mi acción de gracias

Turned on the news today and people are literally getting killed at Black Friday sales... I'm not saying don't buy your family Christmas presents, but maybe we should think about where our priorities are?

Just yesterday the entire country celebrated Thanksgiving. Family and friends gathered, gave thanks for all we have, shared meals, and enjoyed each other's company. Then a few short hours later, everyone loses their shit and people are literally getting shot, stabbed, and pepper sprayed outside of shopping malls.

We have so much to be thankful for, it's ridiculous. Today I wanted to write a blog about some of the things most people don't have in Ecuador that I'm thankful we have in the States. You know, running water, clean water, paved roads, access to healthcare (it's not perfect, but we've got it better than most), education, job opportunities (you think unemployment is bad here...), etc. 

But instead, I think about all these things that make our lives easier; and when I hear about people losing their shit over Christmas shopping, I'd trade it all to be back in Ecuador. I'm not proud of that America.

Don't get me wrong. Ecuador is not without it's problems, and not everyone in the States is a deal-hungry pepper sprayer. But there are times when I think about just how much crap we have, how we can never have enough (as epitomized by this day), and I wonder what all this convenience has done to our priorities. 

Thanksgiving, Christmas, this whole "season" is supposed to be about reflecting on the gifts we already have, being with the people we care about, looking toward a new year, a new beginning, and maybe making a change for the better. 

So what am I thankful for this year? A roof over my head. Clean, running water. A/C when it's hot, and heat when it's cold. A job. Health Insurance. More than enough food. Not having parasites in my intestines. All those things that make life a little easier. But more importantly, I'm thankful for the people in my life--you, my family, my friends, my neighbors, former students, etc. All the convenience in the world can't replace a real, genuine relationship. 

So, as we celebrate the first day of Christmas shopping season, I ask you again to help support Rostro de Cristo and Nuevo Mundo. You don't have to wrestle any soccer moms to buy this gift, and I promise you it will make a difference in Ecuador. 

Below is the link to Rostro de Cristo's giving page, where you can donate with a credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Since Nuevo Mundo doesn't have a US 501(c)3 (it's an Ecuadorian Foundation with no US presence), Rostro has agreed to receive all donations, then pass on half to Nuevo Mundo. All donations are fully tax deductible.

http://www.rostrodecristo.org/give/index.html

On the "Review Your Donation Screen" (after you enter your card info or sign into PayPal), please enter "Mark Perlite" in the "Add special instructions to the seller" field so Rostro can tell me how much we raise at the end of the month.

Or, if you would prefer to make your donation via mail please send a check (with "Mark Perlite" written in the memo) made payable to:

Rostro de Cristo

P.O. Box 920433

Needham, MA 02492

As I mentioned in my appeal, my goal for this month is to raise $5,000: $2,500 for Rostro de Cristo and $2,500 for Nuevo Mundo. A lofty goal, but I email these blogs out to about 100 people, and at $50/person, I think that should get us there (someone check my math, I'm terrible with numbers). Obviously not everyone can give $50, but hopefully some people give more, some people give less, and we can get to that $5,000 goal. If you could at least give $10, it would mean a lot to me--not to mention all the Ecuadorians each of these incredible foundations serve.


Thanks again!

Mark

where it all began

As I mentioned in my appeal, I'm raising money for the two foundations I worked with last year in Ecuador-- la Fundación Rostro de Cristo y la Fundación Nuevo Mundo. So far, you've heard a lot about Nuevo Mundo--from my first few weeks teaching there over a year ago, to witnessing the 14 seniors I taught graduate last January, to Pat McTeague's talk with visiting retreat groups. Today I'd like to tell you a little more about Rostro de Cristo, specifically the retreat program we run with high schools, colleges, and parish groups from the States.


Rostro de Cristo was founded in 1988 by Fr. Jim Ronan, a parish priest from the Boston area. Fr. Jim joined the St. James Society, which meant volunteering to serve as a priest for 5 years in Peru, Bolivia, or Ecuador. Fr. Jim was assigned to a parish in the oldest part of Durán, which was beginning to see a huge influx (or invasion) of Ecuadorians moving from the countryside to Durán, where they could squat or buy cheap land and work in the big city--Guayaquil. Durán quickly balooned to a city of over 500,000 people, most living in cane houses built over the swamps of the Guayas River. With such sprawling poverty unlike anything in the States, Fr. Jim began inviting high schools, college, and parish groups down to Ecuador to see Durán for themselves and meet some of the people who live in this reality every day.

Fr. Jim with Pat McTeague and Sonya Rendón, founders of Nuevo Mundo
outside the newest Rostro de Cristo house in Mount Sinai, Guayaquil

Before Fr. Jim's 5 years were up, he began recruiting volunteers to live in Durán and help continue the program--to receive the retreat groups, show them around, keep them safe, translate, and introduce them to their friends and neighbors in Durán. Over the years, the program grew, working with partner organizations like Nuevo Mundo to build volunteer and retreat houses in the Antonio Jose de Sucre neighborhood in 1994; the Arbolito neighborhood in 2003; and the newest invasion community, Mt. Sinai in western Guayaquil, in 2010. From one volunteer living with Fr. Jim to now sixteen volunteers living in three different communities in Duran and Guayaquil.

visiting Damien House with Cabrini College

The retreat program now hosts 26 groups a year--mainly Catholic high schools and colleges who stay anywhere from 6 - 12 days. One volunteer is responsible for leading each retreat, so with sixteen volunteers, most volunteers lead about two groups per year. The primary function of the retreat program is education--to expose and educate North Americans on the realities of the developing world, to meet and get to know real people who live these realities, and to witness firsthand some of the work being done by Ecuadorian partner foundations to change these realities.


Before a group even gets to Ecuador, Rostro provides them with extensive background information on Ecuador and the developing world; so the first day in country, retreatants dive right into neighbor visits. Volunteers and retreatants live in houses in the hearts of these developing communities, so we often literally walk just next door to talk to neighbors. Most neighbors have known the Rostro community for years, and are more than happy to share their homes for an hour or two with retreat groups.

visiting friends with my Dad

These conversations can be anywhere from terribly uncomfortable (imagine a dozen gringos crammed in a one bedroom cane house when it's 100 degrees out trying to make conversation with Ecuadorians through a translator while the pet dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, and geese are all making noise in the back of the house); to hilarious (some of the neighbors love to push the retreatants for all the juicy details on their boyfriends, girlfriends, or "amigos especiales"); to heartbreaking (when a neighbor opens up about deaths that didn't need to happen because healthcare is non-existent; or husbands, sons, sisters, brothers they haven't seen in years because they work three jobs and live illegally in the States or Europe).


Whether it's a lighthearted chat or a visit that leaves everyone in tears, what retreatants most often realize is how close we really are to people who on the surface would seem so very different. Through the language barriers, economic barriers, geographic barriers, we all laugh, we all cry, we all love.

sharing a birthday with neighbors

And as simple as that may sound, that is an integral part of the retreat program. Compared with other 3rd world "service trips," retreat groups don't actually do any work in Ecuador; they don't build houses, paint buildings, or give handouts. Rather, retreatants come to Ecuador to be with the Ecuadorian people, to listen to them, to learn from them, to share their time with them. Instead of leaving with a sense of accomplishment--"I built a house"--retreatants leave with relationships, memories of the people they took the time to be with. The hope being that that memory, that person you connected with will be a constant reminder of not only how much we have, but moreso how much we owe to those who don't.


And so, again, I ask for your help. Rostro has very little overhead in the States--from every dollar you give to Rostro, 91 cents goes straight to Ecuador, ensuring that the retreat program, the volunteer program, and our partner organizations in Ecuador can continue to do work where it is needed the most.


Below is a link to Rostro de Cristo's giving page, where you can donate with a credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Since Nuevo Mundo doesn't have a US 501(c)3 (it's an Ecuadorian Foundation with no US presence), Rostro has agreed to receive all donations, then pass on half to Nuevo Mundo. All donations are fully tax deductible.

http://www.rostrodecristo.org/give/index.html

On the "Review Your Donation Screen" (after you enter your card info or sign into PayPal), please enter "Mark Perlite" in the "Add special instructions to the seller" field so Rostro can tell me how much we raise at the end of the month.

Or, if you would prefer to make your donation via mail please send a check (with "Mark Perlite" written in the memo) made payable to:

Rostro de Cristo

P.O. Box 920433

Needham, MA 02492

As I mentioned before, my goal for this month is to raise $5,000: $2,500 for Rostro de Cristo and $2,500 for Nuevo Mundo. A lofty goal, but I email these blogs out to about 100 people, and at $50/person, I think that should get us there (someone check my math, I'm terrible with numbers). Obviously not everyone can give $50, but hopefully some people give more, some people give less, and we can get to that $5,000 goal. If you could at least give $10, it would mean a lot to me--not to mention all the Ecuadorians each of these incredible foundations serve.


Thanks again!

Mark




another birthday with neighbors... MY birthday!
(and Jessie and Henry, too)



My Appeal

Today I am asking my family and friends to help support the two foundations that will forever be a part of my life: Fundación Rostro de Cristo and Fundación Nuevo Mundo.

Before we left for Ecuador last year, each volunteer was asked to raise $2,500 to help Rostro de Cristo cover the costs of our programs--food and stipends for volunteers; salaries for our guards and program staff; and, most importantly, daily bread, bananas, and water for the kids at our three After School Programs. I didn't ask for money back then a) because I was already planning a fundraiser for St. Anthony's, and b) I hadn't yet been to Ecuador, so I couldn't really tell you from personal experience what I was raising money for. Sure I knew Rostro was a great foundation, but I felt weird asking people for money when it wasn't even real for me yet.

So, I paid the $2,500 out of my savings, and told myself that after this year, if this is something worth my family and friends' money, then I would ask them for help. And here we are. You've been with me all year. You've seen my pictures. You've read my blogs. I've caught up with a lot of you personally these last two months. I would not be writing you right now if this did not mean something very very special to me.

Rostro de Cristo and Nuevo Mundo are like any other non-profit these days--they badly need money to stay open every day. The seniors I taught last fall were the last seniors to graduate from Nuevo Mundo because the foundation could no longer financially support a full high school--now the school only runs through the 9th grade.

In the past I've held fundraisers--concerts, raffles, t-shirt sales--to support the causes close to my heart. From 2007 - 2010 I worked with dozens of different friends to hold events that raised over $15,000 for St. Anthony's and Doctors Without Borders (after the Haitian Earthquake). Today, though, instead of appealing to your love of raffle prizes, sweet t-shirts, live rock 'n roll, and cheap drinks, I want to appeal to your heart. Yeah, I know that sounds a little corny--and don't worry, I'm not done partying for a good cause--but this time, I just want to focus on the act of giving--nothing in return, just knowing that your small sacrifice will make a huge difference in the lives of my new friends, my new family, in Ecuador.

So I come to you, my friends, my family, and ask you to help support something very personal, very important to me. This month we celebrate Thanksgiving (believe it or not, they know about it in Ecuador too, and call it Acción de Gracias), and it's in this spirit of gratitude that I ask for your help. I will forever be thankful for the experiences these two foundations gave me this past year--I could never repay them for the impact they have had on my life, but I'd like to try.

My goal for this month is to raise $5,000: $2,500 for Rostro de Cristo and $2,500 for Nuevo Mundo. A lofty goal, but I email these blogs out to about 100 people, and at $50/person, I think that should get us there (someone check my math, I'm terrible with numbers). Obviously not everyone can give $50, but hopefully some people give more, some people give less, and we can get to that $5,000 goal. If you could at least give $10, it would mean a lot to me--not to mention all the Ecuadorians each of these incredible foundations serve.

Below is a link to Rostro de Cristo's giving page, where you can donate with a credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Since Nuevo Mundo doesn't have a US 501(c)3 (it's an Ecuadorian Foundation with no US presence), Rostro has agreed to receive all donations, then pass on half to Nuevo Mundo. All donations are fully tax deductible.

http://www.rostrodecristo.org/give/index.html

On the "Review Your Donation Screen" (after you enter your card info or sign into PayPal), please enter "Mark Perlite" in the "Add special instructions to the seller" field so Rostro can tell me how much we raise at the end of the month.

Or, if you would prefer to make your donation via mail please send a check (with "Mark Perlite" written in the memo) made payable to:

Rostro de Cristo

P.O. Box 920433

Needham, MA 02492

Thanks!

Mark