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The Domingo Savio Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to increasing educational and development opportunities for children living in at risk situations in Chile. Home Mission History Current Projects Staff Board of Directors Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations How to Help Donate Links

The Domingo Savio Institute engages in charitable and educational activities for the benefit of children in at-risk situations in Chile, principally by raising funds to support individual social projects and by raising awareness of the plight in which these children find themselves. Currently, the primary focus of the Institute is Mi Club Domingo Savio, an after-school program in the poor neighborhood of La Granja, Santiago. It was founded by Olga Diaz and is dedicated to empowering at-risk youth to develop the skills and confidence to overcome the obstacles that they face. MISSION Home History Current Projects Staff Board of Directors Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations How to Help Donate Links

HISTORY The Fundación Domingo Savio, the primary beneficiary of the Domingo Savio Institute, has been operating for 29 years under the leadership of Olga Díaz, fondly referred to by the kids as “Mommy Olga.” The Foundation’s first 22 years were devoted to creating a safe home for boys and girls living in situations of high social risk. During these years, Olga and the Foundation worked to create a residential “hogar”-- home in Spanish. The idea was to create a loving family environment for children who – because of poverty or abuse – were unable to continue living with their own families. In 2002, the Fundación Domingo Savio changed its model. Instead of living in the hogar, the children live with their families in the community and attend Mi Club five days a week after school. Mi Club also works closely with their families to promote self-esteem, good parenting skills, and expanded economic opportunities. CONTINUE Home Mission Current Projects Staff Board of Directors Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations How to Help Donate Links

Within the new model, the foundation’s objectives changed to create a strategy focused on integrated child development. While the main focus of the Foundation’s efforts is still with the children themselves, Mi Club Domingo Savio now also works with the families of the kids. In addition to providing significant opportunities to the children, it has a positive impact on the community as a whole. HISTORY (continued) Inspired by the tremendous accomplishments of the Fundación Domingo Savio, the Domingo Savio Institute was founded in 2009 by a group of friends in the U.S. whose lives had been touched by work of Domingo Savio. It is based at the Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights. Home Mission Current Projects Staff Board of Directors Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations How to Help Donate Links

Mi Club Domingo Savio offers a stimulating environment that is simultaneously educational and recreational so that the children can use their free time in a positive manner, motivating them to develop their talents and potential. The formative and recreational workshops offered by Mi Club include: Academic tutoring Dance and theatre  Carpentry and cooking Handcrafts and arts  Workshops with parents Camping and leadership CURRENT PROJECTS Home Mission History Staff Board of Directors Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations How to Help Donate Links

IMAGES OF CURRENT PROJECTS Home Mission History Staff Board of Directors Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations How to Help Donate Links

Olga Díaz Guerrero Director Jorge Palma Program Director and Volunteer Coordinator Andrea Diaz Program Coordinator Carola Tapia Program Coordinator David Pons Ferrari Public and Community Relations STAFF OF MI CLUB DOMINGO SAVIO Home Mission History Current Projects Board of Directors Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations How to Help Donate Links

Steve Reifenberg, President, serves as the Director of the Harvard University David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Regional Office in Santiago. In the early 1980s, he lived and worked for two years at the Hogar Domingo Savio. Terry Coonan, Vice President, is the Director of the Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Human Rights. He lived and worked for a number of years in Santiago. Kelly O’Rourke, Secretary, is a Chilean American who is working on a Ph.D. in Social Work at FSU and has worked with Domingo Savio. Daniel Saver, Treasurer, lived and worked as a volunteer in Mi Club Domingo Savio, as well as served as Director of Volunteers for VE Global in Santiago. He will pursue a JD degree at Harvard Law School in autumn 2009. Karen Bloom, a lawyer, lived and volunteered at Hogar Domingo Savio in Santiago, Chile in the early 1990s. Over the years, she has kept in touch with and assisted the foundation and some of the children. Julie Hersh, a business and technology manager, has been actively involved in philanthropic initiatives in Dallas, Texas, particularly involving children. She spent time with her family volunteering at Domingo Savio. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Home Mission History Current Projects Staff Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations How to Help Donate Links

"Santiago's Children: What I Learned about Life at an Orphanage in Chile" is a memoir published by the University of Texas Press that charts the two years Steve Reifenberg lived and worked at the Orphanage Domingo Savio in the early 1980s. Steve is donating 100% of the profits from the book to the Domingo Savio Institute. For more information see www.santiagoschildren.com “It’s hard to imagine someone who finds himself an outsider in one of the tougher neighborhoods of Latin America or Africa or other ‘foreign’ parts of the world—or someone interested in learning about one of those places—who would not find this book immensely instructive and moving.” — Paul Farmer, from the foreword to Santiago´s Children “Set against a backdrop of economic crisis and political uprising against the brutal military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, this beautifully written memoir recounts life among the most vulnerable, yet resilient residents of Latin America—its poor children.” —The New York Review of Books “SANTIAGO’S CHILDREN” Home Mission History Current Projects Staff Board of Directors Financial Considerations How to Help Donate Links

MI CLUB DOMINGO SAVIO has an annual operating budget of approximately $80,000 U.S. dollars that allows it to work with over 50 children and their families. This annual budget covers all the salaries for five professionals plus programmatic activities, utilities, food, materials, and more. Mi Club is supported 100% by donations. The majority of donations come from individuals in Chile and in the United States. 2009 brought a generous donation from the Andronico Luksic Foundation to build a new multi-purpose space and theatre on the Domingo Savio property, using the original cement walls of an abandoned factory. It also brought the world financial crisis which has left the operating budget far short. To date, Mi Club has only raised about half of the operating budget for 2009 and needs to raise an additional $40,000 or it will not be able to pay salaries and continue to run programs for the rest of the year. Board members and staff have committed to work to raise half of that necessary amount in the U.S. and the other half in Chile. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS Home Mission History Current Projects Staff Board of Directors Santiago´s Children How to Help Donate Links

There are multiple opportunities to help that range from sponsoring a Mi Club workshop to providing lunches for a month, supporting an individual child or making a single one-time donation. $10,000 supports fully the year-long participation for a group of 15 children, including all the materials and staffing. $1,000 provides meals for 50 children for a month. $500 pays the Mi Club electricity bill for 3 months. $360 supports one child's participation in the program for an entire year. $200 support all the materials for the cooking classes for one month. $90 supports one child's participation for three months. A single donation of any amount is always welcome! CONCRETE WAYS YOU CAN HELP Home Mission History Current Projects Staff Board of Directors Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations Donate Links

Through the U.S. based Domingo Savio Institute, individuals can make a tax-deductible donation to support the work of Mi Club Domingo Savio in Santiago, Chile. Please send your check payable to “Domingo Savio Institute” to: Domingo Savio Institute, Inc. 6753 Thomasville Rd. #108-139 Tallahassee, FL 32312 If you have any questions contact, Steve Reifenberg, sreifenb@gmail.com or Kelly O’Rourke, kelly_orourke@hotmail.com DONATE Home Mission History Current Projects Staff Board of Directors Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations How to Help Links

Mi Club Domingo Savio Blog: http://www.miclubdomingosavio.org/ The blog updated and maintained by the staff of Mi Club Domingo Savio Santiago’s Children: What I Learned about Life at an Orphanage in Chile http://www.santiagoschildren.com/ Recently published memoir written by Steve Reifenberg detailing the two years he spent living as a volunteer in the orphanage Domingo Savio during the early 80s VEGlobal: http://www.ve-global.org An NGO based in Santiago, Chile that currently places international volunteers in Mi Club Domingo Savio and other centers working with at-risk children in Chile. FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights: http://www.cahr.fsu.edu/ - Partner and host of the Domingo Savio Institute LINKS Home Mission History Current Projects Staff Board of Directors Santiago´s Children Financial Considerations How to Help Donate