My Nonprofit Reviews

Being involved with Local Hope and watching it evolve has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. I love seeing firsthand how effective my donations are and meeting the people who benefit, many of whom have become real friends.

The young people whom I met in our Leader's groups are now the professionals responsible for operations in Guatemala - they embody the maxim that "local solutions are lasting solutions". Staff members are passionate about their work and community, accountable and solutions oriented.

The guest house and restaurant create jobs and are helping to create income for the organization. A new focus is job creation in the community so that locals can choose to stay at home and prosper. It will not be a 'band-aid" but an impactful program. We seem to be evolving at an incredible pace and I can't wait to see where we go from here.

What impresses me about Local Hope is the dedication, integrity and professionalism of the 15 person staff In Guatemala. They work towards goals, provide transparent and thorough reports, and creatively solve problems as they arise.

I'm proud of the way the organization has evolved over the years. On my recent trip this year, I stayed in the new, comfortable 12 bed guest house on the premises, which generates income from volunteer visits to help make the project sustainable and create local jobs.

I am able to see first hand how carefully funds are used, and what a long way donations go towards changing lives. I have been involved with many non-profits, and this is one of the best I have ever seen.

I have seen first hand how impactful Local Hope is. During Covid, the local staff in Guatemala coordinated emergency food distributions to a huge amount of people and prepared hot meals for children; partnered with other local non-profits to get over 200 people fitted with wheelchairs; helped set up a computer lab so that 500 students who would not otherwise have had access to teachers could continue learning; took English lessons online so they could better communicate with volunteers when they could finally visit again and so much more. It is amazing to me what a difference we make in lives, and how far we stretch donations!

I once wrote to Project Vote Smart asking about a rating they had received from an organization that rates charities. The head of the project wrote me a long letter with a great explanation about how they don't easily fit into the rating categories and I am now a donor for life. They do amazing work on a shoestring budget, and manage to stay neutral while reporting facts.

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A year ago I signed up for a volunteer vacation to a Mayan community in Guatemala and was so impressed with how effective and personal Xela-Aid is that I agreed to join the board as the Chair of the Micro-business and Leadership programs. I have stepped into a world that is vastly different from the one I know - where 15 year old students work at dawn in the fields so that they can afford to attend secondary school, and who seek an education so that they can help their parents and siblings. In spite of this, they find time to give back to their communities in significant ways. They are an amazing group of people and my life is so much richer for having gotten to know them and having the opportunity to be of help.

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