In January 2014, as part our for 3.5 months trip to Costa Rica, our whole family spent 8 days working at the La Fortuna orphanage in Costa Rica.  It was an amazing experience; very rewarding.

Before leaving, we asked the Director, Diana Rodriguez, if they had major projects for the orphanage. We then learned that they wanted to build a new bedroom for the kids, since one of them is too small. So when we came back to Canada, in collaboration with Scott from Tropical Adventures, we began thinking about how to raise money for this new room. What we decided to do was to present our Trip to Costa Rica in a school library, while selling coffee and desserts given by friends.

The event was a success, with 75 people showing up, and $845 being donated, including a very generous $200 by Tropical Adventures!

At the end of the presentation, we managed to see and speak to the kids at the orphanage with a Skype video call, which everyone found a lot of fun.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaECuKPMM9c[/youtube]

Others donations were received from individuals and companies before and after the event, resulting in a total of $1,510 being raised!! Donations are still being accepted and can be sent directly to the orphanage (instructions here). They can also be sent by Paypal through this page, where you can also find more of an explanation of the project.

The Villiard Family