Hello Friends! Our friends Elvira and Joana have been in the United States 2 years! We can hardly believe it! For anyone who doesn't know, Elvira was my student at Mt. Carmel High School in Belize and Joana is her daughter. Thanks to their generous benefactors they have studying and living in Corpus Christi, TX, and doing great! Elvira is working on her Associate Degree in Child Development/Early Childhood, taking classes full-time, and babysitting in her spare time. Joana just started 3rd grade at St. Patrick School and is super excited about riding her bike to school, being in the school choir, and becoming an altar server. As of May they are living on their own in a small garage apartment; it's a great setup for them, close to school, church, the grocery store, and good friends!
Unfortunately, they are in need of some financial assistance to meet their monthly costs. I'll get straight to the point. They need your help. Elvira picks up babysitting jobs when she can, but she is not allowed to work while she is in the U.S. with a student visa. If you can afford to give any amount, it would be greatly appreciated. We'd like to get many people to sign up for automatic donations monthly, which ensures that their living expenses will be met each month. Think about it, if a lot of us give a little $10-$50 a month, we will have all their monthly living expenses ($925 - which includes rent, utilities, food, and Joana's tuition) met in no time! The automatic bank transfers mean you don't have to remember it and Elvira won't have to worry about where the money is coming from month to month.
If you'd like to continue giving to the girls there are few options:
1. You can give directly from your bank account transferred into Elvira's bank account. This option is very convenient if you'd like to set up recurring payments. Most banks offer bank transfers to individuals for free or a very small fee (mine is 50 cents per transfer). Check with your bank about what system they use, all the banks I've looked into have a "epay" or similar app and all you need is the recipients first and last name and email address or phone number. After you set it up Elvira receives a message prompting her to put in her bank account number and other info. Elvira's email is elvira.annie@gmail.com.
2. Personal check mailed to Elvira. Contact me or Elvira for her mailing address.
3. Paypay money transfer. It's free to send money via Paypal if you have your bank information linked to paypal. You just need her email address: elvira.annie@gmail.com Unfortunately, you cannot set up recurring payments via paypal.
Please let me know if you have questions or problems setting up your donation; I'm happy to assist in any way I can!
Thanks to everyone who feels called to help Elvira and Joana out! May God bless you abundantly!
Ok, now on to the rest of the pictures of the girls!
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| Joana's First Communion |
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| Joana's First Communion What a blessing her Godfather, Fr. Mark, was able to give her 1st Communion! |
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| Elvira and Joana hanging out with my nieces. They look up to Joana and love playing with her! |
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| Joana and my niece, Maria. Joana loves taking care of babies! |
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| Elvira and Joana like going for walks to the Corpus Christi Bay, bike rides in the neighborhood, and spending time at the park or beach! |
