There was a celebration of the students' achievements last month and I've got a bucketload of pictures to share with you. Hang in there to the end when you'll see photos of some super adorable kids. Total cuteness overload!
KinDoo offers free classes in English, sewing, art, nutrition, exercise, computer skills, and math, as well as a citizenship course. At the celebration, students made presentations in English and showed off their sewing talents during a red carpet fashion show.
This is Sister Mary Dooley, one of the two nuns who founded KinDoo. She, along with Sister Kate Kinnally, worked for years as administrators at Hope Rural School which serves children of immigrants in the Indiantown community. In April 2015, they were moved to open a family center focused on offering life skills to parents.
You can read more about these remarkable women here. {BTW, I don't know why we didn't get a picture of Sister Kate. Such a shame. She's a real sweetheart.}
One of the things I love about Indiantown is its diverse community. Families from Guatemala, Mexico, and Haiti have settled here and made this small town their home.
The celebration kicked off with a welcome from two of the ladies who attend classes at the center. So nerve-wracking to speak in English in front of a crowd!
Then this lovely couple led a prayer.
Sister JoAnn and another volunteer led a group of students in reading a book about baby animals and what they grow up to be. During the presentation, they taught the audience the Spanish translations for the various animals.
Other students shared stories they had written about their families, while others presented bi-lingual books that had been donated to the center, sharing what they had learned from them.
After the English presentation, it was time for the fashion show. Cuteness overload! The students and their families modeled the clothes, pillow covers, and bags that they had made. Look at this cutie in her new pink dress.
This is an adorable skirt. By the way, it isn't just ladies who take sewing classes. This little girl's father made pajama bottoms. A lot of talent in this family!
I love the pattern on this dress - so sweet!
Who doesn't love an adorable little romper?
See how Scott caught a picture of someone taking a picture on her phone of this cutie-pie? Another adorable dress.
Squee! An adorable baby wearing an adorable bib! It's possible I've overused "adorable" and "cute" in this blog post, but there was a serious amount of adorableness and cuteness going on.
Have you done volunteer work? What kind? What did you enjoy about it?
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What a great organization. Life skills are so important.
ReplyDeleteI used to volunteer with an adult literacy program. Many of the people just wanted to be able to read the Bible.
It's a wonderful organization! How cool that you did adult literacy as well :)
DeleteI don't think you overused "adorable" and "cute" at all - how could you, when it was all so true?! It was kind of like Project Runway, only with mini-models. :)
ReplyDeleteMini-model Project Runway - a perfect description for it!
DeleteCute and then some.
ReplyDeleteI'e volunteered for so many things I've lost count.
Have a fabulous day and week, Ellen. ♥
How awesome that you've volunteered so much that you can't keep track. You're a giver :)
DeleteThe children are really terribly cute.
ReplyDeleteMy best volunteer project has to be organizing over 80 people to paint a neighbor's house. Unfortunately, although there was much talk about it after the project was completed I haven't been able to do another house. Just like this house painting project and much of my life - whatever I volunteer for seems to be completely unplanned and just falls into my lap. Last summer I spent the whole summer advertising a perpetual yard sale for another neighbor - that was an odd one that I wasn't planning for.
We are actually thinking about spending next winter traveling around doing volunteer work. We'll see.
That would be so awesome if the two of you volunteered next winter. Scott and I thought about doing something similar if our boat situation didn't work out.
DeleteIt's amazing how things just fall into our laps. Some things are meant to be.
Miss you!
I've done a ton of volunteer work over the years, and like you say, no matter how much work it involved, I always received far more from the experiences than I ever gave. The organization you're working with now sounds fantastic. And yeah, those kids definitely deserve all of the "cute" and 'adorable" words you've got.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great organization and we definitely get far more out of it.
DeleteVolunteer work is the only work i would do if i were suddenly wealthy. It means so much to be able to help others.
ReplyDeleteHelping others is so rewarding.
Delete