When I first came to volunteer with Casa Guatemala, my plan was to stay for 3 months and then return home to my job. Well 3 months turned into 3 years and in those years, I made the decision to dedicate myself to this amazing project for the rest of my life. I went home to Canada and successfully completed a degree in Nonprofit Management so that I could come back and work towards my passion. I have been involved with Casa Guatemala for over 10 years now, and am happy to be back here full time working to raise funds and support our administration and the charities that fund us around the world. Including Friends of Guatemalan Children, which you can donate to here on Crowdrise!

Friends of Guatemalan Children Inc (FOGC) is dedicated to supporting the mission and vision of Casa Guatemala, a children's village in Guatemala that is home to over 250 children.  FOGC provide financial, administrative and logistical support to Casa Guatemala and have done so for almost 30 years. We have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for grants for CG; assisted with the coordination of volunteers, schools, social clubs and church groups visiting; arranged for large shipments of supplies for the orphanage, school and clinic; and helped to organize trips of medical teams who have provided cleft lip and palate operations and other important surguries to thousands of Guatemala's poorest people.

Casa Guatemala was founded in 1977 and was originally named Casa Canada as the founders were a Canadian couple who reached out to assist the malnourished, orphaned and abused children during the brutal civil war. Their early efforts catalyzed the mission of  Casa Guatemala to provide a safe home, love and nurturing, proper health care and an adequate education to the children of Guatemala who are abused, abandoned, malnourished, or living in extreme poverty. The vision of Casa Guatemala is to equip the children in their care with the skills and education needed to become upstanding, empowered citizens in their community and to become fully self-sustained through the businesses that they run which provide financial support and meaningful job training for the older children.

Casa Guatemala has three locations in Guatemala; a nursery and administration centre in the Capital city and the Children’s Village of Rio Dulce, where the majority of children we serve live. Since 1987, this centre has been home to up to 250 children during the school year and provides educational and health care services to up to 300 children per year. These children are either Wards of the State in our care, or children from the surrounding Mayan villages who live in cases of extreme poverty that, without Casa Guatemala, would have no other option for an education. The onsite clinic provides free medical care to the children of the center as well as the local Mayan communities that live in the isolated villages nearby.

Casa Guatemala is a registered NGO and receives no government funding and rely on the funds gathered from groups and individuals around the world and the revenues generated from our social enterprise projects, Hotel Backpackers, our farm and a small store in Rio Dulce and a Day Care Centre in the Capital. These businesses do not only provide a steady income but also serve as training centresfor the older children to gain work experience.  Casa Guatemala is supported by registered charities in Spain, Canada and the USA that help to collect the funds needed to operate this large organization.

If you know me, you know how I feel about Casa Guatemala and our work here. I hope that you will show me your support and help us to continue our important work! Canadians in my life, there is no Crowdrise as of yet for us, but if you are more interested in having the chance to win great prizes and collect cool points than get a tax receipt, you should absolutely use this page to show me that you believe in the work I am doing. However, if you are one of those tax doing folks who like to get the most back as possible from the man, then you can also make a donation online through my CanadaHelps Giving Page for our Canadian registered charity, Support Casa Guatemala Children

Thanks as always for helping me to care for my kids and provide them with the best future possible. It means the world to me to have your support and any donation big or small helps! Be sure to check out all of the awesome prizes that you could win by donating specific amounts and starting your own profile!

Of course you should vote for me!! I mean why wouldn't you? I am pretty great and work hard at what I love. A vote for me is a vote for my 250 kids and their futures! I am not sure what this whole voting thing is for exactly, but I am pretty sure I am the best candidate for the job! Especially if the job is being awesome!