It’s that time of year again - time for the annual Extreme Response Christmas parties. This year we’ll be holding parties in Quito, Ecuador and Cape Town, South Africa. The parties will run from Dec 2 - Dec 11th and we’re planning on celebrating with over 14,000 people between the two countries. Keep checking back for more updates!

Lung Wah is a Chinese restaurant in Quito, Ecuador. A large group had gathered for dinner on a Saturday evening in December 2007. We had just participated in a Christmas party at the Zambiza Dump. I was seated next to Mike Bishop, Director of Human Resources for Extreme Response International. During the meal I mentioned that I was a nurse at a Home for the Aged in Ontario, Canada. Mike explained that he and his wife Carol had taken a little Nursing Home in Quito under their wing, and frequently visited and held programs for the residents. Mike mentioned they were looking for North American Nursing Homes to sponsor this little place. I came away with the thought in the back of my mind, but at that point was unsure how to help.

December 2008, found us back at the Christmas parties in Quito. This time our group from Ontario had the privilege of visiting the little Nursing Home called “Hogar Betañia”. Two other nurses from the facility where I work, were along on the trip.We all came away with our hearts touched by this little group, their surroundings and their needs. Without mentioning my thoughts, the two girls approached me asking if there wasn’t some way our facility could help. We proceeded to inquire about the needs of Hogar Betañia. At the top of their wish list, was physical therapy equipment. While at the Nursing Home we had been especially taken by a wheel chair we had seen. It seemed to have wheel chair wheels, but the seat consisted of a white plastic lawn chair. Not sure it would pass inspection in Ontario. Early in the Spring we discovered that June was actually Seniors month, with the theme this year being “Seniors reaching out to Seniors”. It was a perfect plan for a fund-raiser. With a visual display, and a replica of the wheel chair we had seen as our prop, we conducted our fund-raiser. The event was held on June 14, 2009 at Norview Lodge in Simcoe, Ontario the same day as our annual picnic for residents and their families. Each person making a donation received an Ecuadorian rose, donated by a local florist. Generous donations were received from residents, their families, staff, and volunteers. All donations will be sent via Extreme Response to Quito, Ecuador for the purchase of physical therapy equipment for Hogar Betañia.

Submitted by Kathy Dreyer

I’ve just returned from a trip to West Africa where I visited the folks in Ghana we helped with Christmas events in December of 2008. They would like to expand their Christmas Outreach with the help of ER in 2009. They told me that many of the kids who they fed last Christmas were surprised to learn that the piece of chicken and portion of rice they received was just for them. This was the first time many of them had ever had a whole piece of chicken to eat. Although grateful, many of them only took a few bites and then took the rest home to share with their family. I hope we can help them expand their program in ‘09. Maybe you can help!

I then traveled on to the Ivory Coast where we have been partnering with the REAP Institute for several years. Although other ER staff members and board members had visited this school, it was my first time there. I was impressed by the school’s leadership, teachers, and the students. REAP is a school dedicated to providing a quality education to English speaking refugee kids who have fled with their families to the French speaking country of Ivory Coast. Seven countries are represented among the student body. Most of the school administrators and teachers are refugees themselves yet they serve the students sacrificially. The level of education the students are receiving was equally as impressive as the quality of the students.

Over the years ER has helped REAP outfit their computer lab. This lab has recently been connected to the internet which greatly expands the education opportunities for the students and teachers alike. We have also helped them with their monthly rent and other special needs. The building they have been renting for several years has just been put on the market. Friends of ER have come forward to help them purchase the building. The purpose of my trip was to work through the purchase details of the building and property. We discovered that there are additional taxes and other fees that they were not planning on paying. So they are currently about $13,000 short of the total needed to complete the transaction. Please contact me if you would like details regarding how you can help meet this need. Watch this blog for further updates. We hope to have the transaction completed in the next 90 – 120 days.

As you can imagine a school like REAP has many needs. Some they brought to my attention are; Teacher Training – they would like a team of trainers to spend a week with their teachers, Microsoft Office multi license for their computer lab computers, one of the teachers is desperately in need of surger,y and the upper students are asking for the opportunity to take standardized educational tests like the SAT or ACT to allow them to apply to universities in West Africa, Europe, the USA or Canada.

Jerry Carnill
President ER

Living Hope hosted more than a dozen Christmas parties in the first week of December, with each event reflecting the unique personality of the community it honored. Guests included Living Hope staff, home-based caregivers and clients, and children in Masiphumelele, Ocean View, Muizenberg/Capricorn and Red Hill. There were also celebrations for the staff of Living Hope Capri, the staff and clients of the Health Care Centre, and the staff and clients of Living Grace.

Adult guests dined on a hearty breakfast or lunch, played games, and heard a moving presentation of the Ray Boltz song “Thank You (For Giving to the Lord),” More than 1,500 children attended the afternoon parties, where they enjoyed food, games, prizes, singing and dancing, face painting and inflatable bounce houses. All guests went home with a special gift package of hygiene products.

The Life Skill Educators (LSEs) planned the children’s parties for their respective communities. The Masi party alone drew more than 800 children and featured bounce houses and freshly popped popcorn. In Ocean View, the festivities included water slides and rides on four-wheel all-terrain vehicles. Capricorn featured a carnival theme, complete with clown performances by LSEs and bobbing for prizes in a juice- and jelly-filled pool. Red Hill’s party took place on Scarborough Beach, where kids held relay races and waded into the chilly waters of the Atlantic. Every party was an unforgettable experience for the children and a tangible expression oflove by the LSEs who serve them.

The parties were coordinated and staged by an Extreme Response work team and assisted by volunteers from the local area and abroad. Much joy, laughter and gratitude was evident throughout the week, reflecting the widespread impact that Living Hope has on the people of the Cape Peninsula.

After months of planning and paperwork, fundraising and collecting of donated items, it seemed so surreal to finally be in Manta, Ecuador. I was part of a team of 11 Canadians from the Simcoe, Ontario area that flew to Manta to help put on the Christmas Outreach Events for 2008. We went loaded down with 22 suitcases, all weighing in at the 49.9 allowable pounds, ready to bring joy and encouragement to the poor people in the coastal area of Manta. We had brought with us toys, hygiene items, and school supplies to make up gift bags, for the approximate 600 children that we were to bring Christmas greetings to. We brought cash to purchase food supplies to make lunches for the folks at the parties and food baskets to take home with them as well. What a grocery shopping trip that was! Games were assembled for the parties. Simple things like plywood painted with cut out circles to allow bean bags to be tossed through. Stick fishing poles to play “Go Fish” were constructed. Plastic pop bottles filled with beach sand to toss rings onto. Laughter and love filled the room as the gift bags were put together. We were there in our minds, to bring encouragement to these forgotten folks. We just were not really ready for the 180 turn around that was about to happen to us as we set out for the locations of the Christmas parties. The big longing eyes, the smiles, the grateful hugs, the emotional out spring of thankfulness to us for coming. We saw children and adults together play our games, colour our crafts, and receive our gifts with enthusiasm as if we had taken them to Disney for the day. We thought we were to be the bearers of great joy, but I think we recieved just as much in return. I will never forget the encounter I had with one little guy and his mother. He had just received his gift bag, besides the toothbrush, toothpaste, face cloth, bar of soap, the bag also contained a little teddy bear and the “treasure of his eye” a shiny red Corvette Hot Wheel car. He turned to his mother so excited, she looked at him and then up at me. I asked our translator to have a quick conversation. The mother got up gave me a hug and told our translator…”thank you for coming far away from your home to bring us these gifts, I could never have enough money to be able to buy my son such a nice toy” To think that a hot wheel car that cost our team 64 cents a piece could bring so much joy. We all went back to Canada, lives a little changed…we live in the land of plenty, help us to be more generous to those who have nothing.

An Extreme Response team of 12 from Sunrise Church in Sacramento, California arrived in Manilla on December 1st - with suitcases full of beanie babies, hotwheel cars, crayons, coloring books, toothbrussh, toothpaste, bars of soap, kids sunglasses and Disney toys. They had enough to make 1400 kids’ gift bags. The first party was held at the Smokey Mountain dump site. The party was held outside in the street for about 500 energetic kids. There was a carnival with 10 different games, ice cream, sodas, cotton candy, the gift bags and food bags for the parents. It was a wild and crazy event.

Over 600 children attended the Olangapo party in a big covered arena. The kids were so beautiful, respectful and smiling from ear to ear the entire time. When the gifts were passed out there were children all around the arena hugging & caressing beanie babies, holding up their crayons & coloring books and pushing, zooming and, of course, crashing their hotwheel cars. This went on for nearly an hour. Later that night the team slept on the floor of a local church, underneath colorful mosquito netting.

An hour drive and a 45 minute hike up a mountain trail is where the final party took place with the 200 kids of the the Kanawan Tribe (plus their parents). The team had an amazing experience being in such a remote place with such appreciative people.

Thank you 2008 Philippines team and all of you who gave to make all this possible!

This year Extreme Response has been involved in celebrating Christmas with over 13,000 in Ecuador, South Africa and Philippines. The parties in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nepal and India will take place in the next couple of weeks. Thank you to all who have given - and who have travelled to these locations to help put on these amazing parties. Please check back for more information and photos after New Years. You can check out our videos on youtube.com - Look up Extreme Response! Have a wonderful Christmas and New Years! The Extreme Response Team.