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Mayan Families
| Summer 2012 |
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| Donate via our NEW QR Code
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Write a Review
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New Faces
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Patricia Ferrero
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Patricia is the new Family Aid Coordinator. She is from Los Angeles, CA, and studied psychology at Boston University. After spending two years teaching in Thailand, she decided she wasn't done with her travels and wanted more experience working with non-profits. She is excited to join the Mayan Families team.
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Erin K�kdil
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After interning with us last summer, Erin joins Mayan Families as Volunteer Coordinator. From the DC area, she recently received her bachelor's degree from Smith College in Latin American Studies and Spanish Language and Literature. She is excited to be working with Mayan Families and its wonderful staff!
 | | Daniel Katyl |
Daniel is the new Education Program Assistant. He graduated from Eastern University and is now helping Mayan Families in the audio/video department, making promotional videos as well as slideshow videos for visiting groups. Daniel brings an assortment of abilities in technical support for Mac Computers, making promotional materials, and working in youth and education. He is excited to bring his abilities to Mayan Families.
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Greetings!
It's been an amazing summer at Mayan Families! As our client base, the families and children we work with, continues to grow, we are growing along with it. A host of volunteers, new staff members, and program expansions have brought great momentum as we approach the upcoming school year.
I would just like to say thank you to all of the wonderful groups, sponsors, visitors, and volunteers we had this summer.
Old friends returned and new friends were welcomed!
Houses were built, stoves installed, families now have clean drinking water, children were delighted to meet their sponsors, other children were sponsored for the first time, chickens were distributed, murals painted, medical and dental groups helped so many, teachers were trained, fun was had at the preschools, we moved offices, and so many lives were helped. Once again, it was a summer of miracles, big and small!
We couldn't do it without you, your friends, family and groups - or without our dedicated staff on the ground, who make sure our programs reach the children and families who need them most.
And, lastly, one of the greatest gifts you can give is to tell all of your friends about us!
Sharon
Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES
a registered 501.(c).(3) Non Profit Charity
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Sponsor a Little Dreamer for 2012!
Mayan Families operates seven Preschool Nutritional Centers in the Lake Atitlan region of Guatemala. Our preschools are named Caritas So�adores, which is Spanish for "little faces with big dreams." At our preschools, the children not only receive a quality education, but also a nutritious meal and snack each day, as well as basic hygiene training. Many of these students have difficult home lives; whether it is growing up in extreme poverty in a single-parent home, suffering illness without proper medical care, or going to sleep hungry night after night. Through laughter and play, learning and dreaming, their time spent at preschool gives them the opportunity to just be a kid.
Though many students have been sponsored, there are still over 100 little dreamers that do not have sponsors for this current year, 2012! If we do not find sponsors for these little dreamers, they may not be able to continue studying.
The cost is just $190 for the 2012 school year, and can be paid all at once or in monthly installments. Our hope is to find a sponsor for each and every one of these little dreamers for 2012, forming relationships that we hope will last for years to come!
Juan, student #2287, attends our Chukumuk Preschool
and is in need of a sponsor!
For more information on our 2012 Preschool Initiative: Sponsor a little dreamer!, click here.
Have questions? Please email our Education Program Coordinator, Rachel, at rachel@mayanfamilies.org
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We've Moved!
More kids and more volunteers means more space!
Mayan Families has moved from its Monterey office up to El Rastro near the church in upper Panajachel. The biggest benefit of the move is that all Mayan Families Panajachel facilities will be located in one place including the preschool, the elderly feeding program, the sewing program, and the technical school, which is on schedule to open soon! The move also means more space for our staff and volunteers. Consolidating several of Mayan Families' many programs in one location will save us valuable resources in transportation costs and make us more accessible to our clients.
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Mayan Families staff setting up the new office
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Building Homes and Hope in Agua Escondida
Mayan Families Lifts Local Families Out of Homelessness
Land ownership in Guatemala is something of indescribable value. Land offers the opportunities of food security, (having enough to eat on a regular basis), animal domestication, and the promise of stability in one's life. Many people in Guatemala live their whole lives without owning a piece of land. Landless, many families struggle for food, education, and rent, and have to choose between feeding their family or providing shelter for their loved ones.
In April of 2012, Mayan Families learned of a couple families living on the streets in the nearby town of Agua Escondida. Forced into a cycle of poverty that seemed impossible to escape, Mayan Families vowed to make the impossible possible. In May of 2012, with the help of our great community, Mayan Families purchased eight plots of land for eight different families. At the time of purchase, there were not enough funds to construct the houses for each family. This reality did little to hinder the spirits of the families--for the first time in all of their lives, they were owners of a piece of land.
Today, in August of 2012, Mayan Families has raised enough money for the construction of seven of the eight houses. While many are still not finished, the excitement of having a house of their own has resulted in many of the families moving in prematurely. Upon visiting the community, the families proudly showed off their homes and expressed great amounts of gratitude, even bringing one woman to tears, thanking the organization for all of the support for her and her family.
We are still in need of funds to construct the final home for the last family. Many of the houses are also still in need of stoves, beds, and water filters. If you are able to help in any way, please click here to donate and scroll down to the Other box, indicating the amount of your donation and the purpose, with the description "Agua Escondida." Thank you so much for all of your continued support. Together we have helped make an impossible dream a reality for many families. Click on the links below for photos!
Water barrels for everyone and some stoves being delivered!
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Mayan Families Running Club
Tierra Linda boys run with the best!
On Sunday, August 5th, nine junior high students from the Tierra Linda Jnr. High, that is supported by Mayan Families, participated in a 15 k race around the mountains of Panajachel.
Mayan Families has started a running club and these are the first students who were able to participate in the race in exchange for volunteer help. Alejandro Bocel, student #2251, came in 14th overall, with a final time of 63 minutes. All the boys had no problem finishing in the first 60, out of the nearly 200 runners who participated, many of them highly trained athletes.
Thanks to your donations they had running shoes, socks, shorts and t.shirts!
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Sponsored Family Open's Their Own Store!
Dave Lends a Hand
Thanks to help from a generous sponsor, a Mayan Family was able to open up their own store this summer. Their little store is doing great! They have bought themselves a hand held fruit-peeler and sell the fruit in bags. They sell peeled mangos and oranges as well as small bags of spicy nuts. The sponsor also provided them with a refrigerator which has enabled them to sell cold drinks, home made ice cream, and ice!
Thank you to Dave and his family for making this possible!
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Cristabolina Returns Home
Mayan Families Medical Client Makes Progress
Cristobalina, the young girl who suffered an electrocution accident almost two years ago, has returned home after spending a month in the hospital in Guatemala City. After losing both of her hands and a part of her right foot from the accident, Cristobalina underwent her last surgery to release scarring tissue of her legs. She continues to amaze us with her optimistic, energetic attitude and her determination to not let her new challenges limit her. Since the accident, she has taught herself how to both write and paint using only her mouth. At her seventeenth birthday party last month, Cristobalina expressed excitement for this new year. She hopes it will be filled with painting and English classes.
Thanks to the Mayan Families supporters who have made it possible for us to help her receive the medical care, the support and encouragement that she and her family needed on the long journey to recovery.
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Pana Preschool Loves New Climbing Structure
Your Donations Bring Smiles to Pana Preschoolers
The children were so excited at the Mayan Families Panajachel Preschool to receive a climbing structure and slide from the very generous group, Families for Guatemala 2012! It will be played on for many years to come!
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Project Santa!
Your Donations for the Holidays!
Project Santa.....just four months until Christmas.
If you have any toys, (gently used, second hand are fine), we would love to have them for the children of Guatemala! Last year we gave out over 8,000 toys. We have very few donated so far and there will be a lot of disappointed children if we don't get some toys in soon! Most of these children never receive a gift...and getting one at Christmas time is very, very special to them. We can also buy toys here in Guatemala if you would prefer to send cash rather than ship toys to us here in Guatemala. It takes over 2 months for a shipment to reach us now....please consider collecting toys from friends, at your school, church, garage sales....they would be so appreciated here! For further information on shipping, please go to our shipping info page at: http://mayanfamilies.org/ShippingDonationstoMayanFamilies or please contact Sharon@mayanfamilies.org If you are thinking about a special gift for someone this year....please consider sponsoring a child to go to school, an elderly person to be able to eat once a day, a diabetic person who really needs to be sponsored for their insulin or sponsor an orphan for a monthly supply of food. For animal lovers, sponsor a dog or cat to be spayed or neutered and help us reduce the amount of unwanted, starving animals. Thank you!
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Online Community!
Join for Free
If you want to learn more, have access to the latest news and resources, and continue to be informed about our work, please join our online community.
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| Women's Empowerment Award
We've earned the rating of being a Top-Rated Women's Empowerment Nonprofit! During the past six weeks, over 100,000 people visited the GreatNonprofits site to read and write reviews, and we got a significant amount of reviews! Thank you!
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Disaster Relief Ratings
Thank you for giving us great reviews on Great Nonprofits. We are the top rated 'Disaster Relief Nonprofit'! Check out all the listings.
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Download the Enliken Toolbar
Install Enliken and start donating today!Just browse the web the way you always do and help support the mission of Mayan Families. Every internet search is an instant donation, free to you!
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Volunteer Opportunities
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Help Mayan Families
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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.
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