Transnway Day Success!

We had an amazing time – and a short time! In total, we managed to put 211 bags in order in less than four hours.




• We checked that each bag had arrived
• We made sure that each bag had all the items requested
• We double checked that all the gifts were wrapped and wrapped those that weren’t
• We put each child’s gifts into a large white bag
• We closed it with a brightly colored ribbon, each color a different institution
• We labeled each bag with the child’s name, institution and size
• We put everything away again in a Transnway storage container
• We had a picnic lunch that couldn’t be beat

Thank you to the 211 sponsors who bought the over 2000 items we organized yesterday, spending something like R$60,000 in the process. Despite these numbers, this is help to these kids that cannot be calculated.

Thank you to all the volunteers yesterday who worked so hard, so fast and so cheerfully!

Finally, thank you to José Arana and Transnway for allowing twenty Angel Party volunteers to invade your storage area. Thank you for all your help in storing and transporting the bags, for the ninth year in a row. Again, another debt that we can’t begin to calculate!

Still Two More Sponsors: The Few, The Brave

Thanks to the handy-dandy fast work of folks at the U.S. Consulate and elsewhere, we found sponsors for last week’s new kids.

But we now have two more new kids who need sponsors.

These are sisters just new to Helen Drexel, one 10 years old and the other 12.

Would you consider sponsoring one of them?

This commitment requires Speedy Super Shopper action and is not for the faint of heart. We’d need the bags delivered back to us by next Monday, November 3.

What do you think? Write Sue Banman Sileci at sue@sileci.com if you think you’ve got the right stuff for this task!

This Monday: Fun Fun Fun!

Transnway Day is coming up this Monday, October 27.

It’s a day we drive out to the Transnway storage facility. We sort through all the gift bags we’ve received and re-label them so they all look the same from the outside and are color coded by orphanage.

We’re making our lists and checking them twice. We need help!

We’ll be leaving at 8:30 a.m. from two locations, one in Morumbi and one in Santo Amaro. If you’re interested in helping – and believe me, we need you – please write Leslie an e-mail at Kuhldetroit@aol.com. She’ll send you the particulars.

For more information about what we hope to do on Monday, click on these sites:
http://sites.google.com/site/americansocietyangelparty/Home/transnway-day
http://sites.google.com/site/americansocietyangelparty/Home/why-label-each-gift

No lectures, guilt or shame.

If you haven’t turned in your gift bags yet, you’ve probably received a phone call or two and are desperately avoiding anyone remotely involved with the Angel Party.

We have to get those in by tomorrow, October 24, so that they can be sorted on Monday at Transnway Day.

If you haven’t turned in your bag yet, please contact Sue Banman Sileci at sue@sileci.com.

No lectures, guilt or shame, just happy relief to know when and where your bag will be delivered.

Don't Miss Out

The fun and fantabulous Angel Party is going to happen, rain or shine, on Saturday, November 8. We need lots of volunteers and if you’d like to sign up, please be sure to contact Amy Thomas to get your name on the list.

In a week or two we’ll start assigning jobs and straightening out who goes where.

By the way, we try very hard to be organized and on top of this but if you mentioned to someone you’d like to volunteer but have heard nothing since, just drop the fun and fantabulous Amy a line and make sure she’s got you on her list. Please?




Amy Thomas
amyjothomas@mac.com

Two New Kids!

Mission Abba, an organization that rescues children from the street, has two new boys, both 14 years old.

Since they arrived only on October 9, they don’t have sponsors yet. These boys will come to the party and we’d love to find a sponsor for each so that they too receive bought-with-love gift bags.

If you’d like to sponsor one of these children, please contact Sue Banman Sileci at sue@sileci.com. The delivery date would be Monday, November 3. Please?

Rattle Them Pots and Pans

At the Angel Party, we have a table set up with homemade treats made by the International Wives of Brazilians and anyone else in the community who would like to contribute.

These cookies feed our volunteers, our special guests and of course, the children themselves. In past years we’ve had between 1000-1500 cookies at the party and we’re hoping for that amount or more. What doesn’t get eaten on the day gets sent home when the day is done so there are treats at the orphanage for the next few days too.

If you’d like to contribute cookies, please drop Leslie Linn a line (Kuhldetroit@aol.com) and let her know roughly how many you’re bringing.

Closer to the day of the party we’ll give you a few drop-off points for Friday, November 7 if you don’t plan to come to the party but would like to bake some cookies or brownies anyway.

A Near Miss

Flora Goes Shopping!

YIPPEE ...

I found the jacket in Camila Modas! (See Leslie’s address below.)

It’s a good place to go to buy for young boys socks, underwear, jacket, t-shirts, shorts, pants!

And for all kinds of bags and backpacks, there’s a good place almost next to Camila:

Rua Desembargador Bandeira de Mello, 351.

On the same street No. 315, it's a sports shop!

Wow ... it's my first time on this street and it's great! Spent almost a good 2 hours walking there I also found a party and stationery shop and went crazy buying disposable cups, plates, and cutleries!

Brad and the kids were exhausted when we were done!

We're off to Alain Ducasse for lunch.

Late September Update

It has been a week of highs and lows. All 209 children were sponsored! Five new ones came in. We found more sponsors! But we’re getting close to the October 1 deadline.

Bottom line? We’re getting close to our October 1 do-or-die deadline for turning in those bags. I know most of you have already taken care of all the shopping and wrapping. And perhaps one or two of you still haven’t done it. Five more days!




Before we start the hardcore nagging, we just want to say that we appreciate each and every one of you. Where else in the world can we find 210 people to do all this work, spend all this money and buy all this wrapping paper? This community is the greatest and the party doesn’t happen without these bags. As you may know, for some of these kids this is it for Christmas. What you give is all they get. So believe me, this weekend’s shopping will affect children in ways you can never imagine. Thank you all of you.


The official drop off point is the Newcomers meeting on Wednesday, October 1. If you’re turning in your bags to an alternate drop off point, those addresses are at the very bottom of this blog. Please turn them in to any of these addresses by September 30.

If you’re coming to Newcomers, Sue Banman Sileci be there at the bottom of the hill. Do you know where that informal parking lot is after you drive past the Scandinavian Church? Just drive on past the church on Job Lane and she'll be sitting at the bottom of the hill, clipboard in hand, ready to cross you off the list and thank you with all her heart.

Address: Rua Job Lane, 1030 / Alto da Boa Vista
Date: Wednesday, October 1
Time: 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Sponsor Waiting List

We’ve got all the children sponsored but there is always turnover in the orphanages, usually with more kids coming in than going out.

So if you know someone who wanted to sponsor a child but didn’t, please ask this person to e-mail Sue Banman Sileci at sue@sileci.com. We’ll find a kid!

If you’re still shopping…

From Leslie Linn, head of the Angel Party committee and top shopping lady, bar none. She’s got some groovy addresses for you:

"I just bought some great hooded sweatshirts for the kids."






Camila Modas
Rua Desembargador Bandeira de Melo, 329
Santo Amaro
Tel: 5683-2659

"I also some a few at Walmart on Washington Luis...but for little kids, 5 and under."


"I got nice backpacks also in Santo Amaro."

Tiara Bolsas
Av. Adolfo Pinheiro, 20
Santo Amaro







"They have large rolls of wrapping paper - some green or red and Christmas-ee - at Kalunga. Nice paper."

For a list of addresses in São Paulo (and they have quite a few), click here:
http://www.kalunga.com.br/Enderecos/Enderecos.asp?localidade=1LojasSaoPauloCapital

"And this is me and El, partying last weekend. Hope you had a good one!"

We're done!

Two hundred and nine children from eight different orphanages sponsored. Done and over with! There is still so much to do but let's take the next few days to dance around our living rooms happily!

We thank you so much. You sponsors are the ones that make this party happen and it cannot be done without you!

And as a special gift, here's a video all Angel Party fans must watch. And if you're not sure which dance to use when you're swishing around the living room, you can be sure those of us on the Committee are dancing like our honey does near the end of this one.

Sing it Julie!

Two
more
kids!
Two
more
kids!
Two
more
kids!

Oh yeah!

Since yesterday we've whittled away at our list of remaining kids thanks to your incredible talent at talking this up and getting your friends interested. We're almost there!

Five more kids.

Five more kids.

Five more kids.

The Burning Question

It's hard to sleep at night, what with this question on fire in your brain. How is it going with the party?

We’re nearly there. Out of 209 children to be sponsored, we need only ten more!

Unfortunately, those of us on the Angel Party Committee are finding it difficult to rummage up more sponsors. You all have helped immensely by talking it up but like us, your friends have probably started running when they see you approaching, afraid you’ll ask them to sponsor more children.

Let's keep working together. Repeat this mantra: Ten more kids. Ten more kids. Ten more kids.

If you find a sponsor, ask this person to contact Sue Banman Sileci at sue@sileci.com

If you find a potential sponsor, direct them to the Angel Party website so they can see what they're helping with. Who could resist?
http://www.amsoc.com.br/ Click near the Angel Party logo and see the Angel Party website.

Thank you!

Jacket Alert!

Despite the weird weather, be sure that summer is coming and stores are taking jackets and sweatshirts off the racks. (If they haven’t done so already!) The longer you wait to do your shopping, the harder it will be to find something warm for the child you’ve sponsored.

If you have any good ideas about jacket shopping or have just found one, feel free to use the comment section here to say where. You know the rest of us will go running!

Bag Delivery Success!

Our first deadline has come and gone – September 3 at the Newcomers Coffee. We received 16 gift bags. Those who delivered early received a lovely gift wrapped brownie straight from the Sileci brownie factory and a super gold star by their names. Congratulations!

Wrapping Your Gifts

We’ve received a few questions about wrapping the gifts. It’s easy and nothing to worry about.

First, wrap everything by item. We can all agree that it’s fun to open presents even if the present is a package of underwear. Wrap all the underwear in one package, all the socks in another, the toy in another and the candy in another. And so on.

Some people don’t wrap the backpack and some people do. It’s up to you. Those who don’t put many of the other wrapped gifts inside the backpack. It makes a nice compact place to put everything. But it’s completely up to you.

Label each gift with the sex of child the gift is for, the age of the child and the kind of gift it is including size if relevant. For example, “Boy, age 10, size 34 tennis shoes.” Or, “Girl, age 14, size 16 jacket.” For information on why we ask this, click here.

Then put all the gifts in any old trash bag and label it some way with the child’s name and the orphanage he or she is at. The outside wrapping doesn’t have to be pretty at this point. On Transnway Day we will put all the gifts into matching white plastic bags and then add labels with the child’s name and colored ribbons by orphanage. The important thing now is that we receive a strong bag from you with the gifts inside and some indication outside of who the bag is for and what orphanage the child is at.

Delivery Deadline and Address

The absolute final day for bag delivery is Wednesday, October 1 at the International Newcomers Coffee. Sue Banman Sileci will be there receiving the bags – hopefully at the front gate or down the hill by the informal parking lot just past the church. The Transnway truck will appear at 11:30 and take the bags away.

End of story, end of the line, delivery do or die.

Address: Rua Job Lane, 1030 / Alto da Boa Vista
Date: Wednesday, October 1
Time: 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

But I can’t go to Newcomers!

OK then. That’s cool. Below are some alternate drop off points. Just remember, bags delivered to these alternate drop off points must be received by September 30.

Please label the bags with the name of the person you are delivering it to, along with her apartment number so that the doormen are sure to deliver the bags to the right person in that building.

Also, please drop Sue Banman Sileci (sue@sileci.com) and the person you’ve delivered to an e-mail once the bag is delivered so we can follow up and place a large gold star next to your name. (Or comment your plans in the blog posting by this person's name.)

Then go ahead and pat yourself on the back. Good job!