November also means Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup, this year a five-day slog from Virgin del Camino to San Justo de la Vega, with an extra day at the end for Calzadilla de la Cueza to Moratinos.
We didn’t sit still for too long in 2019. The Camino de Santiago is a needful place!
In January we bought a bunch of bunks for the albergue at Tabara, on the Camino Sanabres.
Jose Almeida had duct-taped the old red steel-tube bunkbeds together for the past couple of years, and blocked off a couple of them after the welds broke apart. It was time to invest in something new. Better quality this time – beds that will hold up to steady pilgrim traffic for decades to come.
“Peaceable Projects bill ourselves as “Doing Good Along the Holy Way.” You the donors done good, too. None of these jobs would’ve been attempted without your generosity, good will, and trust. ”
And so you did, Peaceable Projects people. 2,000 euros’ worth. Almeida had saved up enough to buy new mattresses and bedbug-proof covers, so the place got a true renewal.
In April, two divisions of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims swept in and paid entirely for a new pellet stove installation at the Albergue de Izarra, on the Camino del Norte. That was a big ask, and they stepped right up with 3,000 euros!
In March we bought a washing machine and vacuum for an albergue in Rabanal del Camino, on the Camino Frances: 400 euro.
In April, two divisions of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims swept in and paid entirely for a new pellet stove installation at the Albergue de Izarra, on the Camino del Norte. That was a big ask, and they stepped right up with 3,000 euros!
In May, the Albergue in Ricobayo, a little shelter in an old dovecote in the wilds of Zamora, got a new refrigerator, lamps, books, and chairs. 550 euros.
Things went quiet during the high summer season. We paid for some emergency car repairs in Leon, and resupplied an albergue on the San Salvador with toilet paper and kitchen roll when all of theirs vanished overnight. 70 euros.
In September, when the nights grew cold, we sent 10 woolly blankets to Ricobayo: 199 euros.
October sees many albergues clear out the cupboards when they close up for the season. Pots and pans and kitchen tools worn-out by months of hospitalero cooks go into the bin, leaving the larders bare. Peaceable donors sent Albergue Domus Dei in Foncebadon a new set of stainless cookware. The parochial albergue at El Acebo got new frying pans. Both places got new knives and an industrial-size box of clothespins: 350 euro.
I thought things might calm down once the season ended, but November brought the biggest fundraiser ever. The Albergue de la Santa Cruz de Sahagun was facing permanent closure if the Marist Fathers in charge did not tear out all the plumbing and replace it with new. The job would cost 20,000 euros!
A kindly soul had just sent 10,000 euros our way, part of a legacy. We had a head start! And you the donors, more than 200 of you, jumped in with contributions from 3 euros to 2,000! We collected the full amount in less than a week, and the Marists ended up with more than 22,000 euros in hand when the works started. Amazing!
November also means Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup, this year a five-day slog from Virgin del Camino to San Justo de la Vega, with an extra day at the end for Calzadilla de la Cueza to Moratinos. We have never worked harder. The project was fully funded, yet again, by one of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims chapters. We spent 780 euros.
December saw contributions to Egeria House in Santiago for new chairs, 400 euros worth of firewood delivered to the snowbound Templars in Manjarin, and 600 euros to buy bedcovers for a non-profit albergue in Trabadelo.
400 euros worth of firewood delivered to the snowbound Templars in Manjarin!
Another nice outcome for 2019 is the foundation of Asociacion Camino Angels, a Peaceable Projects-style non-profit based in Santiago de Compostela that is better able to raise and move funding from European countries to needful places along the Way.
Peaceable Projects bill ourselves as “Doing Good Along the Holy Way.” You the donors done good, too. None of these jobs would’ve been attempted without your generosity, good will, and trust.
Peaceable Projects wishes you all a prosperous and happy new year. God bless us, every one!