In the past month Casa Chirilagua had several new events to celebrate. We participated in the Alexandria Film Festival on November 4th. The Arlandria/Chirilagua (our neighborhood) venue had a great turnout. Mayor Euille and the Ambassador of El Salvador were in attendance for the event featuring “In the Image of God” directed by Jillian Ray and starring many of our Kids Club students was screened. The Kids Club students  thought it was pretty cool to see themselves on the “big screen.”

Our most exciting event was The Art of Restoration on November 6th. The walls of the new community center were covered with art from the summer program accompanied by photos of the projects and art descriptions by the art teachers. The exhibit was also complete with Unified Art Projects including a life-size diorama of our Kids Club rooms, a walk-through butterfly sanctuary and a mobile in which each of the students contributed their own piece. Many volunteers came by to provide live music for the event and we are thankful to Great Commission Community Church for sponsoring the Children’s Art Tent which was a great success. Please be sure to check out the pictures of the event provided by volunteer Katy Andres.

Our last big event for November is the Turkey Rally coming up this Saturday, November 19th. We hope you will come out to join us for this celebration of thanks. Six local churches have pulled together to plan games and activities in the neighborhood and give away 300 “pollo” baskets. (After polling our families, chicken was preferred over turkey!) This is definitely a favorite event of the year.

As we enter into the holiday season, a time of giving thanks, the Casa Chirilagua staff would like to send out a thank you to each of our volunteers and donors for your contributions this year. The Lord working through your generosity and time have helped to make this year, our first year as an official not-for-profit ministry, a success. We are truly grateful.