One of our donors suggested that we post a list of items widely needed by the poor in El Salvador, so we asked Walter to think of all the items he could and their usual price. Here goes:

Wheelchair $450

5 lb can of powdered milk $18

Folding bed $45

Corrugated roofing metal for houses $70/dozen sheets

Children’s shoes $15

100 lbs. beans $60

100 lbs. rice $60

100 lbs. sugar $100

School notebooks $.50 each

Bottle of children’s vitamins $5.00

Wood planks for houses $35/dozen

School desk and chair $35

Box of 100 medical exam gloves $7.50

One-year scholarship for high school student $750 for full, $250 “media beca”

One classroom $5000

One library with books $10000

So whether you choose to mail your donations or donate online, just send us a note telling us what you would like to pay for (I don’t know if one is able to send a message with online donations). Then perhaps you’ll have the privilege of seeing photos like these result from your gift: here is a seasoned Salvadoran sitting in his new wheelchair courtesy of a generous TLAU donor.

The Centro Escolar Catolico Monseñor Arnulfo Romero is currently soliciting help from TLAU. It is a relatively large school (950 students) located in Zaragoza in the department of La Libertad. Their situation is not especially urgent; they actually appear to be blessed with a problem. You see, they have a “gran cantidad de libros,” but nowhere to put them. Therefore, they are asking for your help to build a 10×12 meter library.

Want more pictures? Click.

The gracious Mrs. Regina Johnson requested that in addition to the several classrooms, the library, and the computer room, a large covered play area for the children should be built to keep them out of the merciless equatorial sun. It should be up and functional in time to keep the students out of the winter monsoons, as well.

Want more photos? Click.

The parents of Karla Lorena Cabrera Cortez, one of the students sponsored by our becados program, sent a letter of gratitude to The Least Among Us. It translates as follows:

December 19, 2006

Dear Padre Patricio and the other benefactors of this very important foundation:

Receive special greetings from the Cabrera Cortez family, wishing that in this Christmas the child Jesus and the Virgin Mary pour out abundant blessings on your spiritual works and your labors that benefit those in most need in our dear town of Santo Domingo de Guzmán.

Dear Father, by means of this letter we want to express our most sincere thanks for the most important aid that you have brought and continue to bring to our daughter Karla Lorena in the form of her scholarship that she is able to study for her technical High School degree. We are very grateful to God and to all of you who have made it possible for the youth of our town to prepare themselves academically as future professionals, especially our daughter Karla Lorena.

We are well aware that we are not able to pay back the donors for the sacrifice that they have made so that those in most need can receive such great aid but God Almighty and the Virgin Mary will repay you one hundred times one hundred. We will continue to pray for you the founders and for all the donors who contribute to the foundation and its success.

May God bless you all and may you have a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Juan A. Cabrera
Teodora Cortez de Cabrera
Karla Lorena Cabrera Cortez

Karla is in her second year of bachillerato at the Instituto Nacional Jaime Abdul Gutierrez in Sonsonate.

Father Keane encountered Madeline during his July 2006 trip to El Salvador when her mother came to thank Father for TLAU’s supporting Lydia, Madeline’s older sister, through the becados program. She was extremely small for her age, 13 pounds at one year, because she had a hole in her heart–a ventricular septal defect that could only be treated with surgery. However, because of her family’s poverty, surgery was an impossibility. So Father Keane began talking to parishioners in North Carolina, particularly at St. Mark parish in Wilmington and St. Patrick parish in Fayetteville, and before long he had almost $19,000 from nearly 45 different individuals and even a few children holding a yard sale.

Madeline had her surgery on Friday, December 8th.

Father Keane has been keeping notes on her situation since he met her. To read them, click HERE.

Here are more PHOTOS of Madeline.

http://picasaweb.google.com/theleastamongus/MadelineBeatrizSanchez02 – An album of Madeline Beatriz Sánchez who, thanks to the generosity of several special TLAU donors, was able to get open heart surgery on December 8th to fix 3 congenital defects.

http://picasaweb.google.com/theleastamongus/SantaFamilia – An album of the 4 classrooms, library, computing center and chapel we built at Santa Familia parish in San Vicente, El Salvador.

http://picasaweb.google.com/theleastamongus/SanJosLaLabor РAn album of the three classrooms and bathrooms we built at San Jos̩ La Labor in San Vicente, El Salvador.

http://picasaweb.google.com/theleastamongus/TLAUSpecialProjects – An album showing TLAU special projects such as the purchase of wheelchairs for San Patricio school in San Salvador, El Salvador and delivery of medical supplies to a clinic in San Pedro Puxtla.

http://picasaweb.google.com/theleastamongus/December2006TripToElSalvador – An album with pictures from Fr. Keane’s Nov. 17 – Dec. 22, 2006 trip to El Salvador.

During his December visit to El Salvador, Father Keane presided at the inauguration of one of TLAU’s completed Fall 2006 projects: the Centro Escolar San Jose La Labor in San Sebastian in the department of San Vicente. In addition to buying part of the land needed for the project, TLAU paid for three classrooms, bathrooms with flush toilets and sinks, and a small water tower to ensure a steady water supply.

The benevolence of TLAU donors came as quite a blessing–in fact, few in El Salvador or in the States understand the magnitude of the gift of the new classrooms. According to Father Keane, the children who are now grinning happily at their desks in the new buildings were once stuffed into a cramped basement near the church. This in itself isn’t so bad, but once one learns that the walls surrounding the children were left structurally unsound due to seismic activity, the new classrooms become veritable lifesavers. Horror stories circulate through the Salvadoran media about poor infrastructure collapsing upon unsuspecting people during even the most minor tremors. Father Keane read one story about 25 kindergarten children crushed to death by tons of concrete raining down on them in a similar situation. San Vicente is very earthquake-prone, so donors can give themselves a few pats on the back for pushing many Salvadoran children out of the path of a speeding train, so to speak. And of course, thanks to Walter for getting the project done quickly and under budget.

Speaking of budgets, I plan to post the final financial records of this project soon. (Can anyone help me with the English equivalent of the Spanish word “contabilidad?” I don’t think “budget” works). For pictures of the construction and inauguration, click the picture above.