CLC Car Wash This Saturday to Benefit
Puerta de Fe Orphanage
Community Learning Center volunteers skip annual Mexico trip
but remember their 100-plus friends
Each spring, a number of families, alumni and friends of Community Learning Center (CLC) load up their minivans and station wagons with camping gear and massive quantities of food and head to Puerta de Fe (“Door of Faith”), an orphanage south of Rosarito in Baja California’s beautiful La Mision Valley.
“Each year, we ask the directors at Door of Faith to assign us a service project – usually digging a trench or painting a dorm building -- tasks that our children can help with,” said Bill Hoffman, who has organized the weekend trip for the past 16 years. “Then we fix dinner for the 100 or so children and staffers at the orphanage and we all eat together. Most of our group camps on the grounds, so we sing and perform skits around a campfire and make s’mores and have a splendid time together.”
The next morning, the CLC contingent gets up early to fix a big Sunday breakfast for everyone. More games are played and hugs exchanged, then the group packs up and heads for the border.
But this year, the caravan will stay home. Because of high incidence of violence near the Mexico border and a subsequent travel warning issued by the U.S. Department of State, CLC parents decided the risk to families was too great. The group brainstormed to come up with a different way to help the kids at Puerta de Fe while involving the students of CLC, who are in grades 1 through 4. This Saturday, they will hold a car wash to raise money to send to the orphanage, which is feeling the pinch from many such volunteer groups canceling their visits and the donations that they bring.
“The costs of running Door of Faith are substantial. We wanted to do what we have become accustomed to doing every year: sharing our bounty and creating a connection between children on opposite sides of the border,” said CLC parent Pieter Wolters. He signed up to volunteer to organize the orphanage trip – but he now finds himself collecting castoff towels and arranging time slots for CLC families to pitch in and wash cars throughout the day on Saturday.
“The really great part is the interaction between that the resident children and babies and our group. It’s magical,” Wolters added. “Differences of language, cultural and economic circumstance fall away during games of soccer or baseball, cuddling the babies and pushing toddlers on the swings. Everybody feels a kinship that feels authentic and heartwarming. We are sorry to miss out on that experience this year. We know, however, that the orphanage, which completely depends on charity, is helped most by financial aid, and this too will give our children the sense of helping others.”
The CLC Car Wash and Bake Sale to benefit Puerta de Fe Orphanage is this Saturday, April 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 550 Blumont Street at Park Avenue in the school district parking lot. Cost is $10 per car. Advance tickets are available; additional donations are gratefully accepted. Every dollar will be sent to the Door of Faith Orphanage. Tickets can be purchased from any CLC family or by contacting Pieter Wolters at pieter.wolters@yahoo.com or (949) 715-2165. For those who wish to donate but cannot come Saturday, checks can be made out to Pieter Wolters and mailed to 1285 Dunning Drive, Laguna Beach.
For information on the orphanage, visit www.dofo.org. Information about the LBUSD’s Community Learning Center, the “school within a school” for grades 1 through 4, can be found at www.lbclc.org.
