Last year, I took the opportunity to go on the trip to Guatemala. It was the first time that I ever left the country and my first time on a plane. The anxious girl who stepped on a plane for the first time and the confident girl who stepped off ten days later are not the same person. That trip did more for me than I can ever put into words. It changed how I view the world and it changed what I want to do with my life. Ever since returning home, I have wanted to travel, to help others, and do my small part in keeping the world a good place to be.
It turns out that this year's trip to Panama is a new opportunity for me to do just that. In previous years, the students that went to Panama have installed new water systems and held festivals for the local children. While both of those things are wonderful, this year's mission touched my heart. This year, the group that goes on the trip will be partnering with an organization called Casa Esperanza that works to "help eradicate child labor through literacy, education, and nutrition".
This mission spoke to me for a variety of reasons. First off, after visiting the children in Guatemala, I have a new level of caring towards children born into poverty in foreign countries where little to no aid is available. Secondly, we are going to be helping these children with LITERACY. Anyone who reads my blog obviously knows that I care a lot about literacy and I do believe that having the ability to read will open up a whole new world to these children. There are over 47,000 children involved in child labor in Panama and if I can make a difference to just a few of them, I will have accomplished something amazing.
For more information, please view this website I created for the trip.
I am working my butt off to be able to go on this trip because it means so much to me. Unfortunately, things are not quite going as planned. So, I am going to offer a few promotional things below in hopes that I will be able to get a little closer to my goal. Any money I receive for any of the following will go directly towards the Panama Trip.
1.) Promotional Tshirt
I did this last year and it worked out quite well. I will be designing a Tshirt that features the title and authors of books on the back, with a cover on the front. Here is a picture of the one from last year:
The front has a picture of Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert and it looks pretty spiffy.
This year, I will be offering the same thing. I am aiming to be able to make one shirt but if I have a lot of interest, particularly for the front photo, I am willing to design more. (I have lots of friends who like to read and be social!)
To have your book cover on the front it is $45.
To have the title of your book and your name on the back, it is $15.
Each additional book title is $10.
2.) Ad Space
For $8 a week, you can have an ad of for your novel/website/blog/whatever posted on this site.
For both of these I would like payment via Paypal or money order. Please email harmonybookreviews[at]yahoo[dot]com with questions or interest!
While these are my only "official" services, I am willing to help with whatever needs to be done. So if there's something internet-related that you just keep putting off and would like someone to do, please email me! Chances are I am more than willing to help.
This trip is really important to me so thank you in advance for any help in reaching my goal!
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