On December 18th we had an amazing celebration with the residents of the Bambu Retirement Home. Four Tropical Adventures Foundation staff members (Scott, Isaac, Mauro and Elizabeth) attended, as well as the following hard-working volunteers:

Anita Stevens, Allison Schlett, Danielle Swears, Kimberly Abels, Danilo Gabb

We began by setting up lots of decorations, playing Christmas music and then moved into playing games with the residents and staff members. Afterwards we gave away gifts and served lots of food and deserts.

Still, I think the favorite parts for the residents were when we danced and when we played with bubbles. We really had a blast! And at the end, I’m convinced that they had us more tired and worn out than they were!

We were all very proud and happy to have had the opportunity to go spend some time with our beautiful friends at the retirement home. Though we make it a point to visit them all year round, there is still something special about the holiday season.

We brought with us several supplies, materials and food that they really needed. If you ever have the desire to join us or, to donate to the cause, or especially if you’d like to spend a couple of weeks volunteering at the retirement home, please just contact us for more information. More pictures of the party can be seen by clicking here.

This past Saturday, October 27, 2007, we had our second joint all-day volunteer effort between Tropical Adventures and Helping Hands Costa Rica at the Bambu Retirement Home on the Talamanca Indigenous Reservation. For those of you who didn't read the original post, you can find it by clicking here. This event was made possible by a very generous donation made by the "Iain Programa, S.A." and through the hard work of Meranda Glesby and Evangeline Mathura.

The event was a smashing success! We were able to finish up the project we started last month in record time this weekend, mostly thanks to the surprise arrival of many extra people we weren't expecting.

One of our volunteers, Susan Schuetze, from Ontario, Canada, had just finished up two weeks of volunteering in the Bambu area where she had been living with one of our host families, working with the retirement home, and teaching English in the nearby Bambu elementary school. It just so happens that she is good friends with the Director of the Police Force of Costa Rica, Jose Fabio Pizarro, and had invited him and his family to join us. Not only did they join us themselves, but they also invited some of the local police force to help us out as well.

When we arrived and saw them all there, we initially thought something terrible had happened! But when we realized they were there to help us out, we got pretty excited, as you might imagine!

Thankfully we had some extra food with us and we were able to feed all the hard working folks with sandwiches, sodas and chips. Many thanks to Evangeline Mathura and Helping Hands Costa Rica for donating the food for our lunch. It was well deserved and delicious!

The following amazing people were on hand to help out:

From the Tropical Adventures Foundation:

• Scott Pralinsky, Executive Director
• Isaac Garcia, Director
• Allen Vinicio Meza Sandino, Tropical Adventures Volunteer Center Co-Manager
• Alison Smith, Tropical Adventures Volunteer Center Co-Manager
• Susan Schuetze, Volunteer (Ontario, Canada)
• Ryan Rigoli Volunteer (San Francisco, California)
• Kim and Jonathan Stout with son, Miles, Volunteer (Portland, Oregon)

From Helping Hands Costa Rica:

• Adriana Woods, Escazu

Through the Banana Azul Guest House:

• Silvio Antonio Duran Salinas

Guest Volunteers (thanks to volunteer, Susan Schuetze):

• Jose Fabio Pizarro, Director of the Public Police Force of Costa Rica
• Jose's wife, Yalile and daughter's, Natasha and Sharon
• Eight to ten police officers from the area

Also present were some TV cameras to interview everyone about their experience, which made things pretty fun and interesting and created quite a buzz in the community.

We hope to not only return to the retirement home in the near future to help them with many other much-needed projects, but to also put together fun volunteer weekends in other parts of the country to make these opportunities available to more people. If you have any interest in possibly joining us in the future for one of these kinds of events, please contact us and we'll be sure to put you on the list of people to keep updated.

Thanks again to everyone who helped!

My fingers are still covered in paint as I type this post five days later. But a good time was had by all! Helping Hands Costa Rica and the Tropical Adventures Foundation joined hands this past Saturday and really got down and dirty!

We all ventured out into the Talamanca Indigenous Reservation for a day of painting at the Bambu Retirement Home. We were able to get a lot done. Truthfully, I was really amazed at how much thirteen people could accomplish in a short, 7-hour period.

This retirement home is actually a pretty huge place. And we were able to paint three out of four wings, as well as 8 out of 16 bathrooms. In addition, two of the volunteers worked out in the back of the property scraping and painting the chain link fencing and metal bars that enclose the entire laundry section. Both of them went to visit their chiropractors this week!

Yes, I admit. My muscles did ache a bit the next day. But it really was a lot of fun. We had such a great group of people with us. Everyone had a wonderful attitude. We danced, laughed, listened to music, made a big mess and got to know one another pretty well.

Many thanks again to the Iain Programa for their generous donation of $1,000. It was exactly enough to buy us the paint and supplies we needed. And, of course, we can't thank all our volunteers enough for taking the time out to come all the way out to help out these great folks -- who, by the way are extremely grateful for everything we did. A big Tropical Adventures / Helping Hands hug goes out to:

• Meranda Glesby
• Matteo Brancacci Soto
• Evangeline Mathura
• Tamara Day
• Margaret Gibson
• Philippa Wildash
• Allen Vinicio Meza Sandino
• Alison Smith
• Willy Rojas
• Silvio Antonio Duran Salinas
• Isaac Garcia Gutierrez
• Scott Pralinsky
• Maria Jose Cascante

As you probably know by now, our non-profit foundation, the Casa Milagro Foundation, has teamed up with Helping Hands Costa Rica to build a new roof for the Hone Creek Elementary School near Puerto Viejo here in Costa Rica. Teaching English in this school was actually our very first volunteer project when we began back in 2005.

The fund raiser will be held on Tuesday, September 4th from 5:30 to 9:00 pm at the Time Out Tavern in Escazu. Tickets are only $10 and include beer, burgers and door prizes.

All proceeds go towards replacing the badly damaged roof at the Hone Creek Elementary School.

Here are the directions to the Tavern: 300 Mts South of the Costa Rica Country Club, Beige building with black pillars. Their telephone number is: 289– 3217.

If you can't make it, but would like to donate toward the roof replacement, please click here. We would really appreciate it! We're still quite a ways away from our goal of $4,000 and could certainly use the help!

We wanted to let you know about an upcoming event sponsored by the Helping Hands Costa Rica organization. Proceeds from the breakfast will be donated to our non-profit foundation, Fundacion Casa Milagro (the parent company of Tropical Adventures). Please try and make it to the event and let everyone know about it. It would be great to have your support and to see you!

If you can't make it, would you consider donating some money to support our projects?

In addition to our ongoing projects, we are currently raising money for the following:

1. New roof for the Hone Creek Elementary School
2. Aqueduct to bring water to 10 families in the mountains of the Talamanca Indigenous Reservation
3. Medical Center deep in the Talamanca Reservation
4. Construction of our new Casa Milagro Orphanage
5. La Flor Children's Recreation Center

Pay it Forward PANCAKE BREAKFAST

When: Saturday, June 9 at 8:30AM

Where: Big Mike's Place
Urbanization Los Anonos #96 w/ mural on the door
Escazú  meetup52
289-6087

Event Description:
Breakfast is served!

Helping Hands CR is Hosting a "Pay it forward" Pancake Breakfast

Saturday June 9th from 8:30am to 12:00pm

Proceeds will benefit the Casa Milagro Foundation

It will be held at Big Mike's place in Los Anonos, Escazu (www.
culinaryadventurescostarica.com)
Directions to Mike's Place: Escazu - One block east of
Saretto's Supermarket and Los Anonos Restaurant,  turn left
into Los Anonos residential area, turn right immediately and go
all the way to the end--house #96 on the left side, white, 2-
story with a mural on the garage door. Please park on the
Street -its a safe neighborhood. You can call Mike @289-6087

*       *         *            *

Fresh off the griddle buttermilk pancakes
Sausage - both vegan and meat
Tasty Tropical Fruit
Coffee and Juice

- Donation for adult $8.00, children from 3 to 18 $5.00
- And persons under 3 or over 80 free

Please bring the whole family along!

((Non perishable Food donations will be accepted and
distributed))

The concept of Paying It Forward is one that any person can
implement in their own life, at any time. It begins with doing
a favor for another person-- without any expectation of being
paid back. Indeed one would request that the recipient of that
favor do the same for someone else: ideally for three other
people. The unconditional favors can be large or small.

*** We are looking for volunteers to help with setup, clean up
afterwards and staffing the event. If you are able to help at the event or for ½ hour before
please contact Evangeline.