Provide care for 25 battered girls in Argentina

Hello Friends of the Hogar San José,

What crazy three months! It seems COVID 19 has been here forever. We are learning to live with it but it is not easy.

Four of our girls got COVID 19, and they were transferred for two weeks to a special venue set up by the local government. They had mild symptoms, and are very happy to be back at the home. One of the care takers also got COVID 19, was off work for 3 weeks and thankfully, recovered safe and sound.

Two computers were donated to the Home, and although they do not have a camera and at this point it is difficult to find any in Buenos Aires for a logical price, it helps us a lot. We would still need at least 5 more to be able to home school more comfortably.

But not everything is bad news. Puratos, a Belgium company that produces chocolate and bakery products, has offered to start a workshop for our girls, teaching them how to bake several products that we will be able to consume ourselves and sell some of them. At the same time the girls learn skills that will help them when they leave the home. We already had two classes, and the girls are very much enjoying them! 

We also finished the fixing of our kitchen, so it is a pleasure to be able to hold the workshop comfortably.

The girls are doing well, a bit bored by now, but since space is not a problem (the house is very big and the garden, even bigger), we are gratefull that we can spend lots of time outside. And we celebrated Kids Day!! It was a highlight on the girls routine.

We are looking forward to leaving the pandemia behind, but it seems it will last some more. 

Thank you for helping us help these girls! Sincerely     

María Reynolds

Hello Friends of the Hogar San José,

        So much has happened since our last report! We finished our summer holidays with a trip to the Argentine coast, kindness of the Fundación Cultural Argentina,  to enjoy the sea. Several girls had never been to the beach, so just watching their first glimpse of the sea was amazing. The four days flew by, and we all came back home full of energy to start our school year.

        Classes started on March 7th, and one week later the Argentine government cancelled classes due to the pandemia, and sent everyone home to do remote learning. Four days later, everyone was sent home, except essential services, and taking care of the home is considered essential. The problem is that people over 60 or having certain cronic illnesses are exempt from assisting to work. Half of our care takers fall into this last category, so we must thank the remaining care takers and the director who are working overtime and covering nights and weekends without getting extra payments.

        Home schooling for 25, when you only have a few computers and very basic and unstable internet is not easy, so we do what we can. A better connection and additional computers are very much needed but at this point, we cannot afford them. 

        Our biggest problem so far is that our fund raising activities have all been cancelled. Our income comes in from four sources: Government funding: 30%; individual and corporate donors: 25%, charity dinner: 20%, vintage sales and school buffet 25%. At this point, we have not been able to hold our annual charity dinner which usually takes place in May; and we cannot do any vintage sales or run the school buffet. Salaries take up over 80% of our expenses, and at this point we do not have enough income to pay salaries. We have asked the authorities for additional help, but none has been received. 

       This is why we are asking additional help from everybody that has ever been to the Home, or has donated before. We know this social distancing wont last forever, but schooling, charity dinners and vintage sales will be amongst the last activities to go back to normal. Please donate now! 

      We hope this report finds you well and wish a speedy end to the pandemia. We have learnt many things throughout these difficult times, and I want to thank our workers again for going so much beyond their duty in order to take good care of our girls. 

      Sincerely, 

María Reynolds

President 

Damas de Caridad de San Vicente de Paul

Hogar San José