We have been, as you know, seeking ways to honor Jamie with the Jamie’s Joy Fund.  We have just found a very worthy way to begin to honor Jamie's memory through your generous donations to Jamie's Joy Fund.

David Lynch was a 27-year-old New York teacher. In 1980, he decided to start volunteering his summers in Tijuana, where he taught children who live in the city dump.  These children’s lives would otherwise not include education, and when they turn 14, they would join their parents as laborers who work and live at the dump.  David built a school at the dump, and began formally educating the children.  We went to a fundraiser dinner in October and felt that Jamie would definitely approve of using some of his fund to help support David’s organization.  The children, as David says, may end up working at the dump, but with an education, they have the opportunity to decide if that’s what they want to do. Later, we went with Mr. Lynch to visit the actual site in Tijuana. This is a rough way to live, and hopefully some of these kids will find a way out.

After attending a fund raising dinner in October and visiting the dump site we have decided to donate $1200 of Jamie’s Joy Fund to support the education of one child for one year. We meet 5 year old Guadalupe when she enthusiastically came up to us and wanted to show us her salon (classroom).  Her sparkle reminded us of Jamie.  She is the child we sponsored for this year. We also toured the foul smelling, seagull-filled dump where workers pick out recyclables to sell back to the dump's owners, starting from age 14.  Our tour convinced us that this was a worthwhile project.

Hopefully, this will be the first of many projects to honor our beautiful boy.  Thank you for helping this to happen.

For information on “Responsibility”, see their website at www.responsibilityonline.org

The Responsibility Prayer

Prayer for the kids who lose shoes, and for those who have none

We pay for the children who sneak Popsicles before supper. Who erase holes in math workbooks. Who can never find their shoes.  And we pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire. Who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers.  Who never "counted potatoes"'.  Who were born in places we wouldn't be caught dead in. Who never saw a circus. Who live in an X-rated world.  We pray for children who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions. Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.  And we pray for those who never get dessert.  Who have no security blanket to drag behind them.  Who watch their parents watch them die. Who can't find bread to steal. Who don't have rooms to clean up.  Whose picture is not on anybody's dresser.  Whose monsters are real.  We pray for children who spend all their allowance before Tuesday. Who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food.  Who like ghost stories. Who shove their dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out the tub.  Who get visits from the tooth fairy. Who don't like to be kissed in front the car pool.  Who squirm in the church and scream into the phone.  Whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smile can make us cry.  And we pray for those whose nightmares come in the daytime.  Who will eat anything. Who have never seen the dentist. Who aren't spoiled by anybody.  Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep. Who live and move but have no being. We pray for for children who want to carried, and for those who must be.  For those we never give up on, and for those who were never given a chance.  For those we smother with love and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.