Its time to give something back...

In a day it is my birthday. Of course everyone I know already knows this (dont you!!)…. If you have forgotten don’t worry, you can fix your guilty conscience easily. Give me some money!

I am not going to throw a party, or take everyone out for dinner. I am not even going to buy myself a pressie (although that is tempting). I am going to purchase some gifts and give them to the homeless old people’s home. There is one shelter in our region where people over the age of 70, with no family, no property and no money can go. The home opened 18 months ago, and is currently only open to 10 people. The rest of the rooms still needs renovating and eventually up to 30 people can reside there.

So, this plan started last week when we visited to see what they needed a few days after the Red Cross event. The cost of renovations is high, but there are ways of helping these people without spending lots of money. We have put together a list of the items with their help and now I am hoping that you guys will pledge some money toward some of these

Items they would like:
The old people have nothing to do. They get provided food, and nice clean accommodation, hot water and washing machines but they have no recreation. Almost all of them are rural people and they have asked for some chickens to farm. They will look after them, and will be able to eat the eggs. The old people’s diet is incredibly simple and some good source of protein like eggs will be a huge benefit health wise.

Chickens approx $10 each we want to get 10 + rooster = $110

So Come On - BUY A CHICKEN TODAY... but wait there's more!!!

The ladies (there are currently 9 woman residents) would also like to knit. If they had some needles and wool they could even make items to sell, by doing this they will pay for the wool. We would like to buy knitting needles and wool to get them started. This is the meaning of sustainable development!

Knitting needles and wool $50 +

The lady on the left is very craft oriented, the one on the right writes poetry. If there were more materials for them then maybe others will join in. They would like some stationary, paper, pens, paints and craft materials.

Craft materials approximately $50 +

Finally, there is one resident who is both deaf and blind. She has no contact with the outside world, When I visited she just sat on the bench totally oblivious to everything happening around her. She was sitting and rolling some beads between her fingers while everyone else was pretty animated (for 90 year olds that is!). Imagine living in such a lonely world… But we can purchase her a hearing aid, so she could at least hear what is happening in the world around her.

Dont know yet - maybe $300

You can give in a number of ways, either deposit money electronically into one of my bank accounts in NZ, UK or Armenia… send me cash (not recommended) or pledge the money to me to pay me when you see me…. (I will have a memory like an elephant). I will email my account numbers to anyone who asks.

If we exceed the totals above then we will also look at hearing aids for other people and some basic foodstuffs.

Running tally:

Lucy (that is me) $100
Mum- £50 (half to chickens, half to hearing aid)
Rachel P- $100 to anything
Penny – All her knitting equipment and extra wool that she is leaving Armenia when she goes home to USA.

So come on, let me know if you can help out a few less fortunate people, who knows, it might be you one day.