Now That Was a Good Month.

August was a fantastic month for LLI.

On August 12th, we celebrated with our Chicago and global community about the work being achieved in Huaycan. Thank you to all who came out and the support of the Glessner House and Taste of Peru restaurant. Be sure to check out photos from the night on our Light and Leadership Facebook page!

A special thanks also to our Alpaca Club Members and those who donated raffle tickets. Check the list below and please support those who have supported us!

Lia Sophia Jewelry

Gift certificate to Binnys Beverage Depot
Wine Tasting from Wines for Humanity
Francescas
GAP gift card

Sunrise Nursery Basket and Card

Entertainment Cruises Chicago - Two architectural tour cruises (VIP Passes)

Everything Alpaca - Alpaca Throw

2KingsCoffee - Coffee Gift Basket
Chicago FIRE tickets
Passes to the Shedd Aquarium
Gift certificate from Houlihan's
Gift certificate from Ottimo in Orland Park
Gift certificate from Between Cafe and Pisco Bar

Gift certificate from Nail Boutique at 2142 W Division

Gift certificate from Crust (an organic pizza place)
Gift Certificate to Rock Bottom
Light and Leadership pendant

Later in the month, Chicago Public Radio WBEZ hosted Light and Leadership on their Worldview program. Missed it on the air? Listen to it here! Thanks to WBEZ for selecting LLI!

Glessner House-- THIS WEEK!

Don't forget to RSVP for Light and Leadership's event being held at the Glessner House Museum this Friday, August 12th from 7-10pm. Come and eat great food provided by Taste of Peru and enjoy live Peruvian music. Let us know if you will be there by contacting Louella@lightandleadership.org.

What's more... you can WIN stuff :)

Check out the awesome list of raffle prizes:

Lia Sophia Jewelry

Gift certificate to Binnys Beverage Depot
Wine Tasting from Wines for Humanity
Francescas
GAP gift card

Sunrise Nursery Basket and Card

Entertainment Cruises Chicago - Two architectural tour cruises (VIP Passes)

Everything Alpaca - Alpaca Throw

2KingsCoffee - Coffee Gift Basket
Chicago FIRE tickets
Passes to the Shedd Aquarium
Gift certificate from Houlihan's
Gift certificate from Ottimo in Orland Park
Gift certificate from Between Cafe and Pisco Bar

Gift certificate from Nail Boutique at 2142 W Division

Gift certificate from Crust (an organic pizza place)
Gift Certificate to Rock Bottom
Light and Leadership pendant

Top Performer Field Trips!!!

At the end of last month, Light and Leadership celebrated the end of our semester by applauding the hard work and dedication of a select group of students. In all, 33 students, who had perfect or near perfect attendance and high participation in classes, were invited on a special field trip! We took two groups: our kids ages 6-13 years checked out Divercity, a fun and interactive way to learn (where kids get to be grown-ups, group pictured to the right) and our students ages 14+ checked out Chengdu, a Chinese acrobatic show. Way to go everyone!

This would not have been possible without our volunteer team and our donors. THANK YOU for allowing us to celebrate with LLI's Top Performers!

After enjoying the show and dinner. Keep up the good work :)

Published by Lara DeVries on behalf of Light and Leadership. Special thanks to Sarah Renkert for the photo. We miss you :(

Snapshot: Art in Zone S

Check out the snapshots from Zone S, an area of extreme poverty in Huaycan... :)




Want to read directly what Gladys, our volunteer art teacher, has to say about our program? Check out her amazing blog here: http://artedperu.blogspot.com/

Thanks for all your hard work, Gladys!

Published by Lara DeVries on behalf of the Light and Leadership Initiative. Special thanks to Gladys for the photos and the great work!

We've Been Inked!

No joke, volunteers like LLI.

For her second time around as a volunteer, Ellie Hargadon-Lowe decided to make it official... and permanent: She loves LLI.


A few weeks ago, Ellie tattooed Light and Leadership's logo on her ankle. It came out quite well. Light and Leadership promises, especially to Ellie's mother, that this is not a requirement to be a volunteer :) but it is pretty great to see someone so passionate about our organization and cause.

Going to be at the Glessner House Event this August?! So will this tattoo. Ask Ellie to see it!

...to the National Museum!

This past Saturday, LLI's women's group took a field trip to the national museum to see the Yuyanapaq exhibit, a photographic display of the destruction brought to many Peruvians in cities and small towns by the terrorist group, the Shining Path, in the 1980s and 1990s. The exhibit serves as a way to remember those who suffered or were killed during this tragic time.

I myself have been to this exhibit many times since moving to Lima a few years ago, but I had never experienced it like last Saturday. A majority of these women had lived through this experience as young girls or teenagers and it was so moving, and heart-wrenching, to listen to their stories and commentaries as they viewed the photos of the history they lived through.

Although the exhibit was intense, the mood lightened a bit once we went out for some appetizers and Irene, who's in her 70's, began dancing to the music and laughing with me. This is why I love working with these women: they have difficult pasts, and possibly difficult futures... but they are always positive, resilient and eager to learn more. We have slowly built up this women's group over the past year and it shows no signs of slowing down!

Volunteers Ellie and Jessie pose with three of the women.

Part of the group waiting outside the museum.

Special thanks to Franzi Weil, former LLI volunteer, who graciously sponsored this field trip! Interested in sponsoring a field trip? Contact Lara@lightandleadership.org for more info!

--Lara DeVries, LLI Executive Director

Published by Lara DeVries on behalf of Light and Leadership. Special thanks to Jessie Pincus for the photos and to Sarah Renkert and Eleanor Hargadon-Lowe for coordination of the field trip. We'll miss you :(

Woodburning: Check.

This past Tuesday, volunteer Art teacher Gladys Pasapera held a Woodburning workshop with our women's group. Fourteen women picked up a new artisan skill and a few of them discovered they are quite good at it... which got us thinking about a new chapter in our Artisan Project. Stay tuned for more details.

This workshop was something new for our women's group. Light and Leadership is now incorporating different types of educational workshops into our monthly or bimonthly meetings, including art. It was an absolute success! Art is a great way for women to come together, learn something new, and form stronger bonds with each other and with our volunteers. We'll be doing a Woodburning, Part II workshop sometime in late August, so look out for more details then.

Check out a few photos below from the workshop:

Volunteer Ellie Hargadon Lowe, who also coordinated the workshop, with Irene and her woodburning design.

Lara DeVries and Gladys Pasapera with long time participant Marina and her son.

Published on behalf of Light and Leadership by Lara DeVries. Special thanks to Sarah Renkert and Ellie Hargadon Lowe for workshop coordination and the photos, plus thanks to Gladys Pasapera for her time and talent! Great job ladies :)