POP Supporters & Friends - Nepal Trip Presentation Sunday, November 15th

Dear Friends and Supporters of Playgrounds Of Peace,
You are invited to attend our team's formal de-briefing and presentation on our recent trip to Nepal. Also, we will be discussing the future of POP, upcoming trips and prospective playground & relationship building trips.

The event will be held on Sunday afternoon from 2 PM to 4 PM at the East Auditorium of Lee's Summit Community Church.

I hope to see you there.

Thanks,

Mr. Playground

Nepal - Please let our Playground Equipment Go!

POP for Poland 2010

Here are some photos of the Dom Dziecka playground where we will complete the final phase of the playground build we started in 2006. The main composite structure needs to be replaced along with the old swings and the damaged play house (installed in 2006 by our team). With the grant from FRUA (Friends of Russian & Ukrarian Adoptions) we should be able to get the job done....with a little fund raising.

No Word This Week from Nepal on Playground Equipment

I talked to Uttam and his brother (Kishor) and "Brother" Nepal are still trying to working things out through the Nepali government and the help of local people supposedly with some influence. Even with doing everything right....there is still the potential problem with corruption and bribery. Our folks in Nepal have declined further help from the US Embassy for now. They have appealed the case to their Prime Minister's office but with all the political stuff going on in that Country, it will be a small miracle if our little situation is addressed. Keep praying for a miracle...so that the children can play!

POP a Separate 501c3 Organization?

Dear POP Friends & Supporters:
It appears with the recent financial reorganization at Lees Summit Community Church (LSCC), we are being encouraged to form our own separate non-profit organization and not use the church as a clearinghouse for donations and trip expense payments. Some "extension ministries" of the church have already done this or are looking into it. LSCC is still willing to coordinate the finances for Short Term Missions Trips, but at a 3% surcharge administrative cost. I'm okay with that assuming service for team leaders will improve. My question is.....is this for ALL short term missions trips sanctioned or approved by the church or for just more organized efforts like the East Asia Project, trips to the Russian orphanage and Playgrounds Of Peace? Regardless, they (church leadership) needs to post guidelines and steps for facilitating a missions trip and teach potential team leaders how to navigate through the process. Also, POP has been under the "Orphan Care" umbrella for area of ministry. Will this change? We'll see.

Therefore, POP will pursue getting a 501c3 status. We will form a Board of Directors, and probably modify our organizational name to reflect our non-profit status. I'm not sure how it's all going to shake out but I think it will be a good thing for POP. Hopefully, we'll be able to secure the help of many businesses, humanitarian groups and well as the faith-based community to "give the gift of playground to children around the world."

A special thanks goes to SendOutCards for the gift of blankets for the children of Hope for Nepal Children's Home. Blankets were number one on their list of needs this year. Thank you Kody, Leann, Eric and the whole SOC crew in Salt Lake City aw well as the other Distributors who "sent" card to the children of the home.

On to Poland....or back to Nepal!

Mr. Playground

Our Next Project: Poland Playground Build & Cowboy Bible Camp

Here is the site for the Cowboy Bible Camp where children from the 5N Baptist Church, the neighborhood and from Dom Dziecka "Droga" (children's home) will learn about horsemanship and the loving grace of Jesus Christ. Our Cowboy's and Cowgirl's from America will demonstrate Biblical truths as they work with 7 horses on the "ranch" located outside of Poznan' Poland using natural methods of horse train as promoted by various clinicians in the USA. The "ranch" has stalls, a barn, dry lots, a round pen and several pastures along with a farm house. The house is occupied by a Polish family who work with children at the 5N Baptist Church. This POP for Poland trip is tentatively scheduled for June of 2010.

Still NO Equipment. "Released by the Government"...doesn't necessarily mean "Released by the Government."

The old saying holds true in our situation...."once I figured out the answers, they change all the questions." This continues to be a very frustrating experience. I will post various recent correspondance later, because honestly it is too complicated and painful to try to explain it.

Note the photo above. The site is ready for the playground equipment. The children are waiting patiently. Please pray that the "adults" have compassion and release the equipment so the children can play.