CRC

Our Half Marathon For You: CRC Mission Accomplished!

2010-10-11T18:36:00.000-03:00

Donors and friends of the Chile Relief Challenge, we're proud to report:

We Did It!

Yesterday, we finished, triumphantly, our CRC campaign. 7.5 months after the February 27th earthquake, and with $8,252 raised for those affected by the quake and tsunami, we stayed true to our promise. We ran a half marathon at ground zero in honor of all of you and Chile.

We traveled 6 hours south of Santiago by bus to Concepción, where we participated in the Greater Concepción Marathon. We ran 13.1 miles (21 kilometers) in excellent time: Josh: 2 hours 7 minutes and Meghan in 1 hour 51 minutes!

Concepción, known for its cloudy, windy, rainy climate greeted us with nothing but full sunshine and temperatures in the 70's for the route. This ended up being a major challenge as we were running down open roadways with very little shade- we nearly fried! Being a relatively small group of half marathoners as city marathons go in the U.S. (only about 500), there were few people along the route to cheer us on (mainly construction workers repairing earthquake damaged roads and bridges). The occasional Concepción resident would give a few claps along the route, but the event wasn't any spectator sport. So, our main motivation was psychological: these 21K were for the CRC. They were for our donors, who so selflessly supported our cause, and they were for Chile, that is slowly but surely getting back on its feet in the south. Our tired legs and sunburned bodies were nothing compared to the trauma those in the south have suffered from mother nature's fierce shaking and the struggle to recover in the quake/tsunami aftermath. Though the roads are in use and most of the rubble is cleared away, the people of the Chilean south are still emotionally shaken, especially because of tremors that are a daily reminder of what happened in February. We even felt a tremor Saturday night as we headed to bed to rest up for the race. Crossing the finish line was the very least we could do.

Thank you to Nancy and Jaime, our dear friends in Concepción, who hosted us as guests in their home for the race. Nancy you are our hero for fueling us with homemade muffins for a little carbohydrate boost in the morning and for pinning the race numbers on our running shirts like our proud Chilean mother. Jaime, you saved us by driving us to the starting line when the bus didn't come. Thank you to the VE Global team members who traveled with us to run, cheer and take pictures. ¡Gracias!

Now that we have fulfilled our commitment to our donors by successfully crossing the finish line, we both turn our focus to different challenges. Josh will continue to fund-raise as the executive director of the non-profit VE Global to benefit at-risk Santiago children. Meghan will move back to the States in December, but plans to stay very connected to Chile and involved in non-profit organizations in the U.S. And, though neither of us considered ourselves runners at the outset of the CRC, we are now both considering training for a full marathon in the future! Just look how you all have motivated us. Thank you, one, final time, for your commitment to our campaign. Viva Chile!

Abrazos,

Meghan and Josh

6 Months After the Quake: A Critical Chile Relief Challenge Update

2010-08-21T23:09:00.013-04:00

Hola from Santiago! Here we are in the final week of Chilean winter, and already seeing signs of spring! Since we haven't been in touch since the June 1st end to our amazing fundraising campaign, and nearly 6 months have passed since the February 27th earthquake, we really do have a lot to update you on!

We have been so grateful that in these weeks since the official CRC fundraising ended, we have both had the opportunity to work directly with the non-profit organizations that the CRC benefited through your donations: VE Global and the American Red Cross (Chile Relief Fund).

Josh took on the position of executive director of VE Global in June. He has been busy with VE's efforts not only to help repair damages to the schools, orphanages and community centers of Santiago's at-risk children, but also to direct this volunteer organization in providing continuing attention and support for the kids they serve. Check out Josh's August newsletter about his first months with VE Global.

Josh and his VE Global colleague, Annie Rondoni, hold up a work of art made
by children in Santiago for the VE Art Festival put on this week. The festival
celebrated the art and performances of children VE volunteers work with.

Members of both the California delegation

to Chile and the Chilean Red Cross at a

Red Cross chapter hit by the tsunami in

Talcahuano, Chile.

In July, Meghan had the opportunity to work as a English/Spanish interpreter for an American Red Cross delegation to Chile to study the national response to the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The delegation consisted of representatives from the Los Angeles and San Francisco chapters of the Red Cross, as well as institutions such as the US Geological Survey, the California Institute of Technology, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and the state of California. Their objective was to analyze how Chile responded to the disaster and how those lessons can be applied in preparing for a similar earthquake/tsunami in California. The report of their findings is currently being finished, and Meghan was so grateful to be a part of an effort to ensure that the lessons learned in Chile about both the successes and downfalls of the emergency response here can be useful in other seismic parts of the world, starting with California! Her trip to ground zero with the delegation showed her what powerful forces of nature the earthquake and tsunami were and how just how much reconstruction, physical and psychological, is still left to be done here in Chile.

Meghan with volunteer firefighters near ground zero in Constitución, Chile.
They worked non-stop to confront the earthquake/tsunami that sacked the town,
all while dealing with the tragedy of a fellow firefighter killed by a falling wall as
he slept at the fire station that night. All firefighters in Chile are volunteers.

The reconstruction efforts will take years to complete, so, she'll have to come back to Chile in the future and see the progress first-hand. But, for now, she'll be saying adiós to Chile. In December, she'll be heading back to the States to pursue her next adventure. She's sure they'll be more international travel in her future, but whether that will be in the form of work, study, volunteering or a combination of all of these, she's not sure just yet. She is sure, however, to have a warm welcome back home in Colorado for the holidays and a place in Chile with lots of friends awaiting her whenever she wants to visit. For now, they'll all just have to go see her in the States!

So, that leaves us with one more CRC challenge to conquer. As you´ll remember, this was the challenge we set for ourselves if our donors were able to raise $10,000 for the CRC. We came so close to that goal that we decided to run the 1/2 marathon anyway- and it´s high training season! On October 10th, we hit the pavement for 21 kilometers in Concepción (southern Chile) to demonstrate our appreciation to our donors and our support for the reconstruction effort. We need your encouragement to keep our training motors running in these last weeks of winter, so let us hear from all of you through our blog, our Facebook and our Twitter all the way up to October 10th! Vamos CRC!

We also wanted to make mention of one detail for those of you that made donations to the American Red Cross Chile Relief Fund through our FirstGiving donation web page. The Red Cross sent out thank you letters, but some of them mistakenly said that the money donated went to the Haiti Relief Fund. Those that, too, is a very worthy cause, this is the CHILE Relief Challenge. We're happy to inform you that we confirmed with the Red Cross that all our CRC donations had, in fact, been designated for Chile. We requested that a follow-up letter be sent explaining the error to those of your who received the Haiti letters. We hope you have all received those letters and can rest assured that your donation is helping Chile!

We are still getting words of congratulations and thanks from our Chilean friends and colleagues for the incredible results of the CRC. When we tell them that it was our donors that made this campaign a success, they ask how they can possibly thank all of you. So, here goes:

¡MUCHAS GRACIAS!
We, and Chile, just can't say it enough.

The Final Tally: A Spectacular Finish!

2010-06-01T20:18:00.005-04:00

Dear Friends of Meghan and Josh’s Chile Relief Challenge,

Saludos desde Santiago de Chile. We are so excited to write you on this first day of June with a final email announcing the results of our amazing Chile Relief Challenge! The Challenge officially ended yesterday, and we are so THANKFUL to all of you for your inspiring contributions to VE Global and the American Red Cross’ Chile Earthquake relief efforts.

Together, we achieved outstanding results as we crossed the fundraising finish line.

You raised $8,252 for relief and reconstruction efforts in both Santiago and the most affected regions in southern Chile.

¡MUCHÍSIMAS GRACIAS!

We challenged you to reach high goals, and you came through.

Now, it’s our turn to come through by running the real race...

We far surpassed our first $5,000 goal and came so close to reaching our $10,000 goal! We promised you that we would run a half-marathon if we reached that second goal, and even though we didn’t, we were very close.

As a symbol of our dedication to you and to Chile, we are still going to run a half-marathon! We plan to run the October 10th half-marathon at the earthquake’s epicenter in Talcahuano and Concepción, Chile. Although our campaign is officially over, we plan to keep you posted on our training through the Chile Relief Challenge Blog.

Not only are we proud of all your hard work during our challenge, but we wanted to share some very exciting, related news:

On June 3rd, Josh will begin working as the new Executive Director of one of our worthy charities: VE Global. Chile’s recent Mega-Quake, our work together on fundraising and earthquake reconstruction efforts, and your inspirational participation in our Chile Relief Challenge were some of the leading factors that have led Josh in this new, exciting direction.

We hope that you will take a look at VE Global’s webpage (www.ve-global.org) and stay involved with this great organization!

Here at the close of the Chile Relief Challenge, we are so grateful for your compassion and generosity. When our ground shook in Chile, you came through.

Looking forward to being in touch. Be sure to follow us as we train and run the half-marathon in October!

Hugs from Santiago,
Meghan and Josh

The CRC Final Stretch!

2010-05-24T11:19:00.000-04:00

Our Chile Relief Challenge (CRC!) is still alive and rounding the bend to come in for a Grand Photo Finish on May 31st. There´s only one week left to help!

We´ve raised a solid $6,250 so far, but, here in the final stretch, we´re far from our original $10,000 goal. We´re not giving up just yet!

Can you get the CRC up to $7,500?

We know it´s time to spruce up those summer wardrobes, but before you buy that trendy handbag...

or sporty jacket...

...consider donating (or donating again) to the CRC! Carry us over that finish line!

To donate to VE Global (earthquake relief effort for at-risk children in Santiago):

http://www.firstgiving.com/chilereliefchallengeve

To dontate to the American Red Cross Chile Earthquake Relief Fund:

http://www.firstgiving.com/chilereliefchallengearc

Sending you motivation from a Santiago still trembling with mild aftershocks,

Meghan and Josh

2 Months, 28 Collective Race Kilometers and Counting...Are you going to help us get to that half-marathon?

2010-04-27T12:53:00.011-04:00

2 Months, 28 Collective Race Kilometers and Counting...Are you going to help us get to that half-marathon?

On Saturday morning, Meghan and I awoke to our first joint Chile Relief Running Challenge: The Brooks 9K Vitacura Running Tour. For those you who may be as kilometer-challenged as me, 9 kilometers is 5.59 miles...or, well, what seemed to me as...long...for my first-ever road-race.

Let us not forget: I am the guy who just around a year and a half ago started his first ever serious commitment to exercise. Yes, I was the guy in your high school gym class who had a very, very, very hard time even completing the mandatory 1-mile run. But now, as I learned on Saturday, I am Runner.

Up until now, my new commitment to exercise has been mostly biking and the elliptical in my little, apartment building gym upstairs. I love my exercise routines, but to be honest, this whole running business is taking my body some getting used to! My running friends tell me that I just need to give it a little time, and that I am going to love it. But right now, I am still just learning how to breathe properly through my nose!

Although she claims to be a novice like me, Meghan has been running much longer than I have. She also ran a 10-Kilometer road race in Santiago a few weeks ago. She is my running partner-in-crime here in Santiago. I admire her strength, ability to train (particularly impressive due to the early morning hours she holds in support of our cause), and her unwavering commitment to our cause, even in the face of adversity and dehydration after not feeling very well from the day before. This whole running business for me, although not easy, is much more manageable because I know that I have a strong, motivating friend spurring me on!

Meghan and I were lucky enough to have two more faithful Chile Relief Challenge friends, La José y La Nan, who were also up for an early Saturday morning 9K race. We arrived early to lovely Vitacura, a nice, green Santiago neighborhood that would be perfect for my first race. In Santiago, ranked as one of the most polluted in the Americas, I was excited about the chance to run in Vitacura´s slightly cleaner air.

After arriving and before beginning our last-minute warm-up, stretching and bathroom breaks, we decided that we needed to put on the appropriate Chile Running Challenge Cheer. We would later learn just how popular a little tri-colored face-paint (or maybe just our obviously charming gringo looks), can make you...

As the clock inched closer to 10:00, all the runners began to gather at the starting line. I really felt the excitement in the air in those few moments before the race began as everyone started to prepare. Before I knew it, the race had begun. La José, Nancy, Meghan and I all soon settled into our own paces.

Most of the race, for me, is a blur. But I vividly remember looking up, just 2 or 3 kilometers from the finish line, as we came upon a beautiful tree-lined street. I think this may have been my first experience of that feeling that my runner friends are trying to explain to me. It was there, on Candelaria Goyenechea street, that I felt amazed and energized to actually be running in such a beautiful place...Maybe this running thing isn´t going to be so bad after all...

We all crossed the finish line on Saturday--and with good times! The excitement of meeting up with La Meghan, La José, and La Nancy after the race was only outdone by the excitement of everyone who wanted to take photos and record video for television of the funny-looking runners with Chilean Flag Themed Face Paint!

As we reflect on our first race together, Meghan and I are even more excited about getting ready for our half-marathon in support of VE Global and the American Red Cross Chile Relief Fund. But, we need your help! We have now run 28 collective kilometers in road races for our causes.

Will you help us reach our goal of $10,000 to get keep those kilometers coming?

Colorado School Kids Penny, Nickel and Dime Their Way to a Big Donation for Santiago's Children

2010-04-25T19:57:00.001-04:00

After an intense 2-week “Coin Drive” to collect every cent possible for the Chile Relief Challenge, the Kindness Club at Beattie Elementary School in Fort Collins, Colorado has announced it’s final donation amount: $405.07!

Gracias, Beattie Elementary!!

The funds will benefit VE Global, the Santiago non-profit working to help at-risk Santiago children recover from the earthquake and repair their orphanages and schools.

The students members of the Kindness Club encouraged their classmates to bring in spare change to drop into coin collection jars set out in every classroom in the school for their “Kids Helping Kids” Chile Relief Challenge campaign. Some students even brought in bills to stuff into the classroom jar!

To keep the energy for their campaign high, students paid a 25-cent fee to their classroom jars in order to participate in “special dress” days, such as slipper, hat and twin day.

It looks like their campaign tactics worked! Beattie, thank you for you initiative, fundraising energy and impressive kindness as Chile comes upon the 2-month anniversary of the quake. You did it!

Próximamente...¡La Noche de TRIVIA de VE! ¡Necesitamos tu ayuda!

2010-04-21T21:47:00.003-04:00

[Click here for the English version...]

Nosotros vamos a la noche de Trivia de VE el 1ero de mayo...Y, ¡necesitamos que participes con nosotros!

Meghan y yo vamos a ponernos las pilas y armarnos con toda la sabiduría de trivialidades posible para ponernos a prueba para una muy buena causa...

(Disculpen, aún no disponemos de una foto de Josh así, pero intentaremos sacar una muy pronto...)

Sípo, es verdad...Nuestro Chile Relief Challenge se ha comprometido con juntar a 4 de nuestros más leales hinchas para participar (y ayudarnos a ganar, por supuesto) en la Noche de Trivia de VE:

Fecha: Sábado, 1ero de mayo
Hora: 18:00
Ubicación: La Casa Roja, Agustinas 2113, Santiago
Costo: $5000 pesos chilenos
(100% of proceeds go to VE Global)

Oigan santiaguinos, ¿quiénes de ustedes nos van a ayudar? ¡Necesitamos que se sienten en nuestra mesita de trivia!

Incluso se dice por allí que los ganadores saldrán con premios bacánes po. ¡La raja! Y, aún más importante, nosotros podemos pasar un rato agradable juntos mientras ayudamos a una muy buena causa.

¿Eres un sabelotodo? ¿Eres una Wikipedia con patas? O, ¿sólo te tinca pasar un rato agradable con tu Meghan y tu Josh, divertirte y ayudar a VE?

¡Nuestros 4 puestos se nos acabarán rápido! Haznos saber pronto por email o por Facebook si nos puedes ayudar a representar al Chile Relief Challenge.

(Y si todo eso no te apetece lo suficiente, vean estas fotos de la Noche de Trivia de Noviembre del 2009 y la página de Facebook de la Noche de Trivia.)

VE Trivia Night is coming...Chile Relief Challenge (We) need your help!

2010-04-21T19:34:00.013-04:00

[Haz clic aquí para la versión en español...]

We are going to VE Global Trivia Night on May 1st...and we need you to join us!

Meghan and I are putting on our thinking caps on and brushing up on all things trivia to the put our cabezas to the ultimate test for a good cause...

(Sorry, we still don´t have a picture of Josh with his very own thinking cap, but will be working on this for you.)

Yes, it´s true...the Chile Relief Challenge has committed to rounding up FOUR of our most wonderful supporters to participate with us at the upcoming VE Trivia Night:

Date: Saturday, May 1st
Time: 6:00pm
Location: La Casa Roja, Agustinas 2113, Santiago
Cost: $5000 Chilean Pesos
(100% of proceeds go to VE Global)

So, Santiaguinos...who is going to help us out? We need you to join our Chile Relief Challenge trivia table.

Word has it that we can even win fabulous prizes! And, even more importantly, we will help a good cause while enjoying each other´s company.

Are you a smarty-pants? Are you a walking-Wikipedia? Or...do you just want to see Meghan and Josh, have fun together, and support a fantastic cause?

Our 4 extra seats are going to go fast! Let us know soon by email or Facebook if you´ll be joining us to represent the Chile Relief Challenge!

(And if that isn´t enough to entice you, check out these photos from the November 2009 VE Trivia Night and the VE Trivia Night Facebook Page for more information)

Easter Reconstruction For Retiro

2010-04-11T23:23:00.011-04:00

A temporary home for one Retiro family to have a dry place to sleep for the oncoming rainy winter season- this was our Chile Relief Challenge for the Easter weekend.

Josh and I couldn´t have done this alone, and, thankfully, we had the help of volunteers from our FECH (U. of Chile) group, the University of Concepción, VE Global (one of the organizations that our Chile Relief Challenge in benefiting), and our friend María Jose (who went down to Retiro with us for a second time). The first day, we had a 5-member squad to start the construction of a media agua (temporary wooden house). With little or no prior media agua training, our group quickly found out how grueling the first step was: setting the base posts for the house to raise it off what will be a very wet winter ground. We had to fix 17 posts 2 feet deep (not to mention making sure our base hypotenuse calculations were on par- not a fun math lesson). After a day of digging holes in the ground, we finally got the floor placed on the posts when the sun was long gone, and cold fall night had set in.

The following day was a flurry of help from more volunteers who helped us raise the walls and roof. The final steps of hinging the windows and door were so gratifying, and seeing the Chilean flag nailed right above that door was a true victory.

However, for Josh and me, the most rewarding part of the weekend was getting to know the family that will live in the structure we built. Our constant Chilean mother cheerleader, Señora Margarita, took care of our whole crew by feeding us homemade empanadas, fresh fruit and even the evening tea ("onces") that´s so typically Chilean.

We had a big photo shoot with the family on Easter afternoon when the house was finished, and Margarita even invited us to celebrate her son Pablo´s 13th birthday. Mom, Dad, their 3 children, Grandma and even the neighbor gathered around the birthday table with us- the few members of the first day building crew- and shared their earthquake experience.

Despite the scare of the quake, they are full of hope for their plans to continue living in Retiro and eventually build a permanent home when government grants come through. However, no one is sure when that day will come, so this Easter and birthday afternoon, the celebration took place beside 2 temporary shelters- one that Señora Margarita had built to last just as long as the fall sunshine, and one we had build to last the winter. We hope that this gracious, gracious family will be able to celebrate Pablo´s 14th birthday in a permanent, earthquake resistant house. For now, at least they have a rain-resistant alternative to get by.

The relief situation in Retiro continues to be complicated by a lack of organization in carrying out reconstruction projects. Though there are many willing hands to help on long holiday weekends like this past one, organizing this help in an effective way in a daunting task, and will continue to dictate how quickly affected towns like Retiro can recover. Now, a month and a half after the start of the school year, some Retiro children still haven´t returned to classes due to damage to school buildings. Even though temporary locations for classes are being established, parents are apprehensive about sending their children to school. One mother of 7 girls told me she wouldn´t send her kids to school until she had personally inspected the classroom.

However, some kids are already back in class and are returning to their normal rhythm of April life. Thanks to volunteer work, media aguas have popped up on various house lots around the town now from which rubble was cleared, including 2 lots we removed rubble from 3 weeks ago. These media aguas are a sign of hope, albeit temporary. It's a sign that volunteers has stretched out a hand to Retiro and actually helped. Oh, and the little chocolate Easter eggs we passed out to the kids didn´t hurt either. Happy Easter, Retiro.

Meeting Goals and Reaching Higher!!! Thank you!

2010-04-07T18:12:00.011-04:00

¡Mil gracias!

Our special Thank You Shout Out!

Thank you to all our new VE Global Donors!

Donald and Alice Rohdy

Susan and Michael Maffai

Amy Moran Lowe

Thomas Maffai

Jessica Mead

Mama and Papa Pilz

Sue Peterson

Thank you to all our new American Red Cross Donors!

Joel Moss

Dwern

Carolina Cruz-Letelier and Brian Bentley

Yoonie Park

Veronica and Mark

Mama and Papa Pilz

Meghan and I just returned from our second trip to Retiro, Chile to work on recovery and reconstruction efforts. Much work still needs to be done! We are so proud to be part of such a fantastic initiative and are so thankful for each and every one of you who is participating in and following our cause! We were ecstatic to return from our trip to see that we have reached our first benchmark goal of $5000!

That means that in our first month of working together, you have contributed:

$2,295 to VE Global

and

$2,845 to the American Red Cross

Thank you all for your commitment to our causes!

It's a great day for VE Global!

As you know, we have several special projects in the works. Two of these projects have already committed their donations to our friends at VE Global.

Thank you Beattie Elementary!

We are so thankful for our friends at Beattie Elementary School. As you may remember, a coin drive is underway at this Colorado elementary school. Meghan had a fantastic conference call with the Kindness Club last Friday. They are in hot pursuit of their fundraising goals by charging for crazy dress days. Students can pay 25 cents to participate in hat day, slipper day, and other fun dress up days. All proceeds from their coin drive will go to support VE Global's Earthquake Recovery Efforts. Check out their newsletter which highlights our cause!

Thank you Christine Sproehnle and Preschool Community!

We have also received word from Christine Sproehnle and her California Preschool that they will be donating $10 per family from their April tuition to VE Global's Earthquake Recovery Efforts! They are also working with us to find ways to make a bigger impact by spreading the word and looking for ways to make in-kind donations of winter clothing!

Are you currently working on a project or interested in getting people involved? Let us know!

The more we work together, the greater our impact will be! Send us an email and let us know what we can do to help you make a difference for Chile! We'd love to brainstorm ideas with you and share your great work with our followers.

VE Global: Helping Santiago's Children and helping the Chile Relief Challenge in Retiro!

2010-03-31T21:07:00.004-03:00

VE Global: Helping us Help Chile

We are very excited to welcome 7 members of VE Global, one of the amazing charities that we are supporting in Chile through our Chile Relief Challenge campaign, to our Semana Santa weekend trip to the Retiro!
The 7 members of VE Global will be joining us in our efforts to help construction projects and work with the children of Retiro.
Friends, please check out this video of VE Global and the great work they do with children here in under-resourced communities in Santiago, and click here to donate to VE through our challenge:

Thank you VE! We are proud of your strong commitment to Chile, the children you serve, and for helping out those in need in the South!

The Return to Retiro: The warm-up is over

2010-03-31T21:06:00.013-03:00

It's time to get started and down to the real work of our Chile Relief Challenge! Meghan and I have the sense that our first trip to Retiro and Copihue last week was just the warm-up...much like our getting ready with the deconstruction/construction team in this video:

We are excited to let you all know that we are leaving tomorrow at 6pm for Retiro with the FECH (The University of Chile Student Association) to continue our volunteer work. After getting back after the first trip, the FECH got all of their volunteer teamstogether in order to plan future efforts.

The exciting news is that the Semana Santa (Easter Week) holiday gives us and the FECH the perfect opportunity to head back south. Our fearless FECH coordinator, Sebastián, has informed us that we will be part of a group of 80-90 volunteers...many more than the 35-40 from our first trip.

With chocolate Easter eggs in tow to pass out to the children of Retiro, we will be heading south on Thursday evening on our second volunteer mission to the region.

We are not sure whether we will be working with children or on the (de)construction team. Most likely it will be a combination of both. The truth is, Meghan, María José, and I enjoy being involved in both the construction/destruction and educational projects with the children. It gives us a sense of helping in different, diverse ways. We are anticipating a successful trip this second time around and are excited to see just how much more of an impact we can have with a group of passionate, hard-working double the size of the first!

We wanted to share some before and after shots of our warm-up destruction work from last week. These two houses were destroyed in the quake. We removed major debris, tore down walls, and even brought down this roof. Here, and on our other debris-removal projects, we paved the way for future help to these families.

They may now be able to put up mediaguas, a temporary wooden-home, on their properties in the space that we cleared. On our first trip south, 3 weeks after the earthquake, it seemed as if not much progress had been made in setting up temporary housing before the winter arrives.

We are eager to return tomorrow to see what progress has been made and to continue helping people prepare and recover, both in the short and long term. The FECH and the University of Chile are talking about the importance of a long term commitment to relief and recovery efforts in Retiro.

Not only are we excited and passionate about being involved in such important work, we want you all to know just how thankful we are for your support. We are just a few hundred dollars away from reaching our initial $5000 benchmark. Gracias to all of you for helping us help Chile!

We promise to be in touch early next week upon our return to Santiago after our second trip! Wishing you all a very happy holiday weekend!

Hugs,

Josh and Meghan

One Month After: Gracias a todos! We´ve made so much progress already!

2010-03-27T19:26:00.001-03:00

¡Muchísimas Gracias!

Meghan and I have spent a lot of time thinking about how we can thank you all for your very generous contributions and efforts. We want you all to know just how appreciative we are for each of you who has thought about our Chilean friends and families in need by digging deep into your pockets and giving as generously as you can.

As we begin to share with you on this blog, we wanted to send out special thank-you´s to those of you who have already heard our call and clicked on our Firstgiving links to learn more about VE Global and the Chile Earthquake Relief Fund of the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago.

We have made tremendous progress in the first 3 weeks of our campaign. As of this Saturday, on the 1-month anniversary of the 8.8 megaquake:

We have already raised a total of $US 3990. That´s 40% of our total goal!

How does that break down? So far, you have contributed:

$US 1815 to help recovery efforts and earthquake education projects in Santiago, and
$US 2175 to support the American Red Cross in its Chile Earthquake Relief Efforts

Meghan and I are very excited about the fact that we are just beginning. We have heard from many of you with several big projects in the works, and hope to hear from many more of you with great ideas for raising the bar on our fundraising totals. To highlight a few of the great ideas that some of you are working on:

A Colorado Grade School is starting a Penny War between grades and classes. They are even hoping to take their Penny War district-wide!

An English Teacher in Thailand and her students there are working to help out by raising money for Chile Earthquake Relief Efforts.

A California Pre-School teacher has been in touch to see how they can help their fellow Pacific Coast friends in Chile.

We are very excited to keep up the momentum of our campaign. Word-of-mouth and your energy and motivation on special projects will help us reach our goal! Please be in touch if you are working on a special donation initiative or need extra support from us to get the ball rolling!

A Special Thank You Shout-Out to our American Red Cross Donors:

Jody Mason

Nancy DeVitto

Joe and Margaret Lopez

Sue Colombano

Stephen Spicer

Laetitia

Heather Harris

Eric & Irene Leong

The Lathans

Meghan

A Bolivian in Los Angeles

Sra. Cook

Brett and Bernie

Kevin and Kim Keenon

Traci and Matt

Lisa's Mom

Ross Lenihan

Ashley See

Hal and Ginny White

Avinash Venu

Don & Germaine Welch,

Roger and Elena

Carole and Jon Grossman-Swenson

Flora

Emily Horne

Ashleigh White

Nancy Moore

Mark

Marian Thomassen

Susannah

Joe Hutcheson

Deanne and Stuart Buchan

Margaret Evenson

Jennifer Schmidt

Megan McLean

Nereida Heller

Natalie Nimmer

EJPM

Fiona Troon

Lauren Alexander Hansen

5 anonymous donors

A Special Thank You Shout-Out to our VE Global Donors:

Sue Peterson

Jody Mason

Rafael Canabal

Stephanie Wong

Theresa Tufaro

Kevin Krauth

Kathy Styles

Heather Lee Harris

Auntie M

Meghan

Kimberly Somerfield-Barnett

Allison

Steve and Nancy Mulder

Kimberley Skubic

Hal and Ginny White

Jen Popowitch

Flora

Ashleigh White

Blake

Joyce

P.J. Lee

Megan Pfeiffer-Hoyt

Susan McDonald

JBricker

Clucking

Fiona Troon

Allison Van Houten

Danny

2 anonymous donors

Chile Relief Challenge- Hands-On Help

2010-03-26T13:25:00.003-03:00

Last week, Josh and I decided it was time to take the Chile Relief Challenge down south. We had a tremendous itch to do hands-on work to help people in one of the most affected regions in the country- the Maule Region (7th Region of Chile).We set out with our good Chilean friend, María José, on our 5-day adventure last Wednesday with the student association of the University of Chile (the FECH). Our group was made up of about 30 students of medicine, law, engineering, architecture, education, and, well, us: 2 gringos and a Chilean with a desire to dig our nails into the recovery effort. The FECH took us in, and before we knew it, we were on a 6-hour bus ride to our assigned destination, the small town of Retiro.The 5 days couldn´t have gone any faster. We were up at 7:30 in the morning to get organized with our work groups and not in bed until midnight or 1 after group meetings to share the day´s experiences. There were tremendous stories to be told, most of them with the theme that there is still so much work to be done and its the organization and manpower to complete this work that is scarily lacking.

The Chile Relief Challenge Projects in Retiro:

A Moment to Breathe for the Kids

Josh, María José and I participated in organizing 2 communal recreation events for kids in Retiro and a neighboring town, Copihue. It gave the children a chance to get out of their quake-shaken homes or temporary tent homes and get together with other kids. We simply wanted them to play and forget about the current devastation, if just for a couple of hours.We colored, we painted, we chanted, we ran, we tagged, we took pictures, we conversed and we smiled with the kids (and their parents). Josh and I were a curious attraction for these towns, because few foreigners pass through little-known Retiro and Copihue. All the kids swarmed around Josh at one point, wanting to know their names in English. He dutifully re-named all the kids of Copihue, gringo-style.

Hard Labor, Lots of Gratitude

The days that we weren´t organizing events for the kids, we were hauling rubble off plots where houses used to stand. Families were either living in parts of the house that were still standing or in tents somewhere on their property. They watched while our “rubble team” worked, and family members picked up shovels to help. If they were too old to help, they gave us fresh fruit, juice, cake and, of course coca cola (the national drink). After we had cleared rubble off the entire front part of her land, one elderly woman said,
“You are my angels, you´ve taken a huge weight off of my shoulders”. She stood there in the shade of her grape terrace (that was luckily still standing), and waved to us as our team carted wheelbarrows, shovels and hard hats off her newly-cleared ground. Having this cleared space finally makes a family a candidate for a temporary shelter to be built by another volunteer organization. However, the number of shelters available is terribly scarce, and the rainy southern winter in just around the corner...Josh and I felt, at times, that we were back in scout camp with our FECH group. We all slept on bunk beds in a school dormitory, we ate together in a little cafeteria, we shared stories at night, and we traveled on a big bus (always with a contingent of the group chanting and singing from the back). Their energy swept us along (we were the old farts of the group), and the momentum continues to build as they plan the next trip down next week. That means a bit more help for our little Retiro, and a bit more hope.