Our Program Advances

We have had an amazing first few days here in Greece. After the warm reception we received from the town we got right down to business. We started by meeting with the staff from the orphanage. We planned our days and determined which children we are going to work with. We are actually running two programs because there are so many of us. This is allowing us to maximize our time by working both at the community center and at the orphanage (KEPEP). The town all knows why we are here and are treating us very well.

The Bishop authorized some great improvements to the community center. The entire center was painted (inside and outside!) and the whole center had new tile added as well as an air conditioner.

We also learned of some awesome news! They are starting two new programs here in town. The first is a transitional program for the adults at KEPEP who are higher functioning. This is a program where for six months they will transition to an assisted living facility outside of the orphanage located here in town.

The other program is the most exciting...we learned yesterday that they are opening a special day school in September for 5-8 children with special needs at the community center we are working at. This program will carry through the work we have started and will be offered throughout the year. We were so excited to hear the progress they had made towards these efforts.

Yesterday Joanne and I were on a local talk show discussing what we were here doing. We learned that every Tuesday our project will be highlighted on this talk show and a news crew will be coming to film a day at our program to air on their show.

There has been a lot of attention paid to the work we are doing and the community is really starting to move our project forward. It is amazing to see how the seed we planted is growing!