Well, it’s a new year, actually a new decade for that matter. So it’s a good time for reflection. DavTee Society has been operating officially since 2007. However the work in Mexico & the fundraising has been ongoing for many years prior to that. It has been a very busy few years.

 

The projects in Chihuahua Mexico have been very successful. We have partnered with a local pastor to run programs in the outskirts of Chihuahua City in Northern Mexico. Chihuahua City has over a million people and job opportunities are minimal. The outskirts of Chihuahua are an impoverished area that has extremely low employment options and many single parent families. Children in this area are living in makeshift shacks and are lacking basic necessities such as food.  Pastor Jorge & Ana have been struggling to feed these children for many years.

 
 

 El Comodor is a program to assist with feeding children in the outskirts of Chihuahua City. DavTee Society was instrumental in the expansion of this program that provides a nutritous lunch to these poverty stricken children. We helped build a cafeteria style building called El Comodor (means dining room in Spanish). The new building is able to seat all the children at once so they do not have to gobble down their food or be late for school. The children are now being fed five days a week instead of three days a week. This is accomplished from the support of our community. DavTee Society set up a contract with Pastor Jorge to oversee the programs in Chihuahua. We have been sending funds monthly for supplies for El Comodor. We receive documentation and reports every month regarding the number of children being fed. As we have seen in Canada, it is difficult for children to concentrate on learning when they are hungry. The lunch program promotes optimal well-being for these children and will hopefully give them a better chance of breaking the cycle of poverty.

 
 

The Sewing Program is another program in Chihuahua that has been very successful. DavTee Society helped build a sewing room where sewing lessons are being given. Ana (Pastor Jorge’s wife) volunteers to teach women sewing skills so they can clothe their families and possibly earn an income. Ana is an accomplished seamstress and a patient instructor. Other women have also volunteered their time to sew school uniforms and clothes to give to impoverished families. The Sewing Program just required initial funds for the room, sewing machines, a serger, scissors, thread, etc. Now the program is running without needing additional support. DavTee Society had planned a construction training program but that is not feasible at this point.

 
 

The Big Book Box was a project where DavTee Society partnered with ANSO Society and the Swan City Rotary Club to send books and school supplies to Ethiopia. A canister with school books ranging from elementary to university level was sent last year to Southern Ethiopia. Funds were also raised to purchase school supplies in Ethiopia through ANSO Society. We are still accepting donations of books in order to fill another canister.

 
 

 

 

We have had some effective fundraisers for DavTee Society. The Debut Evening for DavTee Society was a fundraising dinner where over two hundred people attended. We raised funds to help set up the Sewing Program, the Big Book Box, and some administration costs.

 

DavTee Society also collaborated with Hope International Development Agency (Hope Int.) to raise money for their water projects in Cambodia & Ethiopia. Mission Heights Community Church (MHCC) held a garage sale and fundraising drive to raise funds for water wells for Cambodia. DavTee Society and MHCC were able to raise enough for 10 water wells which fulfilled our goal. DavTee Society has directly fundraised enough for a few villages in Ethiopia, allowing over seven thousand people to have transformed lives by having access to clean water. In November of last year DavTee Society assisted Hope Int. with their annual fundraising dinner in Grande Prairie. Three hundred people attended and enough money was raised to provide clean water and farming skills to approximately two thousand people. Before getting water systems these people did not have access to clean water, They would get water from contaminated sources where they often had to travel great distances to get this dirty water. When we visited Hybena, a village in the Southern highlands of Ethiopia, we saw their main source of water. It was a dugout in the middle of the village that had green and grey sludge. I did not even want to step in water that these people were forced to drink (below).
 
 

 

Home to Help the World was planned to be a major fundraiser for DavTee Society. The idea was to build a house where the profit would enable DavTee Society to help people in poverty. However the Home to Help the World was completed at the time the recession hit in Grande Prairie so it was sold without making a profit. The positive note for this fundraiser was the amount of people made aware of the needs of so many throughout the world. The Home to Help the World webpage had almost one thousand three hundred hits. Newspapers and television media also did several articles regarding the Home to Help the World.

 

DavTee Society also spoke to various churches, groups, and individuals throughout the Peace Country and Northern B.C. We received honorariums or donations in this way. When we speak we often bring the racecar with Ethiopia pictures to promote DavTee Society.

 

 

DavTee Society is incorporated as a Non- Profit Society since 2007. We have submitted an application to Charities Directorate to become a registered charity.  Our Charities Application is active and the process should be nearing completion.

 

DavTee Society will continue to support El Comodor and the Sewing Program in Chihuahua, Mexico.  We will continue to collaborate with ANSO Society and Swan City Rotary Club to collect school books to send to Ethiopia. We will accept applications for other projects that fit within the mandate of DavTee Society locally or internationally.

 

We will continue to do fundraising both for DavTee Society and Hope Int. The next fundraiser will be an art auction to raise funds for DavTee Society. We have started collecting donated art and the art auction will take place in spring of 2010. Stay tuned for further details. 

 

DavTee Society is looking forward to the next decade. We hope to help more people around the world to have basic needs such as food, clothing and clean water. If we all help where our hearts lead us we can make a positive impact for disadvantaged people everywhere.

Together We Can Change the World.