What will your donation "look like" in 20-30 years from now? Out of the 100 preschoolers who are in our program this year, how many will be teachers, accountants, nurses, doctors, engineers, or other professionals in 20-30 years? How will they be impacting their communities and families - and breaking the cycle of poverty?
Can YOU help us reach our goal of $25,000 ($33,500 CAD) this year?
When: December 1, 2020 Giving Tuesday is always the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving (US).
"Who, What, Why, and How."
Who: 100 three to five-year-old children (aka bundles of energy; preschoolers; little ones at the beginning of their educational and life journey; beginners who are scared of being away from Mamá at first; dreamers before they know how to dream; often tiny, hungry little ones; "sponges" for learning; and the list goes on)
What: $25,000 ($33,500 CAD) for the 3 FundaMaya Preschool & Nutrition Centers
Why (Again): Many of our preschoolers are traditionally sponsored throughout the year when individuals and families, along with service, educational, and church groups serve alongside us here in Guatemala. As we all know, visits were not possible (and won't be for the first half of 2021), so the majority of the preschool students we accepted in 2020 were not sponsored.
In addition, many of our expenses were constant. FundaMaya continued to employ and pay wages to our valued teachers throughout the pandemic. We still had costs associated with the rent of the Panajachel preschool, maintenance of the San Jorge La Laguna and San Antonio Palopo preschools, and educational materials the teachers sent home for each student twice a month.
In some cases our expenses were multiplied. For example, we did not feed the preschoolers in the actual school buildings beyond March; however, we did put together and distribute food packages for their entire family once or twice each month which was more costly. It was the right thing to do though as food scarcity has been the primary concern in 2020.
So, while we continued to educate, feed, and work on the overall well-being of our preschool families, our income was decreased for this program.
In 2021, our hope and plan is that the preschoolers will be back in our preschool buildings learning, causing mischief, singing, laughing, playing, eating, healing, and so many other things for the majority of 2021, if not all of it. .
If you would like to sponsor a child for the entire year, you will receive some general information about the child and his/her family, along with pictures. More than that, you will be making the difference in a child's future !
To sponsor a child please go to www.fundamaya.org
To donate to Fundamaya Giving Tuesday please go here.
Please take a moment to look at this very short video about our Fundamaya preschools and the teachers.
The cycle....
What will your donation "look like" in 20-30 years from now? Out of the 100 preschoolers who are in our program this year, how many will be teachers, accountants, nurses, doctors, engineers, or other professionals in 20-30 years? How will they be impacting their communities and families - and breaking the cycle of poverty?
We hope each of these 100 students will make it through the equivalent of high school education in the US, if not to working towards a university degree. We are also realistic and know that might not happen. We do know though that each of the children will have learned Spanish, along with their native language. This alone will open up more of the world to them.
For each additional year of school that a child is able to complete, we know it continues to open up choices and opportunities and gets us closer to the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty. If you know how to do basic math, read, and write, then you are more likely to be able to read a contract and know what it says. You can help your child with their education. You can understand that there are choices in life and just because someone tells you to do something, you don't have to. You can critically think on your own. You might have the ability to use a computer and research information from across the world, as you know how to read and interpret the wealth of information at your fingertips.
Giving Tuesday is the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. It is a day for each of us to find a way to do good in this world. A day for us to be grateful for those that have helped us and then go that next step and find a way to give back through donating to causes that "speak" to us and volunteering (if possible in this "COVID world"). This cycle of "acts of generosity and kindness" will have amazing impacts on the world today and the world in 30 years - that we are sure of!
How will Giving Tuesday change the cycle of kindness and support communities in the greater good?
How will education change the cycle of poverty and support communities in the greater good?
How can you support Action Alliance International and FundaMaya Canada (the USA 501(c)3 and Canadian charity respectively), who provide the funds to FundaMaya (the Guatemala non-profit) in our Giving Tuesday Campaign: A Time of Giving & Gratitude - and in turn affect both the cycle of education and generosity?
Today Is The Time. Today Is Giving Tuesday. Start Changing the Cycles.