My Nonprofit Reviews

I first traveled to Guatemala to visit Safe Passage in 2004 and have returned as a service team member and as an individual volunteer about 9 times, the last visit being the spring of 2019. I signed up to sponsor a young girl in 2004 and she is now in medical school with the help of a Shared Beat Scholarship - a wonderful success story of how Safe Passage is enabling children and families to rise out of poverty through education. I am continuing my sponsorship with another student who is in 9th grade and I am hoping she too will continue on to higher education.
My trips to the project have enabled me to see first hand the impact the project has on the life of the families living around and working in the city garbage dump. Not only through education of the children but with the adults through the Creamos program which started with Safe Passage and is now flying on its own. Creamos promotes adult literacy and business opportunities outside of working in the dump.
I have seen the project grow from its fledging roots as a drop in day care for 20 to 30 children at an unused old church to its current state where is serves over 500 children and families, has multiple buildings and facilities and is an accredited school in Guatemala. Being involved with Safe Passage has been life changing and an inspiration in my life and along the way I have come to meet a long list of other amazing volunteers and staff members that still enrich my life. I feel certain I will remain an active supporter and donor and return to the project as soon as this Covid Pandemic eases.

I have been volunteering with a non-profit program in Guatemala serving the families that live around and work in the Guatemala City garbage dump since 2004. The toxic environmental conditions that these families and children are exposed to everyday and the poverty that keeps them from being able to receive adequate health care is tragic. But Shared Beat has been a beacon of hope and support for so many of these families and children with their biannual health clinics in so many ways… I have seen first hand the improvement in the health of the children over the years and the impact it has on their ability to learn and succeed in school. The health of a child is fundamental to success in learning. Can you imagine trying to keep up in a classroom if you couldn’t see the whiteboard because you needed glasses but had never been tested, or not being able to hear because you had an undiagnosed hearing disability? On a very personal level, Shared Beat is also providing scholarships to students to pursue medical careers that they could never have dreamed about achieving on their own. A young woman who I began sponsoring as a child in 2004, is now continuing her education in medical school with the financial support of a Shared Beat scholarship. Her dream is now a few short steps away from being a reality due to the support of Shared Beat throughout her life. I will continue to support Shared Beat for all the good work they do.