| Tamale Baskets |  |
Christmas is almost here, and we're preparing our annual Holiday Tamale Baskets for families who cannot afford this traditional meal! Find out more here.
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| Charity of the Month! |  |
Mayan Families is honored to have been voted Charity of the Month by Blogs for a Cause! They will be running a fundraiser for us all month, so read more about the program and fundraiser here.
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Monthly e-Newsletter
November 2010 |
Greetings!
Welcome to the Mayan Families monthly newsletter. Thank you to all of our supporters -- we've seen some great success stories thanks to your generosity! Read about what we've been doing in October, and what's in store for November and December below.
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Breaking Ground with Caterina's House  Thank you to everyone who helped us build Caterina's house this month! For those unfamiliar with her story, Caterina is a young single mother who was abruptly forced to leave a complicated and abusive household. Without money to buy a house or land, Caterina feared she and her four children would be out on the streets. But thanks to all the Mayan Families supporters, that wasn't the case!
The goal was set: raise $750 to give Caterina a basic one-room house. But our supporters went above and beyond, raising almost $2,500 in less than a week! With the extra money, Mayan Families was able to build a house that included a kitchen, a fuel efficient Onil stove, a water filter, and a table with chairs. The relief at getting her family out of a bad situation was clear on Caterina's face as we helped her move into her new house. Thank you to everyone who helped us bring Caterina and her children into a stable environment. Read more about Caterina's story and see photos from the move here.
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Two New Mayan Families Blogs  Mayan Families is excited to welcome two new blogs to our site: The Family Aid Blog and the Elderly Care Blog. The Family Aid blog formed to highlight families in crisis. Many are coping with the loss of one or both parents, a severe medical emergency, or the effects of a natural disaster. Each family has its own unique story, but many need help to cover basic costs of living, medical care, or education. Read their stories and learn how to donate here.
Our Elderly Care program provides lunch daily to elderly people in need, but for some of these vulnerable clients, especially those who live alone in horrible conditions or struggle with dire medical problems, lunch is not enough. The Elderly Care blog evolved to bring extra help to those in need. Recently, the blog raised money to help one elderly man, Pedro, move out of the corner of a leaky shed, where he lived alone, to a comfortable new apartment. Read his story and more on the blog here.
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Struggling to Stay in School  Schools are out for their three-month break, and we want to send a big thank you to everyone who sponsored a student this year-with your help, we've sponsored almost 1,500 children! But despite this progress, many in the Solol� region are still without access to education: while 86% attend Primaria (elementary education), older students are often forced to drop out and work. Only 19.6% complete B�sico (grades 7-9), and only 7.9% complete Carerra (grades 10-12).
The consequences of dropping out follow students for the rest of their lives. A Carerra education provides training for work in tourism, teaching, business, medicine, mechanical work or a host of other steady, higher-wage professions. Without this education, students are confined to unskilled labor-jobs that will never bring in more than a few quetzals a day.
A lack of education has particularly severe consequences for women. Without the physical advantage of men, many low-wage labor positions are denied to them, and they are forced to depend on the men in their lives. They are unable to leave if relationships turn abusive, and unable to support themselves if they are abandoned or widowed. Women without an education have on average more than double the number of children as their more educated counterparts, stretching their already limited resources even thinner.
The gift of a Elementary, Junior High School or a High School education will bring students benefits that last a lifetime. A sponsorship for a year for Elementary School costs $180, Junior High School costs $380, a year of High School costs $480 and a University Education costs $1,200 a year. To read more about the student sponsorship program, and to meet some of the students seeking sponsors, see the Student Sponsorship page.
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To make a contribution please go to our website http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateOnlineand go the General Donation section to send a donation. If you would like to pay by check please send your donation made out to
Mayan Families to:
Mayan FamiliesP.O. Box 52Claremont, N.C. 28610 If you would like to give this gift in Honor of someone special, please send us an email at dwight@mayanfamilies.orggiving us the details and we will put them on our IN HONOR OF web page.....if you would like to include a photo of your "someone special" we will also post their photo.......to have an e-mail sent to the person you are honoring - please send us their email address.
ABOUT US:
Mayan Families is a small non-profit group working in the Highlands of
Guatemala. We are a registered 501(c)(3) Non Profit Charity of the Internal Revenue Code. .
Your donation is tax deductible.
P.S. Please help spread the word by forwarding this e-mail to your community or posting it on your personal blog, web page and your social networks such as Facebook, You Tube, MySpace, Twitter, Hi5, Blogs and any others that are appropriate.
From everyone at Mayan Families, thank you for all of your generosity and support!
Sincerely,
Thank you for your support.
Best wishes,
Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES
Tel: 619-550-2608
www.mayanfamilies.org |
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