Mayan Families // Educate. Feed. Shelter. Heal.

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In This Issue
Adios, Dina!
Donate Food Baskets
Feinstein Challenge
Las Fotos
 
Help Mayan Families
for free... 
Use our resources to fundraise through third-party organizations, such as the Goodsearch toolbar, where we'd receive a penny for every single search engine search you perform. 
Don't forget that pennies go a long way when families in our services live on mere $'s a day.
 
Buy our Calendar
 We offer two destinations to buy our calendars from.  We receive a donation from any purchased calendar.  Compare them here:

Mayan Families Connections
Sponsored Student
 Mayan Families Connections is an online community for our supporters!  To participate, visit the MFC Blog or join the Yahoo! mailing group to keep up with the latest news.

Leave a Legacy
Remembering MAYAN FAMILIES
through your will, 401k, or life insurance is easy!
Contact Dwight at dwight@mayanfamilies.org

Donate your Old Mac
We would like to have a Mac computer available for use in our office to help assist our marketing efforts and video production.
 
If you have a Mac G4 or newer
, please consider arranging it for donation by contacting Dwight at 
dwight@mayanfamilies.org
Find Mayan Families on Facebook
 
Follow Mayan Families on Twitter
 
View Mayan Families Videos on YouTube

Find us on Google+
Volunteer Opportunities
We could use help, whether you're in Guatemala or at your own home! Check out our listings here!

Pass it On...
If you know of someone who might be interested in reading this Newsletter, please forward it to them!
MAYAN FAMILIES
2609 Hartford St.
San Diego, California 92110
dwight@mayanfamilies.org
619-550-2608
 
A Great Honor!
Mayan Families' co-founders Sharon Smart-Poage and Dwight Poage were recently awarded Rotary International's highest honor for individual Rotarian's, the Service Above Self Award. 

This recognition award is given to a maximum of 150 Rotarian's annually who have demonstrated exemplary humanitarian service, with an emphasis on personal volunteer efforts and active involvement in helping others through Rotary.   Nominations for this are made only by current district governors, directors, and past directors.   Sharon and Dwight were among 137 Rotarian's recognized at the third meeting of the 2011-12 Rotary International Board of Directors held on 23-27 January 2012 in Coronado, California, USA.  

Members of the Upper Arlington Rotary Club of Columbus, Ohio, photographed above, presented this award to Dwight and Sharon on their visit to Panajachel, Guatemala.  

Thank you so much Rotary for all that you do! 

Adios, Dina!

We had to say goodbye to Dina, the wonderful year-long volunteer from Brasil.   We are so thankful for her time and service.  


Kristen has replaced Dina's position in the Family Aid program alongside Jenny.  Kristen was previously working for a NGO in Guatemala City for the last year, so she is familiar with the country and the culture! 

Semana Santa Baskets!  
We want to thank everyone for all of the wonderful baskets and bags of food!!! Over 650 baskets were given out during the Semana Santa celebrations as well as over 90 bags of much needed food for the Elderly! 
Thanks to you, every one of the children in our Orphan Program also received baskets of food. 
 
However, the ongoing need for food remains.
 
Any food donations and pledges made during the month of April will go towards the Feinstein Fight Against Hunger Challenge. These donations will provide us with funding for food to help those who often go without. Don't miss our Feinstein and JUMO-GOOD April Campaigns for easy ways to help out Mayan Families!!
See the Food Baskets in Action! 
See the Food Baskets in Action!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for making this all possible. Happy hugs to you all!! 
Immediate Fundraisers!

 

Hi Everyone. You can help Mayan Families help those less fortunate and make your gifts and pledges in nutrition go even further!

 

FIRST: Until the end of April, Mayan Families is very pleased to be joining with the 15th Annual Feinstein Foundation $1 million Giveaway to Fight Hunger.  Gifts or pledges to any of our Nutrition related programs including: Easter Baskets, regular food baskets, Pre-school Nutritional Centers, Elderly Care Meals Program, Milk Distribution, and Prenatal Care are eligible!

 

SECOND: Also, through April 17th, we are also competing by public vote for US $2500 in the GOODMaker: "Let's make good happen" Community Challenge.   Rally your friends and colleagues and get behind our effort in the GOOD community to show that Mayan Families is most deserving of the cash to make it happen. The organization with the most votes will be rewarded with $2500, in which case Mayan Families would use to help fight poverty in our programs.

 

How to vote:

1) Visit our Meaningful impact: tackling a two-headed hunger challenge in Guatemala project page at: here

2) Click "Vote for this Idea" to vote for our project.

3) You will need to log in with your GOOD account.  If you don't have a GOOD account, it's free to join. All you need is an email address or a Facebook account to register.

4) If you use an email address, you will be emailed a link that you need to click in order to confirm your address.

5) Once you've voted, you'll get a notification at the top of the screen verifying that your vote has been counted.  

*Remember, individuals can only vote once during the entire voting period, so please let your friends know and spread the word!

 

Share these ideas with others, and ask them to vote for us.  Here are a few ways you can spread the word:

1) Email your friends and family with the direct link to your submission and instructions on how to vote.

2) Use social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc) to share your submission with your networks.

3) Actively comment on the bottom of our project submission page

 

Please vote for Mayan Families today!

Las Fotos Project!
Aura
We are grateful to Las Fotos Project for doing a program with several of our sponsored students.
This project is teaching them all aspects of digital photography. 
Through one-on-one mentoring, photography trainings, and assigned field projects, Las Fotos Project provides a creative outlet for students, encouraging them to express their artistic talents and explore their imagination, while building self-confidence.  Mayan Families is currently partnering with Las Fotos Project to work with our sponsored students and use our photographer volunteer base in this mission to empower our young Mayan Indigenous students using photography. The students not only learn how to take amazing photos, they also learn creative thinking, problem solving, writing and leadership skills throughout the span of the program. 
Our students attend classes taught by professional photographers. Check out the photos compiled by the Las Fotos Project on Facebook.
Abuela 
Sincerely,
Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES
Email:
Telephone: 619-550-2608

PS:   Please forward this to your friends and family so that more people can learn about the amazing work Mayan Families does in rural Guatemala!





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