Dear Aura's House Donors, Friends, and Supporters,

November was a crazy but wonderful month at Aura's House. Believe it or not, but we are extremely close to reaching our goal for a new water well for the Indian Village of Khordanahala just in time for the Holidays! It's all thanks to our generous donors along with Mike Epler of Los Angeles, our newest fundraising partner and our Online Holiday Shop Virtual Shopkeeper. Mike and his company, Countrywide, generously offered on November 17, to donate $800 to our India Well project if we raised another $500 by December 23rd. Well, as of December 1st, 2005, we only have a mere $137 left to raise!

We have been tallying our usual 100% Tax Deductible Donations we have received, as well as 25% of proceeds from our new Online Holiday Shop. If you haven't visited it yet, there are shirts, cards, mugs, totes, stickers, journals, and more with designs by Yours Truly along with designs and paintings by my art students, alum, and even students of ex-students (gosh I feel old!) from William Paterson University of New Jersey! There is Super Saver Shipping until December 8th and Holiday Shipping until December 21st so don't wait too long! Our fundraising totals to date since September are $1646, with $1144 going towards the India Well Project and $502 for our Zambia School Project, sending a total of 16 children to school.

Also in the news, Fundraising Diva, Anastasia Yecke is soon getting ready to host another of her famous Miami Wine-Tasting Fundraisers on Weds. December 7th, 2005. Check out all the details here! Proceeds will benefit the India Well Project, with any overflow funds from all our fundraising and matching activities going towards sending more kids to school in Zambia as well as our NEXT project. We're still working on the details, but we can at least say for certain that it will either be a new school or a school renovation. The location most likely will be in the Philippines. For all the latest news, gossip, inspiring stories, rants, and voting opportunities, please visit our New Community Forums.

Finally, as the season of giving gets underway, i hope you will enjoy the fruits of our past accomplishments already achieved at Aura's House. Aura Hernandez of Guatemala recently sent a letter thanking all the donors for her new home. We also learned that the extra $700 raised for the Original Guatemala project will purchase desks for Aura's School! Maria Rojas of Honduras also sent a letter of thanks and we have photos to share of her family's finished home with a new protective fence. For the status on all past, current, and future projects, please visit here.

As always, thanks for all that you do. I wish you all the best and Happy Holidays. You truly have made a difference in 2005!

Sincerely,
Kristen Palana

What's Next :

Whew! What's NOT Next?! We are trying to finish off our India Well Project. Only $207 left to raise. Please donate that dollar in your pocket today or tell a friend!

We will keep you posted regarding our progress. We aim to continue raising money to send Zambian children to school as well as begin a new School House Project in the Philippines in January of 2006. It's been a very productive 2005 at Aura's House. Here's to a Happy Holiday Season and another year of little miracles happening for families in developing countries through our small-scale, do-able projects at Aura's House.

We're also always looking for people to help out with fundraising, design, graphics, promotions, and keeping the site going. Interested? Please contact Kristen (kpalana@aurashouse.com) if you have any comments, ideas, questions, or suggestions. Volunteer Job Positions can be found here.