Panama's Girl Scouts need a new roof

Panama’s Girl Scouts, the Asociacion Nacional de Muchachas Guias, urgently need a new roof over their national headquarters building on Calle 1ra in Perejil. The building not only houses the Muchachas Guias, but also the Teachers of English as a Second Language, the quadrille dance classes of the Society of Friends of the Afro-Antillean Museum of Panama and The Panama News. Every time we get a serious downpour --- almost every day, now that the heavy November rains are upon us --- water comes through the roof, damaging ceiling tiles, ruining wood, rusting metal, flooding offices and soaking their contents.

The old roof has been patched and re-patched, and the most important of the offices’ contents have been covered in plastic, but there is no avoiding the need for a completely new roof. The problem is, neither the Muchachas Guias nor the groups that rent office space from them have the money for such a large undertaking.

What’s really needed is a donation of sufficient building materials, plus the time of a skilled volunteer work crew that can take advantage of the coming dry season to tear off and haul away the old Spanish tile roof, then install a sturdy new roof that will keep the rain out for years to come.

There is always a chance of raising enough money through small donations to pay the price of a new roof. However, the Muchachas Guias mainly exist on modest contributions and barely have enough to continue their various programs around the country. What’s really needed is for people in the building materials business and the construction industry to come forward for the large in-kind donations that will add up to a new roof and good publicity that the community won’t soon forget. (Also know that any contributions to this group are legally considered charitable and can be deducted from Panamanian taxes.)

If you care to send a check to help the Muchachas Guias, mail it to:

Panama Information, Hotels of Panama - Executive Hotel
Panama Information, Real estate in Boquete - Valle Escondido
Panama Information, Real Estate in Las Cumbres - Villa Concordia
Panama Information - Online guide to information about Panama - www.panama-information.executivehotel-panama.com
Panama Tourism - Online info for the Tourist Panama - www.travel-to-panama.com
Panama Pictures - Collection of pictures of Panama - www.panama-pictures.com

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The Muchachas Guias need a new roof