How can you play a MAJOR ROLE in helping people in Guatemala?
Guatemala Service Projects, Inc. provides resources to improve health, nutrition and education outcomes to impoverished people in Guatemala. There are a wide range of chronic challenges for Guatemalan families.
- Parents are forced to choose between spending their small earnings on food or education.
- Children stop attending school, sometimes by the 3rd grade, to work to support their families.
- Schools frequently lack educational materials and instructors trained to help desperate students.
- Families often can’t afford to buy or grow food with high nutritional value, resulting in poor physical development, chronic ailments and lowered educational performance.
- Limited access to transportation and jobs means an inability to escape these conditions.
The cycle continues. But that cycle can be broken.
We work directly with community leaders who tell us about their most pressing needs. We then collaborate with them to plan, fund and deliver projects to meet those needs. Each project jumpstarts improvements and benefits that these communities find difficult to achieve on their own.
- We build community libraries to provide much-needed educational materials to schools.
- We create community gardens and deliver livestock to create sustainable sources of nutritional foods.
- We fund water projects to bring clean water to communities lacking in water resources.
- We provide educational sponsorships to keep kids in school and relieve families financial burdens.
Here’s how!
Do you, personally, or as part of a group or team want to OWN a project?
Our nonprofit is looking for individuals, families, churches, scout troops, high schools or universities, rotary clubs, companies — any person or group that wants to claim one of our current projects! Once a project is claimed, you get to raise funds and awareness until the goal is achieved. How you raise the funds is up to you, but we can give you tips based on what we know has worked in the past.
Once the project is funded, it will be implemented and photos/videos shared with you. Or, if there is interest, you can travel on one of our teams and you can see firsthand the results of your hard work, kindness and generosity! One nice thing about “claiming” a project is that you (or your group) is solely responsible for funding it. Sometimes a donor is happy to make a contribution toward something big even if the contribution is small. Feeling like you played a part is rewarding. But, it is even more rewarding if you know that you, alone, were responsible for something that makes a huge impact! (Contact Jennifer Demar to stake your claim or ask any questions!)
Here are some current projects available:
EDUCATION
- Repainting a K-6 school in Xabillaguach, Chichicastenango ($950)
- Replace the roof on K-6 school in Xabillaguach, Chichicastenango ($3900)
- Provide an overhead projector for the computer lab in Xabillaguach, Chichicastenango ($500)
- Sponsor “Career Day” event at an elementary school. ($450)
- Provide sponsorship/scholarship for an elementary school age child that cannot afford school ($300)
- Provide sponsorship/scholarship for an middle school age child that cannot afford school ($600)
- Provide sponsorship/scholarship for an high school age child that cannot afford school ($960)
- Provide sponsorship/scholarship for an university student that cannot afford school ($2100)
- Provide funds for an entrepreneur to expand her food business ($4100)
- Provide startup funds and training for an entrepreneur that wants to start a weaving coop ($1100)
- Provide startup funds and training for an entrepreneur that wants to start a community tomato garden ($2000)
- Provide funds and training for young entrepreneurs in an all-natural products (honey, chocolate, coffee) startup business ($3000)
HEALTH
- Sponsor 2022 vitamins program for 1st graders in the Panimaches, Chichicastenango ($4000)
- Sponsor 2022 vitamins program for 2nd graders in the Panimaches, Chichicastenango ($3200)
- Sponsor 2022 vitamins program for 3rd graders in the Panimaches, Chichicastenango ($4200)
- Chujupen Community Potable Water Project, Chujupen Chichicastenango ($90,000)
- Construction of Emergency Room, Waiting Room and Supplies/Pharmacy Pantry for Chupol Chichicastenango Health Department ($35,000)
- Provide 5 families with water filters ($550)
- Provide 5 families with high-efficiency vented cook stoves ($850) — we actually have 44 stoves to fund
- Well-child clinic, including laboratory testing, doctor visits and any medications needed for all preschool children in the Panimaches, Alto & Bajo ($5000)
- Provide hygiene and cleaning supplies to a school to reopen safely and follow protocols ($800)
Claimed Projects in Process:
- Cabinet to store plates and pots and pans in a clean/dry area for K-6 school “kitchen” in Xabillaguach, Chichicastenango (Yuliana Hernandez and family)
- 150 Chairs for EORM Cantón Río Camanibal (Elena Burti)
Claimed Projects Completed:
- Provide 35 families with chickens and feed for food, income and sustenance through “10 Bucks a Cluck” project (7th grader Maya Lavey, National Junior Honor Society project)
- Fund a K-8 school library in Santiago Atitlan, including bookshelves, carpet, shoe cubbies, and books (Peter Kaes family)
- Purchase of an ultrasound machine for a medical clinic in Panajachel (Girl Scout troop, Stone Bank, WI)
- Funding the Publishing and Printing of two Quadri-lingual books about Guatemala (Dan Miller, Proactive Paint LLC)
- Provide water filters for five families (Oconomowoc Rotary Foundation, Oconomowoc, WI)
- Raise $500 for food relief via painting donations to charity art auction (Beth Ann Tobin)
- Provide 8 whiteboards and a central filing cabinet for K-6 school in Xabillaguach, Chichicastenango (Tammi Krueger Poe Teaching Career Retirement Fundraiser)
- Provide reusable menstrual hygiene for women and girls in three communities (St. Jerome’s Sewing Ministry, Oconomowoc, WI)
- Children’s multivitamins and Prenatal Vitamins collection drive (Blessed Hope United Methodist Church, West Allis, WI)
- Two elementary school libraries in Panimache Quinto Alto and Bajo (Peter Kaes)
- Two examination rooms and medical supplies for visiting nurses, doctors and midwives in Panimache Quinto Bajo (Patti Stewart-Garbrecht)
The “right” opportunity arose when I learned about a travel opportunity for adoptive families which would include volunteer work and cultural sightseeing. Being members of that team had a profound impact on me, Lillian and Andrew. Not only were we able to make a real connection to our son’s birthplace, but we met incredibly warm and generous people, all of whom we now consider to be a part of our “family.” In addition to the volunteer work I shared with the Team, I also was able to “give back” by performing as my alter ego, “Farfel the Clown” at a barbecue for children of The Backyard School. It will remain one the proudest and happiest memories of my life.