It's a Topsy Turvy World

A letter and update from Founder and US Director, Diane Nesselhuf

Dear Friends,

Many days I feel like my life is upside down.  Topsy Turvy….. out of control.   I used to enjoy watching the news in the morning but now I don’t want to hear about another crisis.   How do I take control of my life?   I need to take my own advice that as a counselor I have given to many students, as well as to my own kids.  Chunk it off.  Don’t be overwhelmed.  Do a little at a time and soon hopefully the big chunk will be done.

Good advice.  Now to just do it.  Now to do it for Sharing the Dream.  We have opened both of our stores but only for limited days and hours.  As most of our volunteers are older retired folks, we are missing many of them right now so we can’t have the store opened as much. We are practicing a lot of safety measures in our stores.  Hand sanitizer when customers enter and leave the store, encouraging wearing a mask, sanitizing surfaces after each customer, and using social distancing.  This is all great, but we still need customers.  If you are in the Sioux Falls or Vermillion area, please stop by one of our stores.  We have a nice safe space for you to shop. We are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

We are adding items to our online store and we appreciate everyone who has bought products.  This has been a big help.  Please remember our online shop when it comes to buying gifts.   We will be adding more wood items and mugs soon.

We really appreciate the donations that have been coming in to help us survive right now.  We don’t take any donation for granted, and we are so grateful for your support.  Thanks to your donations, we have been able to continue delivering food to the elders so that they can stay safely at home and not be hungry, provide work to more than 100 artisans so that they can feed their families, and continue to employ our seven Guatemalan staff members.

Life in Guatemala is at a standstill for many people.  The virus has spread in most of the communities and there are still many restrictions. Most people cannot leave their communities. We are still able to have our staff working and we are able to provide work for many of our artisans.  Just this week we did a Zoom call to work on some new fabrics.  Thank goodness for the internet.  We are chunking things off down there little by little and working with our artisans to support themselves.

As a retired educator, I always appreciated being recognized by students or parents.  A good way to do that for teachers who have helped you out this year, teachers you know who are retiring, and for the mothers and fathers who for the last three months have been teachers, please consider giving a donation to support tutoring sessions for the scholarship students.  If you haven’t gotten a Father’s Day gift yet, this makes a great gift for the father in your life.  Include your email and a note that it’s a gift along with your donation, and we will send you a printable card so that you can recognize that special person.  For just $15, you can sponsor a full day of virtual tutoring sessions or for $75 you can sponsor an entire week of virtual tutoring sessions.  Any amount makes a difference.  These virtual tutoring sessions are so important for students in Guatemala so that they don’t fall behind in school during these difficult times. 
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Please be safe.  Wear a mask and keep that physical distance.  Thank you again for all the support.
 
Diane Nesselhuf
Founder/ Director
Sharing the Dream in Guatemala

Donate

Opportunities: 

• Purchase items from our online store and encourage others to do it, too. Shop in either of our brick and mortar stores on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
  
  
• Donate online at www.sharingthedream.org, consider setting up a monthly contribution, give an alternative gift, or send a check to: 
  Sharing the Dream
  10 W. Main
  Vermillion, SD 57069
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• Buy a gift certificate for yourself or as a gift, and we will send it to the person. This is good for online or in-store.   It’s a way to say, “Thinking of you in this challenging time”.  You can do this online or by emailing us at [email protected]

Please share this letter with your friends and family and help us to reach more people.

The artisans of La Estrella work with Ikat thread, called Jaspe in Guatemala