My favorite memory is that of having the privilege of being present on a service week when a sponsor met her student for the first time, after five years of sponsorship. The two had maintained a close relationship by mail and email. The sponsor had offered some inspiring words of encouragement over the years to her student. When the two met face to face, the student screamed and ran to her for a hug. Both were crying. The rest of us were, too.
Project Amigo helps very poor kids get the education they need. And I can be a useful volunteer and experience the joy and love in a safe part of beautiful Mexico.
I became involved with Project Amigo in 2005 with my first visit. I was so impressed with what I observed. You could see what Project Amigo accomplished with the children. We visited a migrant labor camp (who knew there were migrant laborers in Mexico) where Project Amigo had built a school and provided the teacher. What a difference in these kids lives. We also provided books to schools and even a "book of ones own" to school children--something that had been out of their reach. It's been ten years since my first visit and I go back every year to see how my donations get to the children that need them.
My wife and I loved our time and experience at Project Amigo and continue our support for the project through sponsorships of the kids and visits. It is successful program that has graduated 34 poor rural kids from college (plus law and medicine schools) and has made a significant difference in the local community and beyond. The project employs all local folks and recent graduates to empower the kids and young adults to reach their highest academic potential, introduces them to volunteering in their community and teaches them good values. They touch the lives of several hundred kids and adults each year with volunteer work weeks in areas such as literacy, vision and dental.
I served as a volunteer with Project Amigo Vision for 3 years. This is a collaborative project with Rotary and the Lions Club. What a pleasure it was to help so many wonderful amigos 'see' better through this project. I speak Spanish so I was able to communicate my new friends. I would urge anyone to join Project Amigo in any capacity whatsoever. Ted and Susan are the best!! Pam Lucas
Started volunteering at Project Amigo in 2004, and have gone back annually ever since. Whether it's giving a youngster their first book to own, or providing a rural school with a mini-library, or working at a Project Amigo run preschool for Nahuatl speaking indigenous migrant worker kids who without fluent Spanish cannot go to grade school, spending a week here can only whet your appetite to help these needy kids go to school and even college. In it's over 25 years Project Amigo is now producing Doctors, Nurses, Lawyers, Teachers and business owners. Donate, or better yet spend a week volunteering with the warm and loving people in this safest part of Mexico, and see for yourself.
We discovered Project Amigo a number of years ago when I took my pre-teen sons to learn what kind of an impact they could make helping others. It is remarkable how the project has, through some simple incentives, encouraged children to enter and then stay in school in this very poor corner of rural Mexico where education had not been part of the culture.
In supporting the education of so many children through grade school, high school and even the University, through incentives, homework clubs, computer labs, medical and dental help and scholarships, Project Amigo is changing the culture in this part of the world.
Review from Guidestar
It's always a pleasure to be part of the creation of friendships between children and adults from Canada, the US and Mexico. Volunteers who visit from the US and Canada invariably see a part of Mexico that is off the tourist path -- and that demonstrates a close-up view of the beauty and traditions of Mexican culture and history.
American and Canadians who visit, also make new friendships among themselves -- friendships that continue long after they leave each other's company after a work week.
Review from Guidestar