 Welcome to the News and Updates for the The School of Champions for the Children of the Dump formally now called Feed the Children Vallarta (We just call them Roma's Kids) from Cafe Roma in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We will attempt to keep this page up to date with all the latest info from the KIDS and our efforts to support them. If you would like to donate to the Kids Project, please click the PayPal button below. IMPORTANT NOTICE! CLICK HERE! We have a serious problem with the website www.childrenofthedump.org and Mike Parker who administers it. Please click on the link above for details.
Total Kids we fed Pizzas at Cafe Roma's weekly field trip days from May 1st, 2008 to date: 2239 KIDS These pizza parties are paid by Cafe Roma, not from the funds we raise. Who say's you can not make a difference? You can click HERE for the Current Budget for the School of Champions. Newsletters The Children of the Dump October/November 2008 Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE The Children of the Dump December Newsletter 2008 is available online by clicking HERE The Children of the Dump January 2009 Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE The Children of the Dump February 2009 Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE The Children of the Dump March 2009 Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE The Children of the Dump April/May 2009 Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE The Children of the Dump July/August 2009 Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE The Feed the Children Toronto Fundraiser Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE The Children of the Dump September 2009 Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE The Children of the Dump October 2009 Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE The Children of the Dump November 2009 Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE NEW CHRISTMAS PARTY INFO! The Children of the Dump December 2009 Christmas Party info is available online by clicking HERE Everyone is welcome! We are looking for gifts of around $30 us to be used as door prizes. Ideas; soccer balls, backpacks, certificate for shoes, watches, and any other toys for kids 8 to 12 years of age. NEW! The Children of the Dump December 2009 Newsletter is available online by clicking HERE Videos Dump Tour with Art This is a 16 minute tour Video with narration by Art Fumerton. New! This video is now downloadable to your computer for free distribution. Click the link above to see the details and "how to". 2008 Xmas Party at the Sheraton This party was paid for by donations from you and the Sheraton Hotel. If you would like a copy of these videos so you can use them for promotion of this project, please email roma@romamexico.com Below is a video we shot at the annual grad party for the Kids from the School of Champions on June 20, 2009. Due to bad weather and lots of other small issues, the turnout was light this day (about 180 Kids plus staff), however everybody had a great time. We supplied the Hotdogs ( two per kid ) and condiments. The Sheraton Hotel donated the banquet room, linens and about 10 staff for the event. The teachers all got together and made sure every Kid walked out with a goodie bag of candies. Art and others donated the Cake and Icecream. When you attend one of these events, you will understand why we do this. Below you can attend it virtually. Below is a video we took at the December 11th, 2009 Kids Christmas Party at the Sheraton Hotel. Thanks to all that donated to make this possible. It is so special for the Kids. As it Happens Most of our parties and special events here at Cafe Roma are centered around raising money for the Kids at the School of Champions. You will find more information of past parties posted on our News Page on our site. We will attempt to keep all the Kids info consolidated on this page as we go. Update, February 2010 Thanks to all our wonderful and generous friends, we are back to setting fundraising records almost every day. In the first week of February we have raised and donated over 20,000 pesos to the School of Champions! On behalf of the Kids, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Update, January 2010 The Kids are back in School and back at Roma's weekly Saturday 3:00 PM pizza parties. Come join in and help us serve the Kids free pizzas. More great news! We have aquired an apartment for the teachers who come down here and volunteer at the School of Champions. Jennifer from the USA is the first to stay here and is being joined this weekend by another teacher from England. We aquired the funds to do this from our very generous customers who donated specifically for this cause. The total cost for the apartment, utilities and food for the year was $50,000 pesos. Thanks again to all our more than generous customers who continue to support our KIDS! The SCHOOL OF CHAMPIONS need English teachers for the semester beginning January 12, 2010. The School of Champions is a program of Feed the Children Vallarta. It is an after school program for disadvantaged children in grades 3 through 6. They receive classes in math, English and computers. There are two sessions; 10 to 12 in the morning and 4 to 6 in the afternoon. We have about 300 children enrolled in the program. Class sizes range from 15 to 25 students. We have our own air conditioned building located near the entrance to the old city dump. It is a voluntary program and the students are highly motivated to learn. We need lead teachers, assistant teachers and part time volunteers. The lead teachers and assistants will teach two hours per day in either the morning or afternoon. We follow the public school schedules. Transportation is from a central point in Puerto Vallarta. We require the teachers and assistants to commit to teach for at least 4 months and preferably the remainder of the school year. As of December 2009 we can possibly assist with Housing and Food for Teachers willing to make a commitment to the Kids. If you are interested in helping, please contact Art Fumerton at cell 044 322 158-8815 or email at arthurefumerton@yahoo.com Urgent! December 2009 School Supplies Needed at the School of Champions 1. 8 1/2 X 11 notebooks 2. Pens 3. Pencils 4. White Board Markers 5. Glue (bottles or sticks) 6. Erasers 7. Crayons 8. Colored pencils 9. Reward stickers 10. Teachers aids - wall hangings etc. 11. Any small prizes as awards for good attendance or work. 12. Any other items that can be used in an English classroom and will help the kids learn. Thinking of a donation? Thinking about how much? Think about and ask yourself this... Would your quality of life change tomorrow if you gave up $100 and donated it to the Kids today? I would bet many of you can answer that with a resounding NO. Well here is what that would do for a Kid here in Puerto Vallarta: Enrollment for 3 months in the School of Champions after school program, 2 hours per day, 5 days per week. Including; Classes in English, Math, and Computers and all necessary school supplies. A meal for each school session consisting of oatmeal and soup or salad - pan dulce (large sweet roll) - fortified milk - fortified juice - fruit when available Plus: - Monthly - special presents (for attendance and good work) - parties (at Sheraon Hotel etc) - day trips - Cafe Roma pizza weekly (donated) - Vallarta Adventure trips, etc (donated) Now ask yourself the question again. Would your quality of life change tomorrow if you gave up $100 and donated it to the Kids today? The answer... Yes it would as you would have the satisfaction of knowing that you have done something that will make a difference in a child's life forever. Mark your Calendars! When Einstien and I started what we thought was a lark, we never imagined the overwhelming support and success this would bring to such an important project. Thanks to all of you the School of Champions is open and school is in session. This final stop of the Kids North American Tour will be the party of the season. We will have lots of fantastic prizes and raffles. Stay tuned here for details. November 12 2009 The fund raiser last night was a HUGE success! Preliminary calculations of the total raised for last night's event... Over 70,000 pesos plus, and this is a big plus, over 60,000 pesos in the form of a commitment from ATM Guy to pay 5000 plus pesos per month for the next year from the proceeds of his ATM machines here in Puerto Vallarta. So you know the routine... Support the Kids by using the Direct Cash ATMs here. So the way I look at it we raised over 130,000 pesos! Okay, more quick math... Add that to the 500,000 pesos we have raised in the last year and we are nearing the 700,000 peso mark. We are slowly, okay maybe not so slowly, approaching the point where we will be able to support the School of Champions solely from the proceeds of our fund raising efforts here. Give yourselves a big pat on the back as it is you and your money that makes this work and lets please remember, this does not stop here. Dang kids want to eat and live each day... just like we do.  September 2009 $1.00 per day keeps one child in the School of Champions for the entire school year. We need 300 donors to commit to a contribution of $1 per day for the entire school year so that we can plan our budget for next year and continue to educate the 300 students in our after school program (Magisterio and Volcanes). Because of the current economic conditions in PuertoVallarta, we may face a continuing decrease in donations to Feed the Children Vallarta and the School of Champions. We need your commitment in order to effectively plan for the operations in the school, including meals for the students, teachers expenses, supplies, utilities and maintenance. Without your support it will be difficult to start the school in September at the level of excellence that we have enjoyed in the past. We do not want the students to suffer; they are CHAMPIONS. We suggest you put your loose change in a jar each day and send it to us monthly, or in a lump sum, as you wish. You can also tell your family and friends of the program and encourage them to participate. Give the kids a chance for a better life - keep them in our programs. October, 2009 - The Kids are enjoying Roma! The Kids and of course the volunteers (we are not sure who is having more fun) have been swamping us every Saturday at 3:00 PM. Come join us as a volunteer or spectator. It is a wonderful, fun, one hour experience that you may never forget. Check out our News Page on our main website for details of the latest information on the North American Fundraising Tour for the Kids. The big party is November 11th. Be here! September 14, 2009 - The Kids are back at Roma! This Saturday, September 19th, the Kids Pizza parties resumed after a long Summer holiday break. We had a great turnout... 66 Kids! Plus volunteers. The Kids showed up at 3:00 PM and stayed for about an hour. We have photos on our September 2009 Photo Gallery on our main website. We also managed to donate another 3700 pesos to the Kids. Saturday, September 26th the Kids will not be here due to a scheduling conflict but they will return on October 2nd. Come join us for the fun! August 20, 2009 - We are back from Saugatuck! Where in the world is Saugatuck you ask? It is the home of Dave and Deb Barton (Einstien) and their family. Saugatuck is located about a two hour drive up the East coast of Lake Michigan from Chicago and about 3 hours from the Chicago O’Hare airport. We flew into O’Hare and rented a car for the drive to this quaint, historic little town which caters mainly to tourism. Located along the shores of a water inlet off the lake you find all the homes have been maintained in the original décor and format of the first settlers there. The local historic/development society makes sure this stays this way even when new businesses spring up and old properties get remodeled. We arrived at The White House Bistro and Bar, which also doubles as the home of the Einstien family at about 2:00 pm on Friday, August 14th and preparations were well underway for the Children of the Dump Fundraiser. Dave made sure there were no small details overlooked and fussed around all afternoon supervising his crew. They put us up in a lovely condo overlooking the inlet and after freshening up we went back to the White House and spent the evening on the outside patio listening to a local band Rum Boogie playing excellent blues. Einstien and I both had an opportunity to sing with the band and of course this was done with great enthusiasm on our part and much to the dismay of the other patrons to donated a lot of money to the Kids Fund just to get us to stop. A lot of fun was had by all. Saturday, day two started with a hearty breakfast at the White House then a planning meeting for the fundraiser on Saturday night and Sunday. Saturday afternoon Dave and Deb took us out on the Boat along with Laurie and Jamie. Jamie is the one who runs our Karaoke nights here all high season at Café Roma. After a great tour of the bay, stops for New York style hotdogs and a few refreshments at some great bayside hot spots we returned to the dock and prepared for the night’s festivities. What a party that night which started with the band Rum Boogie playing outside on the patio again and moved indoors to party with the band Nimrots. Rock and Roll till the late hours of the night with lots of money being thrown in the tip jar for the Kids was the format for this night. Sunday started slow for some of us and we setup and prepared for the grand finale of the Kids Fundraiser at 2:00 pm. The entry to the event was $15.00 and included a first drink and a wonderful Mexican Buffet donated by a local Chef. We held a silent and a public auction along with many raffle and door prizes donated by local merchants, artists and citizens. We can not say thank you enough to the generosity of these people who donated their time and efforts for the Kids. We filled and overfilled the Whitehouse at times and raised tons of money for the Kids. Everybody had a great time and in the evening hours the two bands stayed around and we broke into a sing along/open mic format which may have been some of the best entertainment of the weekend. The winners? The Kids of course! A total of $6000 USD which changed out to $78,540 Pesos was raised and handed over to Art here in PV for the Kids! Thanks once again to all that participated. See the photos on www.romamexico.com 2009 Photo Gallery IMPORTANT DATE... MARK YOUR CALENDARS ! The Cafe Roma's Kids North American Fundraising Tour continues Details for the August 15th and 16th, 2009 fundraiser in Saugatuk, Michigan at the infamous Whitehouse Bistro and Capital Lounge that Einstien (David and Deb) own there are now finalized. Dates: August 15th at 8:30 PM until ?? at the White House for a fun evening of Music August 16th from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM - Lunch with the Dignitaries and Silent Auction Fund Raiser. Below is a copy of a recent press release.   The bash for Cafe Roma's Kids at the Madison Pub in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to raise some much needed cash for the kids here in PV was a fantastic success! See the details below. Location: Madison Avenue Pub in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Date: Saturday July 18th, 2009 Time: 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM Cost: 15.00 (Canadian) This will include your first (bar) drink, beer, wine or mixed drink. Lots of great food (like the fiesta) and our wild and crazy entertainment. Food, Drinks, Entertainment, Fantastic Door Prizes, Silent Auction All proceeds to go to the Children of the Dump here in Puerto Vallarta For special rate room requests email Isabel direct at the email link to the right EMAIL ISABEL Update June 26, 2009 - We now have limited edition tour t-shirts available for 200 pesos or $20 available at Cafe Roma and will have them at The Madison Pub as well. You can purchase them in advance via PayPal. This just in from Pat and Dale, who are active participants here in PV. They generously are donating 1 week in their beautiful condo located at the Holiday INN here in PV. This week will be sold on private auction this weekend at the Madison Party for the Kids with the money going to the Kids. The value for the week is $500 USD and the week can be used a in 2009 or 2010 but only during the summer months of June through September. Email us if you are interested in making an offer. Remember, we will be selling this offering Saturday, July 19th in Toronto so Hurry! And the grand total... beyond most of our wildest dreams! $10,000 Canadian Dollars ! The even number is due to the generosity of Dave and Isabel of Case Isabel here in PV and the Madison Ave. Pub in Toronto. They "rounded out" the numbers to a cool, even total. Thanks to everyone that attended and thanks to all that opened up their hearts and pocket books to make the such a huge success. We took lots of photos of our trip and you can click HERE to view them. 
The fundraising continues Thanks to all the generous people out there who continue to support us via PayPal and in person, we have been able to help feed some of the very poorest here in PV. The project at the Dump has never been as needy as it is now. They found that many families were working the dump at night for the "early-bird" goodies and started feeding them at night as well. This started with about 100 people at first and now has grown to around 800 people that get some food every night. Please if you can spare a few bucks, help us help the poor as the funding costs for this are very high and funds are very short. Monday May 25, 2009 Great news from Jim Henderson and his wife Lauri who have returned to Canada for the summer months. Many of you will remember Jim as the leader of our Karaoke during the high season. They did a fundraiser and raised just over $1000 USD. At today's exchange rate that works out to somewhere around 13,000 pesos! They have sent it to me via Paypay and Art will be picking it up today. Great job Jim and Laurie! Okay... who's next? The needs and therefore the costs continue, especially in the tough times. Saturday May 23, 2009 No Kids again this week due to School scheduling however the fundraising continues. Last week we managed to scare up over 2000 pesos and have a decent start on a few pesos this week. Thanks to all that still come and support our efforts. The Kids really need us now. Friday May 8, 2009 5:45 PM oops! Update as of just now. Kids will be delayed for another week due to the gov't keeping the schools closed for another week. Stay tuned. Friday May 8, 2009 After a couple of weeks off for Easter Break and a couple more for the flu scare... we are back in action with a vengeance! This Saturday May 9th at 12:00 noon we will be feeding 70 KIDS free Pizzas. Come join us for the fun and pitch in to help with this party. Your assistance is always appreciated and this will be a positive experience that will touch your heart. Wednesday April 29, 2009 9:00 am Sorry the Kids will not be here at Cafe Roma this Saturday May 2nd due to the schools being closed. Stay tuned for news for next Saturday. Saturday April 25, 2009 Though the Kids were not here this Saturday, Art was and we managed to donate another 3500 pesos this week. That brings the total for the last three weeks the Kids were not here to about 10,000 pesos. Thank you to the generous people that helped out. Remember, the tourism traffic is way down this time of year but the Kids are still hungry and the School of Champions still needs daily funds. If you can spare a few bucks... please donate via the PayPal button at the top of the page. Any amount helps. Thanks again for all your help. See you Saturday May 2nd for the next Kids Pizza Party. Saturday April 11, 16 and 25, 2009 The Kids are on Easter Break these three Saturdays therefore we will not be having the regular Pizza Parties during that time. Many of the Kids are gone visiting and spending time with families and friends. The parties will resume on May 2nd however the fundraising continues everyday. Saturday April 4, 2009 The Kids came, the volunteers came and we all had a blast. I am not sure who has more fun, the Kids, the Volunteers or Pato the Parrot when we do these parties. We only managed to scrape up $9000 pesos and donate it to the project this week. It is a sign that the season is winding down here and the tourists are going home for the summmer. Please remember that we must keep this project going and all your donations are always welcome. You can donate direct by clicking on the PayPal link at the top of this page. Any donations help, no matter how small they are. Please take the time to think about and help just one Kid. It will make you feel good... I promise. You can see more photos in the Cafe Roma April photogallery. Saturday March 28, 2009 Hey we got the Kids organized, the bus did not break down and 56 made it to Cafe Roma for the Pizza Party! The Kids had a great time as did all the volunteers who came to help. We were not as rushed as we are in the High Season and the Kids got to play with Pato Verde (our parrot) for a little extra time. We are never sure who has more fun... the parrot or the Kids. I seriously think it is the parrot who screams, preens, pecks and flaps his wings when I put him down among the Kids. We also donated another 10,000 pesos this Saturday. It is getting harder and harder to maintain this level of funding as the "snowbirds" head North for the Summer. Please remember the Kids need us all and they especially need us in summer. Remember you can conveniently donate from home via the Paypay link at the top of this page.
Saturday March 21, 2009 Today was a mix up day for sure. Though we had lots of volunteers, the Kids did not show for the Pizza Party. It seems that someone at the school that was to come this week forgot to tell the Kids. Dang... and we had already cooked or partially cooked a number of pizzas. Oh well, next time. We did donate the pizzas to our great neighboring merchants and their families. They were very happy! The good news was that we still managed to donate another 10,000 pesos. Thanks again to all our great customers! Next week we will double check to make sure the Kids are aware of their turn and will be here. Saturday March 14, 2009 This Saturday's Pizza party was attended by about 45 eager Kids and a whole bunch of volunteers. Everyone had a blast including Pato the Parrot. He enjoys the excitement of the Kids visiting more than all of us it seems. Again we hit the target of 10,000 pesos thanks to the generosity of you. In Art's words... Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! There are more photos in the March photo gallery on the Cafe Roma website.
Saturday March 7, 2009 A great way to start a new month. Though we only had 30 Kids in for the Pizza Party we managed to donate another 10,000 pesos to the Kids. Our fundraising is still going strong. Let's keep it up! Thanks to all that come and donate and volunteer. Saturday February 28, 2009 What a month this has been for the Kids! Thanks to the generosity of our friends who visit Cafe Roma, both virtually and in person, we broke all records of money donated to the Kids. We also have to thank all the wonderful musicians who come from all parts of the world to help entertain you while we run our fund raisers. Special mentions to Archie (Pedal Steel Guitar), Charlie (Bass Guitar), Jack (Vocals and Rhythm Guitar), Jim (Vocals and Rhythm Guitar), Cameron (Vocals and Rhythm Guitar) and all the rest who gave up their valuable vacation time to work for the Kids. This week we once again donated 10,000 pesos to the Kids and we have "seed" money left in the tip jar to start the target amount of 10,000 for next week. Thanks also to the many who come out and volunteer each week at Cafe Roma when we do the Pizza Party for the Kids at noon. Remember you are always welcome to come help. Just be here any Saturday just before 12:00 noon.
Saturday February 21, 2009 Another successful week of fundraising and a great pizza party today for the Kids brought a lot of happy smiles. One more time we managed to donate 10,000 pesos to the operating fund for the School of Champions. Thank you all again for helping us make a difference. Saturday February 14, 2009 What a Valentines Gift! Jaime and Lori, very good friends of ours who spend most of the winter here in PV, went home to Toronto for Xmas and returned this past week with a huge gift. They spent their time back home raising money for the Kids and yes they were successful... to the tune of over 16,000 pesos! They turned that over to Art today at our weekly Pizza party for the Kids. Our fundraising was also very successful here at Cafe Roma in the past week and we added a cool 10,000 pesos to the pot bringing the weekly total to a staggering 26,000 pesos! Thanks once again to all the generous people that come and party with us every week.
Saturday February 7, 2009 Another 10,000 pesos Saturday for Art and the Kids. Yes we managed to hit our goal denotation again this past week. This brings the total donated since we started this project last may to 125,000 pesos! We also had a one week old play pen with accessories and a stroller donated by a wonderful couple who is staying down here for a few months. Check out John's Website Fort Gary Industries They had their grandson visit for a week and purchased the stuff then donated it after their kids left for home. Thanks to all our generous friends! Once again the Pizza party here at Cafe Roma was a huge hit. We fed 55 Kids this time and had many helpers and volunteers. You can see more photos on the Cafe Roma February Photogallery page starting at photo number DSC03232. On we go for the next week with fingers crossed that we can keep this up again.
Saturday January 31, 2009 What a great experience again this Saturday! We only had about 30 Kids today for the free Pizzas due to a mix up. We had almost as many big hearted volunteers. Once again we managed to raise over 10,000 pesos and donate it to Art and the Kids. Thank you again to all that donated both time and money. This is truly what makes the world go around. See more photos of the event on our Website. See the very special letter that Art sent to all of us this weekend HERE 
Saturday January 24, 2009 What a fun filled time we had this Saturday! We were told we had 40 kids on the way when they called. The showed up with 70 Kids! Wow! Good thing we had lots of volunteers helping and everything went smooth as clockwork. We served over 35 pizzas along with juices to the kids in just over an hour. Thanks to all that came and helped. We also donated the week's donations from our music fund raisers... once again, 10,000 pesos! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Thanks to the generosity of all you, we have become the major supporter of the Children of the Dump / School of Champions. A special thanks to the generosity of Casa Isabel here in PV and Vallarta Adventures who both donate rooms and trips that we can sell with the proceeds going to the Kids. See the latest photos on www.romamexico.com under the January 2009 photogallery starting at photo number dsc02896.jpg. Saturday January 17, 2009 Our first pizza fest of the year for the Kids was a resounding success. We fed 56 Kids and 4 supervisors pizza. We had a fantastic group of volunteer helpers to assist pouring juices and serving pizzas. Everyone had a blast. We also donated 10,000 pesos from our regular fundraising events. This money is ear marked to install a new electrical transformer to the school as the previous transformer was too small to start up the new grade 7 classroom. A big thanks to all that came out and helped and to all that donate regularly. Kids Pizza Parties Our weekly, Saturday 12:00 noon pizza parties will be resuming January 17th. The kids are back in school this week so we will be busing in about 50 kids this week for free pizzas. Come join the fun and lend a hand serving them juice and pizzas. It is a heartwarming experience. Just show up at about 11:30 am any Saturday. Friday, January 2, 2009 Today at our Karaoke night we managed to raise a whole bunch more money to help pay some of the ongoing expenses at the School of Champions. Art Fumerton was in attendance and thanks to your generosity in adding to the tip jar we managed to donate a total of $15,000 pesos to Art in person. A big Thank you to all of you! The Kids have a great start in the New Year. See the photos in our January 2009 Photo Gallery on our site. A special note about the hearts and minds of Kids. Our little visiting Grandson, Jonathon, 7 years old, has been listening to my constant chatter about raising money for the Kids. Yesterday while swimming at the beach he found a pretty black rock and promptly came out of the water and sold it to a local tourist. He then went back and spent the afternoon finding more "special" rocks and sold each one to people on the beach. He came back to the restaurant very proud of his achievement and his little fist full of money. Last night when we presented Art with the money, he made a special little presentation of his own... All the money he raised selling rocks! I think I will keep him here in Mexico to help the Kids on the daily basis.
Friday, December 19, 2008 the Kids had their annual Xmas party. The Sheraton Hotel donated the banquet room and their waiters and tables. We and by that I mean all of you that donated supplied the rest. Take a peek at the video and give yourselves a big pat on the back! I have included the video of the original tour of the Dump. Get a coffee... turn up your volume and enjoy! Links www.childrenofthedumpvallarta.org/ Back to Cafe Roma's Website |
