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Si a usted le gustaria leer algunos blogs en español, por favor envieme un mensaje a: jhernandez@cameliainstitute.org. Aunque no puedo prometer que mi ortografia sea correcta, hare todo de mi parte! 

Bueno... también usar un traductor para ayudar ;)  

Hasta la próxima,
Jen  

Partnership

Hello Lovelies!


We'd like to continue spreading sunshine in your lives by updating you with some strides we have made.

• We will be going to the Dominican Republic in the summertime to donate more equipment! Hurray! We will be working with another foundation, Fundacion NTD Ingredientes, in hopes to better serve our viejitos! (I'll talk a little bit more about this partnership below). 
• We will be going to Bangladesh in the summertime as well!! How exciting! This will be the Camelia Institute's first time there, and we couldn't be any more excited! Yahoooo! 

 Right now we are paying for a lot of the expenses out-of-pocket.  This will change soon! We know you're eager to help us, so we'd like to invite you to donate to our cause. We already have a special and dear friend who has pledged $200. We don't expect all pledges to be of this quantity, honestly even $1 can help, and we'd be extremely appreciative! We are working on how to make your donations be tax exempt, it's a sllloooowwwwww process, our apologies!


Fundacion NTD Ingredientes:

• The Camelia Institute was approached by Fundacion NTD Ingredientes earlier this year. NTD has traveled nursing homes/ day centers throughout the Dominican Republic. Though most senior centers have an established need, NTD has established which centers require the most equipment. This is where our partnership comes into play. 
• NTD has information on the centers which need equipment; Camelia Institute has equipment to donate! 
• The Camelia Institute will be meeting with members of Fundacion NTD Ingredientes during our visit to the Dominican Republic. This seems like a great opportunity to help the most amount of seniors. **
• Check out more on this organization here:http://www.fundacionntdingredientes.org/

Until next time!

-Jen


 **The Camelia Institute will not be sending equipment through this partnership until we first meet face-to-face with members of this organization. Given the black market which exists in the Dominican Republic, we'd prefer to first meet with members of the organization in person first. It gives us all a peace of mind...

What's going on?

Hello!

As founder of the Camelia Institute I have some very exciting personal news! I was recently accepted into Fordham University for their Executive Ed.D. program in Educational Leadership, Administration and Policy! This is mainly one of the reasons I haven't been on here much, I've been caught up with getting myself a solid foundation. (Yeah, I love referencing architecture and the importance of the groundwork... but it is SO true!) I can't say exactly how long it will take me to complete my doctorate, but I'm excited my studies will allow me to continue working for the Camelia Institute.

In other news:

1. Our latest shipment is en route to the Dominican Republic.
2. We will be reaching out to the organization we mentioned in the last post to discuss ways of collaboration
3. We will be reaching out to NY1 one last time. Let's cross our fingers and hope things go well! 

If you have any suggestions, please send me an email @ jhernandez@cameliainstitue.org. 

Talk soon! 

What's Going on?

Greetings! We thought it to be appropriate to share our love on this commercialized holiday! Not really, we just love spreading love everyday! Today just happened to be a good day to blog.

While the world mourns the loss of Whitney Houston, we have successfully collected 24 items! Unfortunately, due to lack of space- we had to ship it to the Dominican Republic earlier than anticipated. Not such unfortunate circumstances, as what I am about to share.

The Camelia Institute was nominated to be NYer of the week in late December- what an honor! I was in communication with a very friendly reporter, who was going to interview our founding team. She was very much interested in the various aspects of the organization, specifically the community involvement in the collection process.  Because of a time conflict, and a busy schedule for the reporters thereafter, our interview was postponed.

While postponed and cancelled are two very distinct words, one often follows the other. I was really looking forward to spreading awareness of our cause & more importantly getting donations! Let's PLEASE cross our fingers and hope for the best... Even though at the end of the day our hard work was recognized by the nomination!


In other news, the Camelia Institute was approached by a foundation in the Dominican Republic. A collaboration with this foundation can be a great thing for impoverished seniors there. This foundation, who will remain anonymous until a decision has been made, have visited nursing homes throughout the country. They have the staff and information to determine which nursing homes are in dire need of the equipment. On paper this seems like a wonderful thing, however, my team members and I have to discuss how this collaboration will function in the long run. Especially taking into account the fact that we would like to ship equipment to countries worldwide.

Until next time, friends!
Jennifer Hernandez

P.S. Special shout out to our founding member Rafael C. for all of his help. He is truly a valuable asset to the Camelia Institute. We would not be here without all of your help! 

New year!

Oh, yeah!! Happy New Years!! We believe 2012 has a lot of great things in store for the Camelia Institute!

Ready? Set. Go!

New year, more determination!

Business cards are printed for founding members.
Emails have been synchronized with our phones: jhernandez@cameliainstitute.org ; lkhan@cameliainstitute.org

We now have better access to our phone line: 917.668.7952


Massive planning is underway, we will update soon!

As Promised...

On our very first day of picking up equipments in the Spring of 2011, the weather wasn't very favorable. It was raining continuously and to top it off, Lutful was battling the flu! Despite the weather conditions and Lutful's temperature, we managed to collect a few equipments, which by the way were in excellent condition!! The success of the first pickup gave us the momentum needed to continue collecting equipment. We ended up collecting over 20 items (not including the items which are pledged) for our first shipment overseas!! 

With the help of my wonderful family, the Camelia Institute was able to sanitize and package the equipment collected. We also ensured that the items were safe and usable by performing small tests. Of the equipment collected, we only had to discard a pair of crutches which were unstable and faulty. After sanitizing the equipment, we sorted and packaged the items to ensure the items would arrive together, not getting lost in transit. Once neatly packaged, our friends from Cibaeno Shipping came to our rescue! Not only have they provided the Camelia Institute with important resources, they also provided us a discount. (If you're reading this Cibaeno Shipping, thank you!)

Items arrived in the Dominican Republic a few weeks later, where family members accepted the equipment on my behalf. I (Jennifer) then flew in to the Dominican Republic on a quest to find a nursing home which NEEDED the equipment the Camelia Institute had in its possession. Although things hadn't gone according to plan thanks to Delta sending my luggage to a different state plus 2 additional countries, I eventually received my luggage (not as shipped, but c'est la vie) and was able to go out and explore the various nursing homes in the Dominican Republic. We searched, and eventually found a nursing home that seemed to be a perfect fit for the Camelia Institute. We met the viejitas at the home, and spoke with various staff members. We questioned why a nursing home would be on the third floor of a building with no elevators. We asked who was paying for the viejitas to live there. We asked questions upon questions to ensure we would be giving the donations to the RIGHT organization. We felt we found the right fit, and decided this organization would benefit from the items the Camelia Institute collected...

We delivered the equipment on August 7th! (One of the BEST days of my life).  We prepared goodie bags  for the residents in St. Vicente nursing home in addition to the 'real' donations, the medical equipment. Residents were extremely happy with our presence (and presents too!).  We had a total of 6 volunteers (myself included) for delivery. Overall- GREAT experience!

I'd like to note that not all equipment was donated at once to the nursing home. We donated the bulk of equipment collected, not all of the equipment since we wanted to ensure our equipment wasn't being  misused or end up in black markets. 

Now that we've completed our first project, we are looking forward to what's to come for the Camelia Institute!  Excited to plan and execute our next trip to help improve the quality of life of our seniors!
UNTIL next time!!!
xoxo