Distribute Donated Clothes & Goods in Rural Panama

Our most exciting news since the last project update is that we finally have dates set for the donation distribution trip! LARN volunteers will be traveling to Panama from Saturday February 7th through Sunday February 15th. We are preparing to deliver a very large Valentine (in the form of donations) to several communities in remote rural Panama that week. LARN is working to identify and coordinate with the communities we will visit during this trip; we plan to re-visit some communities we distributed goods to in 2010 and identify some new communities. When the communities have been finalized, we will share them with you.

While we are excited to have dates set, we do still need to raise approximately $6,000 to conduct the trip. These funds will primarily pay for the rental of six 4WD trucks and the diesel needed to transport the donations to each of the communities we will visit.  We have a larger volume of donations to distribute during this trip and still only one week in which to do so, thus we will need twice the number of trucks we had originally anticipated when we posted this project. Those changes have been reflected in our project page since August.

LARN is actively working to raise the remaining funds. We participated in a local festival in October and have subsequently set up a booth at a local store to collect donations and sell Panamanian handicrafts to help fund the trip. We have brought in several hundred dollars in this manner, but we still have a long way to go to fully fund the trip in February. While we will continue to sell handicrafts and fundraise at local venues, year-end fundraising typically brings in about 30% or more of a nonprofit's annual funds. LARN is anticipating a surge in donations during November and December. 

To help make that a reality, we need your assistance. As always, we appreciate any donations you can personally make, but we also realize many of you have previously supported us financially. However, what is just as important to us is your assistance in spreading the word about our organization and activities to hep us bring in new donors. Please consider sharing this update and the link to our project page (included at the bottom of this email) with your friends, family, and colleagues. Share our website and Facebook page with them and tell them why you support LARN. If you know of a company or business that may consider a corporate donation (in any amount) to LARN as part of their 2014 tax deduction or holiday charity donation, please send us the company name (and contact info, if you have it).

What happens if we fail to raise the remaining funds? The trip will happen as scheduled, regardless of funding. However, with less funds for truck rental and diesel, we would be forced to reduce the number of trucks utilized during the donation trip and thus reduce the amount of donations we can get to needy rural communities. Our storage capabilities in Panama are limited and not guaranteed past the donation trip, so whatever we are unable to distribute during the trip would need to quickly be distributed to other organizations in Panama at the conclusion of our donation trip. This is not ideal and we hope to avoid that situation.

Our next update will be distributed just prior to our donation trip, so keep an eye out for additional details in early February. For the most up-to-date information on our activities in the interim, please visit our Facebook page. 

Thank you again for your past and continued support of LARN and our activities. We can't wait to share photos with you after the trip to demonstrate what your assistance has enabled us to do and the great appreciation felt by the communities we serve.

Cheers,

Lauren (and the rest of the LARN Board of Directors)