For its first community service project, the Club adopted Hogar Betania, a home for elderly and terminally ill citizens. With no funds at our disposal, members rolled up their sleeves, got dirty together and had great fun transforming a neglected jungle into a well-stocked and colorful garden to brighten the residents’ environment.
As a voluntary organization, the home is heavily reliant on good will. Its scarce resources have had to be spent on urgent priorities such as repairing the roof and upgrading the electrical installation. Small gestures such as having dry foods collections, delivering fruit and other garden produce, and fitting the residents with new clothing have been greatly appreciated.
Intent on fund raising, the idea of producing a recipe book to explain all the weird and wonderful, but unfamiliar, produce of Costa Rica grew – and became a highly successful bilingual recipe book ‘There’s a Frog in my Soup’. This ambitious venture demonstrated not only the culinary skills of our members but also many hidden talents in publication design, marketing, and sales. (Some members are now very fluent in Spanish cookery terminology!) Within eighteen months, a remarkable $2.000 has been raised!
Around $600 has been used to buy mobility, rehabilitation, and nursing care equipment and to paint a decorative mural on barren concrete walls. The remaining funds, to be used for further environmental improvements, were presented to the home at a Fiesta hosted by the Club in September 2012.
Over time, many members have developed a very real affection for Hogar Betania, its staff and residents. And many have been stimulated to help in other ways. A visiting member kindly donated $200 which bought valuable new bedding, towels and a commode. Three members – a Professor of nursing, a terminal care nurse, and an occupational therapist, ran a short course on Safe Lifting and Moving for the care staff, most of whom are unqualified and have received very little training. It has been wonderfully rewarding that members with expertise to share have been able to support the home in such a practical way.
Although ‘phase one’ of this project is complete, we have little doubt that members will want to continue their friendship and support Hogar Betania in different ways in the future.