Operation: BRO

Operation: Books to the Romanian Orphanage

Thanks for those who are lending their support for this cause. (see below post for more details.) I am really excited for this and hope it works out without a hitch. I just got off the phone with Scholastic Books and set up an account for people who wish to donate books to the Romanian Orphanage online. This is a great!! Thanks so much.

1. go to http://www.scholastic.com/clubsordering

2. You will see "Book clubs online." Right under that you will see 5 tabs
Click on the "Place an Order" tab. (There is a computer mouse with a red circle around it next to it.)

3. You will see Teacher Sign in. Right under that you will see a green rectangle. Click on that green rectangle that says "Place your child's order"

4. You will see a Parent sign in on the right. The user name is: Monique and the password is: Charity (it is not case sensitive)

5. Then all you do is click on the order form that you would like to donate from. (You can look at them all if you want.) When you click on the order form, there will be 4 tabs again.

6. The easiest ways to order are either to "Shop by Flier Page" or to "Shop by Order Form"

It may not let you pay with a credit card since I am overseas, so you can just email me your order and I will send you my address for you to send a check. There is no shipping or tax on these. If you just want to donate a sum of money and let my kids pick the books (with my help), that is fine, too.

If you have any issues, please comment here and I will try to help out. If I can't answer right away, I will call them to figure it out. I can't wait to update you on how many books were ordered and will be given to the Orphanage!!!! Won't that be a fun post? Maybe I'm a little too excited about this. But it is ALL going to charity, so I feel good about that. Sometimes you don't know where your money will be going. No compensation for gas to get to the orphanage, no compensation of time spent on organizing, ordering, etc. No Almond chocolate bar that I will buy if I get lost on the way to the Orphanage. Promise! I will post pictures and updates when this all happens. We are planning to personally give them to these kids, so I will try to put a video of it as well.

I just got an update from a friend that just came back from the orphanage yesterday to help with a little party she helped with. She was with the people who were helping to get toys and clothes to them.

"Dear Monique,

"I am still processing what I saw this weekend...terrible poverty, so much need, but so much good work being done by the orphanage foundation.

"It is really more of a children's shelter - some of these kids actually have parent(s) who are simply too poor or otherwise incapable of caring for them. Many don't know their parents and neither does the orphanage. The orphanage is an immense step UP in their quality of life, which is not how I would have imagined life in an orphanage...

"It is a real treat and something you won't forget. The kids, despite overcrowding and not much food, are happy and eager for attention. Little ones just jumped into my arms when I walked in, others would take my hand when they could, all wanted a piece of anyone who would show them affection. I fought back tears many times.

Thanks,
Sharon"

This gets me every time I read it and helps me realize that what I am doing can not only bring a smile to their faces, but could help them increase their quality of life by just learning English.
Hope your Holiday Season is not too crazy and that you are truly enjoying it.