents inspired her to become a philanthropist. We think that's neet because we are a mother-daughter group, and our parents inspired us!

You can learn more about her book here.

ChAngels Collaborates With Good Karma Bikes

Hi ChAngels fans! This past weekend ChAngels, did a fun event at Menlo School with Good Karma Bikes. We had collected donated bikes from ChAngels friends, and supporters from Menlo School beforehand, which we stored in a Menlo classroom. On Sunday, September 25, Good Karma Bikes with founder Jim Gardner, brought tools and supplies to help us refurbish old bikes. Good Karma Bikes has been around a little under a year and a half, but has already refurbished and donated 3,000 bikes! ChAngels and a Good Karma Bikes crew, along with the help of teachers and coaches from Menlo, refurbished and tested nearly 40 bikes on Sunday! The ChAngels crew definitely learned a few things about bike mechanics which was really fun....and useful since we are all riders, ourselves! The bikes we refurbished were picked up later that day by local nonprofit, InnVision. InnVision distributed the bikes to low income or houseless individuals.

The day was a great collaborative effort between Changels, Menlo Philanthropy Club, Good Karma Bikes and Inn Vision - it felt good to be working with so many great groups. We all had a super time on Sunday, and we know that what we did will really help people without transportation.

Popsicles and Pillowcases Party Report

At the end of May, ChAngels hosted our first Popsicles and Pillowcases party. At this party, guests went through a simple process of turning a pillowcase into a dress that would eventually be worn by a girl in a thrid world country. These dresses make the young girls happy but more importantly, they are thought to stop human trafficking, as these girls look cared for and would be missed.

Dress A Girl Around The World is a project started by Hope 4 Women International. They have given over 32,000 dresses to girls in 47 countries. Helping support this project made us all feel good because we were doing something nice for other people and we were having fun at the same time!

The party was fun for all and everyone was in good spirits. We made many pillowcase dresses, created by mothers, children, and even on supportive dad. We were especially excited to have our special guests - Deb and Sue - join us! They brought their sewing machines and most importantly their teaching skills, since not many of us were experienced or familiar with terms like 'notions' or 'bias.' We were so appreciative of their gift of time, talent and extensive rainbow of thread!

Thank you to everyone who came and made a dress or donated pillowcases or spare change for rolling! To all of you who couldn't make it, join us this fall for "Pies & Pillowcases" or try your hand at making a pillowcase dress this summer! The instructions can be found at http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/.