Educate a child;
Give hope to the world.
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DONATE To support the great work of Empowerment International, please consider making a donation. Click here to donate through Razoo (100% of your donation will go to EI but you will have to make a login for your first donation), or click here to donate through Network for Good (there is a 5% processing fee, but you don't have to make a login). SPONSOR To learn more about the organization and how to sponsor a child, click here. FORWARD TO A FRIEND Know someone who may be interested? Click here to forward to a friend. SUBSCRIBE Were you forwarded this email? If you would like to subscribe to the mailing list, please click here. FACEBOOK Find us on Facebook! Please consider becoming a fan of our page, or joining our cause. COMMENTS/QUESTIONS? Please email us.  These photos were taken by Kathy Adams. You can view more of her photos here.  
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Tutoring program takes off!
In early March, Empowerment International began a large-scale tutoring program for some of the students in grades 1-4. The students were identified through testing as having the greatest educational needs. Teenagers in the EI program are volunteering to tutor the younger students.
The public schools have very limited resources and class sizes at fifty or more; many students had not yet learned to read and write. The tutoring program now provides them with personal attention, and many are learning to read and write for the first time in just the first few weeks of this program. Each child receives one hour of tutoring, four days per week.
Catarina, 8, says of her tutor Rosa, "She helps me to learn. I am very happy here because I am learning to read and write better."
Rosa, 16, grins from ear to ear as she explains, "It just makes me so happy to teach my two students to read, write, add, and multiply. I see them growing every day."
The experiences of Catarina and Rosa are repeated all across the busy room. Sixty-two students and sixteen teenage volunteers are showing up early and enthusiastically at the EI office for the tutoring program every day. The students are excited to learn; the self-esteem and leadership of the teenage tutors is growing; the parents are thrilled. Everyone has high expectations and everyone is amazed with the rapid progress.
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Donor Spotlight: The third grade students of Sanchez Elementary School, Colorado
EI's newest group of donors are not from the most privileged of backgrounds (82% live below the poverty level by US standards), nor are they the most experienced in years (the median age is 8 years old), but this has not stopped them from being full of heart and generosity. The third-grade students of Sanchez Elementary School in Lafayette, Colorado, recently raised enough money to sponsor two students through EI - far exceeding their fundraising goals and a huge achievement for the class!
The students initially learned about EI and the plight of street children in Nicaragua through Tom McSheehy, their teacher. Tom visited the barrio in Nicaragua several years ago after a chance meeting with Kathy Adams (Founder and Executive Director of EI) on a plane to Costa Rica. Some of the students shared their feelings on why they wanted to help children in Nicaragua:
"I felt bad for them and sad because they barely have anything."
"I felt hurt and sad because some of them didn't have shelter, they were not learning. So that's why we chose school, not clothes or food."
The students did all the work for the fundraising themselves. Their goal was to raise enough money to send one child in Nicaragua to school, but they doubled this and raised enough for two! Some of the students shared their thoughts on their achievements:
"When my class and I raised so much money, I felt proud of myself because I'm helping people that need my help."
"It feels good... to me it feels very good. I love that feeling."
"I learned that I could succeed in anything in life."
"I learned that everyone can make a big difference in the world."
"It's a good feeling to help other people. If you have a goal to do that and stick to it, you can do it. You can see all the stuff you did for them and it makes you feel so good."
After their initial successes, the third-grade students of Sanchez Elementary School are determined to continue their good work:
"I'd like to help more than two people. And help more and more people every year,"
"I would like to sell my toys and just raise money and I would do it for poor people."
EI is so grateful for the efforts of the third grade students of Sanchez Elementary School. The money they raised is already being put to good use sending two new students to school. We think you'll agree that they, like so many of the EI donors, are a pretty special group of people!
Click here to read a longer version of this story, with many more quotes from the Sanchez Elementary school children.
Do you have an interesting story to share about why you got involved with EI? Have you organized a fundraiser recently? Please let us know (send us an email) - we'd love to include your story in our new Donor Spotlight series!
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Razoo March Goodness Challenge
We'd like to extend a huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated to EI through Razoo during the March Goodness Challenge.
Unfortunately we did not win any of the prizes, but the 56 people who donated put us into the top 20 charities in the competition, earning us some really valuable publicity. Many of the donations were for small amounts, but together they totaled an amazing $2440 raised in just 21 days - proof indeed of the poet Ryunosuke Satoro's words
"Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean."
Thank you all so much! This money will really make a difference. Thank you as well for all the wonderful and thoughtful comments that you left on our Razoo page.
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