Dear Friends,

We would like to give a special thank you to everyone who contributed to and attended our Fundraiser at St. Rita’s Church in Long Island City, New York. We hope that everyone had a great time and ate plenty of Feijoada! Again, your support is vital to our capacity to provide community development and educational programs in marginalized communities.

Because of your support we are able to continue to offer assistance to the most vulnerable residents of the community of Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro. In February Marcos Burgos and Rick Echevarria will return to Rocinha to continue working alongside local residents to ensure the continuation of our programs there. In addition, Mundo Real also has plans to develop some new programs with the residents in Rocinha in 2009.

We would like to especially thank Copacabana Pizza and Grill, Barril Grill, and Point Brazil Restaurant for all of the delicious food they each contributed, St. Rita’s Church for providing the setting, the projector, and other resources, and to all our volunteers, friends and family members who support our work in Rio for this cause.

If you could not make it to the event and you still would like to support Mundo Real, please visit our website where you can learn more about our work by watching some of our videos and where you can also utilize our 2009 Wish List to help in guiding you when making a contribution.

2009 Wish List (http://mundoreal.wpengine.com/2009WishList)

Contribute Page (http://mundoreal.wpengine.com/Contribute.html)

In the spirit of grassroots organizing and social justice, we would also like to wish everyone a Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a momentous and historic Inauguration Day tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Mundo Real Family