Pennies for Pancho

This year my first graders collected pennies to buy bricks for home improvements for Francisco's home. We call him Pancho because this is a name given to boys named Franciso. They learned a little about Francisco and his country and they collected $18 in pennies. I plan to show Franciso some of their photos. He will get to see his special friends from the USA. One of my kids asked me Friday, if I could bring Pancho back to the USA to visit them!

A big thank you to another teacher at my school who also contributed to Pancho's penny box. Thank you, Mrs. Bartell!

Pancho's Family

Pancho lives with twelve people in a very small cramped area. He lives with his mother, sister, Evelyn, younger brother, Samy, and baby sister who as born a couple of months ago. He also lives with other relatives. I am interested in meeting his mother and the neighbor who often writes his letters and I hope to find out the name of his baby sister. The family seems to be a close and happy family despite their poor living conditions. I will post a video of Pancho's mother and little brother in the next post.

Francisco de Jesus

Francisco is a little boy who is sponsored by a group of Children International sponsors. His sister, Evelyn, has a sponsor named Steve, who visited Evelyn and her family last April. When I saw Francisco's cute face on the video and the extremely poor living conditions that the family lived in, I asked to see if a group sponsorship could be started for him. He was enrolled in the program and Francisco, called Pancho, now has 12 sponsors :)

Francisco lives in Cartagena with his mother, sister Evelyn, younger brother, Samy, and new little sister. I don't know her name yet but hope to find out on the trip. Francisco is eight years old and he likes art and soccer. Thirteen people live in the home which has one multi purpose room, a dirt floor, and wooden walls. There is a toilet in the home along with running water.

We have set up fundraisers to help Francisco and his family and hope to make a difference in this family's life.