Zapatos!

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Hello my name is Kyle, and guess what? Since my dad is taking so long to get these December blog posts written, I get to write one for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This segment of our blog is about the clinic giving out shoes to some of the kids in the communities the clinic serves. My Grandma Linda from California went around to all of her friends and family and collected money in order to buy the shoes. Before my grandma got here we told people to give us the size of their kids' shoes so we would know what sizes to get. We took requests for more than 200 pairs of shoes.(WOW!!!!!!!!!!!)

With our grandma Linda, DR.Christian, Dayan, my mom, my dad, my brother and I went into downtown SAN JOSE. It was funny because there were tons of shoe stores in SAN JOSE and - guess what - we all walked in to a random small but nice shoe store (just like all the others). That day we bought about 100 pairs of tennis shoes,and arranged to pick up the rest in a week or so. Personally I think we made the store owner's day - maybe even his month!

The next big event was preparation for the big fiesta. The morning of the fiesta we had to do three steps.

1. Write the kid's name on a piece of tape.

2. Put the piece of tape on the shoe box or bag.

3.Put the shoes in a bag with an apple, grapes, and some cookies. (we bought the food with some of the leftover money)

In the afternoon the moms and the kids were in the courtyard of the church that is right next door to the clinic. In the courtyard the group of volunteers from Ohio State University put on a health education skit that even I got to perform in. Than the comes the crazy part - HANDING OUT THE SHOES. My grandma, grandpa and my dad handed bags one at a time to DR.Cristian who then would call the kid's name twice. Most of time, they would come running up smiling to get their gift bag. But sometimes the kid or their mom would not show up and Christian would shout "EN ENERO!" meaning that we would give them their shoes after the Christmas break.

Personally it was one of the best experiences of my stay down here so far!!! It is like that because it was so cool to see people who have so little getting like a Christmas gift because they probably do not get many. Muchas gracias to all the people in California whose donations made this special day possible.

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Comments

[grandma linda]

good job kyle
What a great job you did kyle of capturing the wonderful experience it was of giving out the zapatos. i would not have missed the experience for anything. love to you all, grandma linda

[barbara lindberg]

Loved your blog addition, Kyle
Hi Kyle and family. We loved hearing from you and looking at the pictures. You all did a super job on the shoes and how nice of Grandma Linda to help get donations. Don't forget your Mom's SPECIAL birthday, she won't. Love to the 4 of you! Grandma Barb and Grandpa Vern