3rd Anniversary: Recap!!!

On June 10th, LLI volunteers, students, parents, and friends came out to celebrate LLI's 3rd Anniversary. Three years have gone by so fast-- thank you to those of you who have supported us so generously over the past years. We greatly appreciate your support, it makes all of this possible!

All of our LLI students and their siblings were invited to join us during the activities time. Students enjoyed the ever favorite face painting, musical chairs, hot potato, pin the tail on the donkey, and more! After completing the activities, participants received a Hope Pack (filled with school supplies pictured to the right; special thanks to Elim Christian Services and Faith CRC in Elmhurst, IL for providing the Hope Packs)

Following the activities, our students participated in our annual Vocabulary Bee. Our kids had been studying their English vocab lists for several weeks! Congratulations to our SEVEN winners: Fiorella, Josue, Eduardo, Jefferson, Aracelli, David, and Camila! All Vocab Bee participants received t-shirts (pictured below): I ♥ Luz y Liderazgo (Light and Leadership in Spanish).

Vocabulary Bee winners are receiving their grand prize (a brand new bike!) on Sunday!

Check out the photos below from the day!

Yanela, one of our many 3-year students, shows off her new t-shirt :)

 

Jarumi, so cute.

 One of our many amazing families!!


Nayely--growing up so fast!

 A little Limbo...

 Fiorella with a Hope Pack

Face Paints: Always a Favorite. Thanks Allison and others for lending your talents...!

Zone Z 232 kids showed us what Peruvian dancing is all about...!

 Fiorella: A big winner that day :)

Volunteer Michael DeVries helps out at the Art Expo

 

About half of our volunteer team that day. Thanks to everyone who came out to help!

LLI Runs For Peru!

On Saturday, April 21st, 105 of LLI's best runners and walkers came out in support of education in Peru. Among them were LLI former volunteers, students from James Hart Middle School, and Trinity Christian College students. We've included photos via Flickr, so be sure to check them out here!

Special congrats to Amy Van Hal and Stephen Claud for placing in the race! (Running times are posted at the bottom of this blog)

Be sure to give our generous sponsors your business:

Oak Lawn Toyota

Olive Branch Counseling Associates

Monica Kendall Independent Health Insurance Agent

Trinity Christian College

Clinical Associates in Counseling

James Hart Middle School

Foam Sweet Foam

DaBecca Natural Foods

Hope Christian Reformed Church

Great Lakes Health and Wellness

Hernandez Family proudly showing off their LLI Ribbons!

Runners and Walkers times:

2	0:30:41		Newmann, Ed
3	1:03:28		Newmann, Monica
4	0:56:59		Newmann, Natalie
5	0:32:34		Solle, Karen
8	1:07:44		Klooster, Nina
9	0:34:22		Solle, Rich
10	0:28:23		DeJong, Karen
11	0:21:11		Claud, Stephen
13	0:24:36		Smith, Charlie
14	0:48:53		Bravo, Nicole
15	0:31:53		Anaya, Juan
16	0:40:29		Verdon, Lauren
18	0:27:24		Kennedy, Patti
19	0:48:15		Kazmierski, Laura
20	0:31:47		Ghilardi, Mary
21	0:48:03		Phelps, Elizabeth
22	0:31:59		Rubik, Brian
24	0:26:31		Palecek, David
25	0:40:21		Herring, Dawn
26	0:40:18		Herring, Selena
27	0:26:53		Felten, Becca
28	0:43:27		Huizenga, Terry
29	0:43:08		Adams, Jacob
31	0:39:28		Bastidas, Jessica
32	0:44:45		Rycraft, Renee
33	0:24:38		Boss, Kara
34	0:31:59		McDermott, Megan
35	0:27:07		Pluchar, Marcy
36	0:52:05		Jongetjes, Brian
37	0:52:02		Jongetjes, Nancy
38	0:52:08		Smith, Sue
39	0:24:48		Jongetjes, Daniel
40	0:24:48		Voss, Melissa
41	0:52:34		Findlay, Lynne
42	0:52:34		Findlay, Jack
43	0:26:51		Jacobi, Jessica
44	0:32:29		Moote, Holli
45	0:25:34		DeVries, Jonathan
46	0:23:15		Trotier, Michael
48	0:40:14		Herron, Jaime
50	0:24:05		Wassenaar, Liz
51	0:23:09		McGill, Craig
52	0:29:15		Parise, Jamie
53	0:56:53		Hollender, Lynn
54	0:56:51		Hollender, Russ
55	0:26:16		Hop, Jill
56	1:07:44		Klooster, Dale
57	0:27:11		Carpenter, Jeff
58	0:19:59		Van Hal, Amy
59	0:40:59		Noonan, Ellen
61	0:56:53		Lavery, Barb
63	0:48:47		Davis, Kayla
65	0:56:43		Oatis, Ianna
67	0:56:43		Yolo, Johna
68	0:55:22		Sanders, Katie
69	0:55:22		deWerff, Dani
70	0:55:22		Tatem, Kaitlyn
71	0:32:30		VanderMeiden, Lisa
72	0:31:49		Crotty, Erin
73	0:27:40		Mercer, Tony
74	0:32:26		Branson, Mari
75	0:40:31		Verduzco, Maria
77	0:56:59		Friedman, Helene
79	0:55:10		Hernandez, Paulina
80	1:05:19		Hernandez, Juan
81	1:04:58		Hernandez, Rita
83	1:05:19		Hernandez, Victoria
84	0:44:23		Noonan, Art
85	0:56:26		Bellin, Steve
86	0:56:29		Bellin, Julane
88	0:24:38		DeJong, Joshua
89	0:37:44		Kilimnik, Jessica
90	1:01:49		Cleary, Meg
92	29:32:00		Wishnew, Sarah
95	0:56:53		Magbo, Monica
96	1:01:49		Cooper, Emily
97	0:29:54		Thompson, Natalie
98	0:30:04		Thompson, Michelle
99	0:48:49		Davis, Bernard
100	0:50:51		Bethke, Brian
101	1:01:49		Phelps, Bubba

Thanks again to all who participated and we'll see you again next year!

School Supplies Galore!

Yesterday, 10 well-deserving kids received their awesome prizes for winning LLI's first ever Summer Reading Program contest!

It was a school supply (controlled) frenzy! Every winner received a back pack, two very cool graphic picture notebooks, an eraser, pencils, scissors, glue, pencil case, color pencils, markers, and two folders. And that's not all...

Then kids could choose from an assortment of items, labeled from 1 - 5 points, and were allowed to "spend" up to 10 points. Among these awesome items were packages of paints, gel pens, white out markers, books, t-shirts, stickers, stencils, "fancy" scissors, crayons, and giant erasers.

Check out some of the winners below:

LLI Kids Are Winners!

This week, we're announcing some very special kids winning some very special awards!!

On Saturday, we announced the winners of the Summer Reading Program Contest. TEN winners altogether will receive a shopping spree in "LLI's store" of school supplies, helping them (and their parents) get ready for the new school year beginning in March. Awesome. Stay tuned for photos-- prizes will be awarded on Tuesday.

Additionally on Saturday, we celebrated our Chess Tournament winners (pictured to the right)! We had 15 kids (plus one sub-volunteer, thanks Camille) come from three different zones to participate in the tournament. Congrats to our winners and we hope you're enjoying your well deserved prizes :)

And the winners are...

Summer Reading Program:
(10-13 years)
1st Place: Gabriela (Zone D)
2nd Place: Alessa (Zone D)
3rd Place: Rebecca (Zone D)

(6-9 years)
1st Place: Alexandra (Zone D)
2nd Place: Betsabe (Zone D)
3rd Place: Josue and Maycol (tie, Zone D)

(Raffle winners, those who earned at least 10 points)
Fiorella (Zone D)
Adrian (Zone D)
Eduardo (Zone Z, 232)

Chess Tournament:

1st Place: Jefferson (Zone Z, Los Alamos; pictured to the right with his "PC Trainer" - top prize)
2nd Place: Deysi (Zone D), Gabriel (Zone S), and Franki (Zone S)

Congrats to all the kids! We are so proud!

Stay tuned for prize photos for the Summer Reading Program! We'll be giving out School Supplies to the winners on Tuesday!


Published by Lara DeVries on behalf of Light and Leadership. Special thanks to volunteer Hanna-Leena for managing the summer reading program and to Mariel Feigen for being an amazing chess instructor (and house manager) :)

Who Doesn't Love a Good Compost???

This past Tuesday, Light and Leadership, with the invaluable help of Lic. Gina Marita Tito Tolentino, Professor of Environmental Enginnering at la Universidad Peruana Union, led a composting workshop for our women's group in Zone Z. We learned patience isn't only something to be used with kids...also apparently for composting, as it takes 3-6 months to get good composting going! Despite the wait, our women's group was delightfully enthused. Taking notes, asking questions... it was great to see!

Published by Lara DeVries on behalf of Light and Leadership. Special thanks to Professor Gina and Chelsea Mahan for all their work and coordination. Gracias!

Red Suckers Go Well With Books...

We were treated to yummy, bright red suckers last week after our summer reading program session. So, like responsible adults, we encouraged the kids to stick their tongues out. Made for a great photo :) Happy February!


Published by Lara DeVries on behalf of the Light and Leadership Initiative. Special thanks to Louella DeVries for the yummy, bright red suckers.

LLI's Wish List!

Since LLI's Summer reading program has been SUCH a success, we've decided to extend the program into the school year of March - December! In addition, we'll expand to another area in Huaycan.

This means we'll need new Spanish books ALL year round. Thanks to generous donations, we're good with English books, but will gladly accept with need the following books in Spanish (or other titles!):

Harry Potter Books 3, 4, 5 (in Spanish)

Hunger Games (in Spanish)

Chronicles of Narnia (all but the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, in Spanish)

Diario de Greg #1, #4 and #5 by Jeff Kinney (we have #2 and #3 books and it's been very popular!)

Un Principe en la Nevera

Any Dr. Suess Books, Spanish Edition (Except for Hop on Pop)

Curious George Series, Spanish Version (Except for Curious George Plants a Seed, Spanish Version)

Crumbs on the Stairs/Migas en las escaleras

And anymore titles*!! We are in particular need for Spanish books for 6-10 year old reading levels (specifically that would interest boys) and easy chapter books with interesting topics for young readers.

*Thanks to generous donations, we have copies of popular books in Spanish like "Goodnight Moon," "The Giving Tree," "The Hungry Caterpillar," and "Charlotte's Web."

Ready to Order? Ship them to our US address. Email Lara@lightandleadership.org for the address!

About the program: LLI opens up its "biblioteca" or library 4 times a week in Zone D. Kids from all over Huaycan having been coming to read books for a few hours a day. An average of 25-30 children come every session.