We are excited to be involved in helping Grand Master David Sgro and GO! Ministries give 5,000 extremely poor children in Guatemala another special Christmas. GM Sgro will visit Grace Martial Arts in Tampa on Monday evening, October 22nd, and we will share with him both money for his trip and gifts for the children.
As we did last year, we will have a special “Christmas Can” on a table in the fellowship hall this Monday night and the following Monday night. All of the money in the can will go to GM Sgro and GO! Ministries. If you would like to make a tax deductible gift, you can make a check out to: GO! Ministries (“Christmas 2012” in the subject line).
GM Sgro will be pulling a trailer with him across the country to gather gifts for the children in Guatemala. Here is the list of what to get and what not to get. You may find some great buys now with many clearance sales around the area.
We Want The Following!
1) Stickers
2) Small plastic animals
3) Fingernail Polish
4) Dental Floss
5) Jump Ropes
6) Plastic Whistles
7) Candy Canes
8) Erasers
9) Pencil Sharpeners
10) Lip gloss
11) YoYo’s
12) Marbles
13) Tooth brushes (please remove ALL PACKAGING! It adds up with 5,000 toothbrushes)
14) Small “travel size” toothpaste (please remove ALL PACKAGING! It adds up with 5,000 tubes of toothpaste)
15) Small “hotel size” bars of soap
16) Pens
17) Plastic Combs
18) Pencils
19) Plastic Rulers
WE DO NOT WANT THE FOLLOWING!
1) Barbie Style Dolls (We discovered we can buy them in bulk cheaper here in Guatemala, and this insures all girls get the same quality doll)
2) Plastic Cars (We discovered we can buy them in bulk cheaper here in Guatemala, and this insures all boys get the same quality car)
3) Plastic Balls: (We discovered we can buy them in bulk cheaper here in Guatemala, and this insures all children get the same quality ball, AND 5,000 plastic soccer balls take up a LOT of room!)
4) Chocolate: It will melt
5) Paper: It’s really heavy and we discovered we can buy it in bulk cheaper here in Guatemala.
6) Army Men, Guns, Knives, Police type toys: Guatemalas Civil War ended only 16 years ago, and the society is still considered “violent”, so such toys are not generally wanted.
7) Single “Really Nice” toys. Many people have great hearts and will buy one big toy, but we can’t give a $50 Tonka Toy to someone. With 5,000 children we have to give similar sized and valued toys to each child or it will cause problems.
8) Candy: It’s really heavy and we discovered we can buy it in bulk cheaper here in Guatemala.
9) Stuffed Animals: Too bulky and we’d need to have 5000 of them! That’s a lot of stuffed animals.
10) Clothing: Same idea, we’d need specific sizes for 5000 children/teens. We’d have to have clothes for boys, girls, and all shapes and sizes and ages. Too difficult for 5000 children.
Grace Martial Arts 