Friday night’s benefit show at Portland’s World Famous Kenton Club was not only a hootin’ good time (by 1am, it seemed like half the crowd was on stage dancing with the band!) it was a big success as well. The event raised $1,215 which will go directly to Las Canoas’ library.

Las Canoas is a small, extremely poor Kaqchikel Mayan community above Lago Atitlán in the Guatemalan Highlands. Most of the families here earn $100 to $200 a month working intermittently in agriculture or busing to nearby Panajachel to sell crafts or other goods to tourists. The school here is poorly funded, the classrooms lack books and the library recently closed for lack of funds. With the help of everyone involved with the Las Canoas benefit, Child Aid is working to reopen the library, stock it with age-appropriate books for the children, provide training for a new librarian and the local teachers and start reading programs.

Portland musician and music educator Ivy Ross set the whole thing up after she spent a month volunteering and traveling in Guatemala. We owe her a huge thanks!

And then there were the bands: Pink Widower, Chores and Tine! They took time out of busy schedules and rocked the Kenton Club free of charge, bringing in loads of fans who donated at the door to support Las Canoas. Help us thank them for their support by checking out their My Space pages and buying their CDs! We also owe a big, big thanks to the Kenton Club itself, which donated 15% of the bar tab to the cause. Now that’s a bar with returning to! And of course, thank you to each and every one of you who made it to the club and donated to the benefit. All of us at Child Aid – not to mention the community of Las Canoas – appreciate your support tremendously!

Thank you!!!!!!

(And by the way, if you’d like to organize a benefit or special event for Child Aid, we certainly could use your help! Just contact us here or call 503-223-3008. The Kenton Club show was a great community builder and is yet another example of what people can make happen for people.)