La Casa Donations Story – The DeBedout’s
Donations for La Casa
This is the story of our family, Jean-Andre, Jen, Chloe and Jacques. We were brought together as a family through adoption. Dad, Jean-Andre, grew up in Bogota, Colombia and had a connection to La Casa de la Madre y El Niño through his mother who volunteered there throughout Jean-Andre’s childhood. When we turned to adoption to form our family, La Casa seemed like the natural place to start.
We were happily united with Chloe when she was seven weeks old and Jacques when he was 11 weeks old. Our adoption story is like so many, powerful and important in many ways, but mostly we are a normal family doing all the normal family things. We feel very grateful and we owe so much to La Casa who helped us come together and unite as a family.
When we met Chloe as a baby, she was given to us wrapped in a beautiful baby blanket. We had to return this blanket to La Casa, along with the outfit she was dressed in. It’s long been Jen’s desire to provide enough blankets to La Casa so that each family can keep the blanket that they first receive their child in. While this has been a long standing dream, the business of being a normal family has gotten in the way of making it happen.
Last winter, though, we traveled back to Colombia and to La Casa. We talked to them about this dream and the La Casa representative we spoke to was very excited about the idea of blankets being donated for families. They also mentioned the need for new and good quality shoes for their children. La Casa communicated that approximately three hundred babies, infants to young toddlers, are adopted during one calendar year. We would like to gather that many new baby blankets and donate them to La Casa. We’d also like to gather as many pairs of new shoes as possiblle.
While we were visiting La Casa de la Madre y El Niño, we were impressed at the quality of care and enrichment the children living on site receive. During our meeting, the representative shared that they care for children who have medical diagnoses including cancer and for children with disabilities including autism. They also care for children who have been abused or injured in their living situation prior to La Casa. Of course, this touched our hearts deeply.
The facilities of La Casa are beautiful, colorful and bright. The day we visited, the children were having a holiday party and it was very festive. We also got to visit a toddler room where staff were singing and reading to the children. The children were dressed well and were interactive with the staff. We also visited the Montessori classroom on the grounds where children explore and learn together. Our family wish is that all the children could find their forever homes but we were so encouraged to see how hard La Casa is working to make sure the children are well cared for, educated and supported during their time living with them.
If you would like to donate a blanket or shoes, you can send them to Music Blooms MT, PO Box 3281, Burlington, VT 05408 and we will make sure that La Casa receives all the donations.
New purchased or handmade baby blankets as well as new shoes in children sizes are desired.
To find out more about La Casa de la Madre y El Niño: https://www.lacasa.org/en/home
As they need financial support to care for babies and children, coordinate adoptions and continue their educational and enrichment programs at La Casa, here is a link if you feel inclined to make a donation to La Casa: https://la-casa.org/en/donate-in-these-banks/
If you have any questions about this project, please email Jen at musicblooms@gmail.com
We are excited to begin this project which is centered around gratitude and family!
Gracias por su apoyo! Thank you for your support!
