Do You Know Who Ana Dodson Is?

Ana Dodson is an amazing and inspiring young woman.

Born in Cuzco, Peru, Ana was adopted as a baby and brought to America. In 2003, she and her mother decided to return to Peru for a visit. Before leaving, she collected books in Spanish and teddy bears to take to a few of the orphanages that they had planned to visit. One in particular, The Hogar Mercedes de Jesus Molina, deeply touched Ana. And her visit there prompted her to establish Peruvian Hearts, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of children living in poverty in Peru through nutrition, education and healthcare.

She was only 11 years old.

Today, Peruvian Hearts has successfully implemented a number of improvements and programs to help both the children at the Hogar and in other Peruvian towns. Their goal is to make the Hogar a model for other orphanages. Ana and her organization are making or have already made a lot of improvements to the orphanage building, such as starting construction of a new dining room and modern kitchen, a covered laundry area, and the completion of modern bathrooms so that the girls no longer have to share one outdoor shower.

Peruvian Hearts also raised enough money this past year for their Education Fund, which they used to send all 19 girls at the Hogar to local Catholic schools in order to provide them with the opportunity to go to college, if they so choose.

The organization does not limit its aid to just the Hogar. It is also dedicated to helping other Peruvian children by supporting a Children’s Lunch Program through local schools. These lunch programs provide daily multi-vitamins and warm lunches to over 500 children living in surrounding Peruvian towns.

For a complete list of Peruvian Hearts programs, check out their web site here.

To me, this is an amazing and inspiring young woman and family. And so, to support Ana Dodson in the pursuit of her dreams, the Latin Baby Book Club for the next 6 weeks will be hosting a small book drive for Peruvian Hearts. The books will be part of their Library Project. So between now and April 12th, we ask all of our wonderful readers to please consider donating a new or very gently used children’s book in Spanish. Bilingual books will be accepted; however, they must contain FULL TEXT in Spanish (and English.) Spanish-only books are preferred, though, for obvious reasons.

To reduce the cost, you can mail your book donation as "media mail" from your local post office. Please address your donation to:

Peruvian Hearts - LBBC Book Drive

24918 Genesee Trail Road

Golden, CO 80401

We know that globally, these are hard economic times, and because of this many non-profits around the country are suffering. We’ve chosen Peruvian Hearts for a couple of reasons: Ana Dodson’s selflessness and compassion at such a young age, and to support this young Latina who is trying to improve the lives of other young Latinos in a country suffering much worse poverty than ours – and succeeding. In addition, one book is a small, relatively inexpensive donation, whose value may be powerful and life-changing.

Por favor, consider helping a child through your simple gift.

~Monica