Circulo De Amigas

This non profit was started, as I understand it, on the west coast but I am from Massachusetts. Fifteen years ago I was in Costa Rica and met a young women who impressed me greatly. She spoke of Circulo de Amigas and I, who had just finished putting my two daughters through college, decided we as a family could help one girl. So we were assigned our "Nicaraguan daughter ," Maryouri, who has now finished high school and is in her second year of a five year college degree program.
At the time Maryouri began grade school, the tuition was $25 a month and that included the staples needed at her home. Today the monthly donation is still very low and the monetary sacrifice very little. Be honest, don't most of us spend more than $5 a week on bottled water and Starbuck coffees. Most of us can educate a young lady and change her life. To educate a woman is worth triple the amount put into her education. Her family is helped immensely, her future children have a huge advantage and she can be independent. This is so important in poor countries of the world.
To open a door to the world of education for a young woman is possible through Circulo de Amigas, and it can can be done so economically through this nonprofit. We are proud of our "daughter" and we know she must be proud of herself.
My own daughter who is fluent in Spanish has gone To Nicaragua to see Maryouri and her family. She has seen first hand the great work they are doing. Our family is pleased that there are people like Pat McCully, Denise Flanagan and many others that are so generous with their time.

Pat Jackson
(suburb of Boston, MA)

We have been sponsoring a student through CDA for about ten years, since she was eight years old. We have watched her move gracefully through high school and now we are immensely proud to sponsor her studies at a university in Managua. The work of Pat McCully and CDA in Nicaragua have given us an opportunity to watch and participate in what a small community and group of volunteers can accomplish

As soon as I met founder Pat McCully, I was a fan of this NP org. doing amazing work in a small village in Nicaragua. From providing sewing machines to helping girls go to secondary school and now with a much broader focus and so many many donors and sponsors, CdeA is a sterling example of the impact of one woman on her world!

I am very excited to be associated with this community of generous hearts. Please make sure you visit Unitarian Universalist Church in Anaheim at least once a year. We were happy to have you visit us and I am happy to have a precious life to sponsor.

I first heard of this small organization from the founder herself, Pat McCully. She was a one man show a few years ago, having started a means of economic support to the women of this tiny village in Nicaraugua through her sewing machine donations and trainings. Soon she became the go-between importer/exporter bringing handmade goods to U.S. citizens, and giving the entire cost of the item to the woman who made the product. This greatly improved the opportunities of the families concerned. Circulo de Amigas grew into a school for the girls in the village as well. Some have since attended local universities. It is possible to sponsor a girl for only 44 dollars a month and in Nicaraugua, this means a different life for that girl and her family. I am so delighted to be able to so directly make a difference to a family even though I cannot give very much money. It's the most directly helpful organization I know of.

Five years ago, I discovered Circulo de Amigas through my Unitarian Universalist Church when founder Pat McCully came to give a presentation. Immediately I was struck by her passionate commitment to these impoverished women and girls who have few options because of early pregnancies and illiteracy. I adopted a girl that same day and the reward to MY life (which was completely unexpected) has been amazing. Over the years I have witnessed the contrast in photos of my little girl from wary and insecure to smiling and open...it makes me cry to know I have been a small part of her happiness and increasing options. I adopted a second little girl this year and, in July went down to Nicaragua where I had the incomparable experience of meeting "my girls" and seeing first hand their dire living situations. In spite of the extreme poverty, they are rich in spirit. I was made to feel a part of a community so foreign by the top-notch staff and felt both safe and useful. To see first hand the work that the community center does and the opportunities they provide through their computer lab, library, counseling and more, has inspired me to be increasingly involved. I cried when I left, and am counting the days til July when I am fortunate enough to get to go again. Through this organization, I have found my life's work and my calling and it has inadvertently changed my life in so many ways. I think it would change yours in unexpected ways as well, and it is with great hope and sincerity that I hope you will sponsor a girl and that I might one day meet you in the beautiful mountains of Nicaragua!

We have been sponsoring a young girl who, at 12 years old, had never been to school. She is now able to read and write and her life and the lives of her family members have been incredibly changed by our humble donation. Her family also eats better now and her younger sisters also go to school. It is so amazing what a huge change your sponsorship can make in many lives in the poor village of Jinotega. Because of this wonderful experience, we have started sponsoring a second girl. We were able to visit Jinotega this past summer and had a life-changing experience. Though the village is very poor, the people are very warm, welcoming and grateful. Circulo is staffed in the US by volunteers who work very hard for this wonderful cause. All the money donated goes to the girl you sponsor or to support the wonderful community center supported by Circulo in Jinotega. I cannot say enough good things about the worthwhile and worthy organization!!

My family and I have been Circulo de Amigas supporters, donors and sponsors for the last thirteen years. CdA has taken our hearts and has taken our lives. We spend our summer volunteering in Jinotega and our winters raising funds for the programs there. As a community volunteers with experience as Girl Scout Leaders, AYSO soccer coaches, Boy Scout volunteers, PTA officers, we have found that our efforts at CdA have been most meaningful and affective. Circulo de Amigas is well run and every penny goes to the education and health for the impoverished community of Barrio Linda Vista Sur in Jinotega, Nicaragua. Please consider donating and volunteering in the US and in Jintoega and sponsoring a girl for her education. It will change your life and her life too!

I have been a donor supporting Daryeling since she was about fiteen. She is now preparing to graduate from the University in Leon as a Pharmacy student. Since I have no children of my own and my last niece had been funded in her college 501 program (as my grandmother did for me) I was seeking a more direct contact that I could be responsible for in order to pass on my grandmothers tradition - but this time outside the family. In my first few years I wrote my check and recieved updates, but it was not until I was both inspired by Pat's actions and selfless giving in building a dormitory in Leon that I decided to visit Jinotega with my own mission in mind. With finanacial support from friends and family I was able to buy and oversee the installation of a generator for the night school students.Later, after meeting Daryeling and her family, I made a $100 donation for her school expense and clothes. I later found she bought a pair of shoes and the rest went to her family as their needs were also great. I am very proud to have been able to help in her education and watch as she has matured into a thoughful and level headed woman building her nest in preparation for her future. After my visit over five years ago I have served as Parlimentarion on the Board. I recommend a visit to Nicaragua to see the many needs firs and find where you may become a "part of".

My college Spanish teacher introduced me to Circulo de Amigas about 10 years ago. I committed to a sponsorship to help keep a sweet young girl in grade school and my role recently expanded to board member. Since then, my little girl has become a lovely young college co-ed with a future full of options! --- CdA is 100% volunteer run and all funds directly benefit the girls. This is no small feat for any charity. The donor's level of involvement with CdA varies from writing a modest check each month to traveling to the village of Jinotega and completing important projects. --- I've been involved in several charitable endeavors over the years and Circulo de Amigas stands apart as one that delivers meaningful, life-changing results. I highly recommend it.

I run a non-profit and is Circulo De Amigas an excellent example of how to effectively run a non-profit organization. I can use their model to help my organization and to have ideas in how best to expand into other areas. Additionally, the labor of love by the volunteers and the passion of the organization are phenomenal. Their purpose in helping those in need in such desperate areas is a godsend!

I started working with CdA as a casual volunteer about 14 years ago. Back then I knew it only as the non-profit that my friend Pat had started many years before, that helped girls and young women in a desperately poor area of poverty-stricken and war-torn Nicaragua. Now, I have a much deeper knowledge of the program, and have been to Nicaragua several times to see it in action. The work Circulo de Amigas does, the role it plays in the community and the difference it makes in the lives of all those it touches is difficult to overstate. Pat started something truly amazing, because she felt she had to. Those of us involved with it will keep it going, and keep it growing, because we know that we must: Educating girls has been proven to be the best track out of poverty, and that is what we are dedicated to doing - educating the girls, and by doing so helping them to lift themselves, their families, and their community out of abject poverty. Won't you join us?!

I was introduced to this wonderful nonprofit by a Rotarian from Villa Park, CA in April 2011. There was a request for vegetable seed to provide a variety of fresh vegetables to the needy girls and young women in Nicaragua. This was a terrific new contact for SEEDS OF HOPE!. I have been to Nicaragua and I have seen the malnutrition among the children. CIRCULO de AMIGAS has done a great job in taking seed to Nicaragua and working closely with local people in developing the gardens, harvesting the vegetables and feeding the children. I will continue to provide vegetable seed as needed by this highly organized group of individuals from Southern California. In the area of humanitarian service, CIRCULO de AMIGAS is a super succes story.

I sponsor a young woman and contribute monetarily to this non profit because I think they do amazing work! This m group serves over 100 young girls and their families in the hghlands of Nicaragua on a shoestring budget with a huge dose of hard labor from volunteers both in Nicaragua and Stateside, The goal of this non profit is to uplift Nicaragua by bettering the lives of young girls through education. Circulo de Amigas sponsors girls to keep them in school and has produced doctors, accountants, nurses and farmacists, professionals who go on to help their own communities. In addition, Circulo has a library, computer lessons and provides propane stoves and clean water barrels. You can sponsor a young student for as little at $50 a month and I doubt you will see your money go further in any other charity.

CdA has given our family of avid readers and library patrons an opportunity to share our love of books. We sponsored a librarian's salary and then a tutor's salary. Seeing the smiles of the students in the reports we get make our small sacrifice well worth it.

This summer I had the opportunity to go down to Nicaragua and visit Cda. I was quite amazed at the level of poverty that the people down there live at. Yet, the girls of Cda will do what they can to stay in school. This was a very humbling experience for me.

This past summer our family of four seized an opportunity that few families get to experience. We opted to travel to a remote part of Nicaragua and engage with an impoverished community through the CdA program that is helping to alleviate poverty in their own special way. It is hard to express the multitude of impressions that this remarkable community of individuals left on us, but we gained a perspective that you cannot possibly see in our polished US communities. The 10 days spent in Jinotega flew by fast as we helped with teaching, repaired rooftops, ran field trips, and helped to manage baseball games with donated equipment that we carted down from the US. Another part of our interest in traveling to Jinotega was to meet a talented young girl whom we decided to start helping through school this year. Our two teenage boys came back inspired to really tackle Spanish fluency and to return as often as possible. They seemed oblivious to the rough setting (although they were very much aware of it) but thrived on the spirit of other young kids in the barrio. We are delighted to be part of CdA.

I recently had the opportunity to visit Circulo de Amigas in Jinotega and experience first hand the amazing work that this orgaization does for the development of young women and the community in general. The projects range from planting and maintaining gardens in the neighbourhood, improvements to homes and living conditions, a playground for the children, and overall providing a safe, clean, and inviting atmosphere for learning and sharing. The staff was amazing; warm, friendly and attentive, not just to our needs but you could really see the genuine pride and joy that they offered to the projects and to the participants. And the girls that we met were inspiring! They were sometimes shy but always engaged, intelligent and strong. They will undoubtably provide a positive contribution to the future development of Jinotega and Nicaragua. They deserve the highest respect and our continued support.

I worked with Circulo de Amigas in while I was in Nicaragua for 2 years. I don't know of an organization that is doing better work for girls and young women in northern Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan staff made up of intelligent, dedicated, responsible strong women- great role models for the girls who are part of the organization. Their library is a treasure in the community. I saw first hand the amazing work Circulo de Amigas does, their dedicated sponsors make a true difference in the lives of the girls they sponsor and in the community at large.

Circulo de Amigas is making a difference--in my life and in the life of a young woman who is studying to be a nurse at the university nearby.

When my husband and I were assigned our student as sponsors, we didn't really know what to expect.

Only by communicating often over the last 6 years, being provided with her reports of progress and finally visiting her twice that, in our eyes, a student who was a photo and a number has transformed into a caring young woman whose primary goal is to obtain an education and a career to support herself and her son.

If you have not been to Jinotega, it is difficult to understand the depth of poverty in the barrios of this beautiful mountain town.

Funds provided by us have given our student and her family a sturdy roof over their heads, a concrete wall to divert a contaminated stream and other materials. They still have dirt floors, but hopefully , that will change one day as well.

Circulo de Amigas provides a way in which we can directly affect the life and education of one person--it is only one, but some day, it will be many.

Circulo meets the needs of young women who are truly indigent. It does this by focusing on their education, paring them with loving donors who take a special interest in their welfare, and by paying local people to administer programs. The Board and administrative functions in the US are strictly volunteer based, so 100% of the aid given benefits the recipients and the local economy.

Education is the key component to improving the recipients long term future. It allows for the general improvement of Nicaraguan society and directly improves the lives of young women.

I learned of Circulo de Amigas through my church a number of years ago, and decided to sponsor a girl. It has been wonderful to get to know her through letters and photos, and to share experiences from each of our cultures. She is now in her second year of secondary school, and has hopes to attend the university. In the years I have sponsored her, I have seen her grow in a love for learning and to begin to think of a future with greater possibilities. She, and other girls like her, would not have had the opportunity for an education without "padrinos" to provide support.
I believe that for anyone, the best investment for life is a good education, and particularly so for children in developing countries. I have sponsored children through various organizations since I was a student in college (30+ years), and Circulo de Amigas is by far the best organization for sponsoring education for needy children that I have come across.

Our congregation has been involved with Circulo de Amigas CdA) for several years. Over the years we have sent donations to assist them with their vital work educating girls, and collected boxes full of plastic bags to be made into purses which are sold to raise funds. Two years ago a group of church members decided to sponsor a girl. This was one of the best decisions we have ever made. Each month we send in our sponsorship check and in return we receive letters full of love and gratitude not only from this bright, adorable girl, who is now 7 years old, but also from her mother, along with her report card and painstakingly created art work. The monthly stipend not only covers school expenses for the student, but also provides a small amount to help the family. Last year I had the opportunity to visit CdA in Nicaragua and meet "our" girl and her family. I was welcomed with open arms and felt like one of the CdA family. The staff is exceptional and caring. It was an amazing and life-changing experience. I hope to return in the not too distant future. So much good work has been done over the years and, from what I hear, more to come. Sponsoring a girl is one of the most rewarding things anyone can do.

I stumbled, unexpectedly, onto CdA some time ago and am so proud to be a Board member of this dedicated organization. It's great to be a part of something that's so important to the people it serves. We're working hard to develop our programs to make a BIGGER impact with the resources we have. Our students and employees have complete precedence and I look forward to doing more for them and our community in Jinotega.

You couldn't ask for a better group of talented, caring, and enthusiastic people!

We have been sponsoring a young lady for 7 years. She would not have been able to attend school without a sponsor. She is now 19 years old and attending university to become a nurse. Through the years we have been sent copies of her report cards and she wrote letters to us. Although we have never seen her in person I feel I know her and am proud of her success in school. She now writes to me in English. It is gratifying to actually see results from your contributions.