2011 El Hato School Sponsorships

It's time to help the El Hato School for the 2011 school year. This year we expect about 285 students to attend the school (which is up from 250 last year!)
In the past, people have paid $45 to buy school supplies and to help send a child on a field trip. Sponsors received a picture of the child that they sponsored and updates throughout the year on school happenings.
This year we are changing things up a bit. Now, sponsors can contribute $25 that can go to either a child's bag of school supplies or a week's worth of vegetables to supplement the children's breakfasts. Sponsors can specify what grade level they'd like to help if contributing towards the school supplies and a picture of that grade receiving their supplies will be sent. Or help with the vegetable fund and receive a picture of the children enjoying a nutritious breakfast!
Why have we changed things?? Firstly, last year, we weren't able to get all the kids sponsored therefore we weren't able to send the children on the field trip. Hopefully with lowering the sponsorship contribution to $25, we can get all the kids school supplies paid for which is more of a priority than a field trip as the parents in the village are largely unable to pay for their kid's supplies. Secondly, the $45 given by sponsors was needed at the beginning of the school year so the sponsors could receive the picture of their student...but now, we can receive the $25 donations all year long as extra school supplies are always needed and we hope to buy vegetables each week for the kids (as we have done in the past!). The drawback is that pictures of individual students won't be sent to sponsors but as mentioned above, other pictures will be sent when you donate as well as updates throughout the school year. And as always....100% of your donation goes to the school, there are no overhead or administrative costs, so each penny goes to helping the El Hato kids!
How can you donate??
There are many ways to make your donation:
1) You can send a paypal donation to elhatoschool@yahoo.com
2) You can deposit or wire money into either our US (Citbank) or Canadian (TD Canada) bank accounts (please email first for account numbers and information)
3) You can deposit or wire money directly in the school account at Banco Internacional in Antigua (please email for more information). This is best just for those that live or are currently in Guatemala.
3) For those in the US, you can send a check to the NGO Las Manos de Christine. This NGO is partnering with the Earth Lodge in helping the El Hato School and you can donate and receive a tax deductible receipt which will be sent out at the end of the year. 100% of your donation goes directly to the El Hato School, there are no overhead costs.
If you wish to donate this way, please make out your check or money order to Las Manos de Christine at 824 Cantebury Arch, Las Cruces N.M. 88005. Include your address so the tax form can be sent to you. Please include a note saying that the donation is for the El Hato School and specify for either school supplies or vegetables and if you can also send an email to elhatoschool@yahoo.com to let us know that a check was sent so we can follow up. We also need to receive this email so we can have your email address on file in order to send the appropriate photos.

Together with all the sponsors, Earth Lodge and our partner NGO Las Manos de Christine, we have seen incredible growth and changes in the El Hato School and we hope to continue our good deeds this year. Please help if you are able, every little bit contributes to the education of the village children!

El Hato School Needs your help!!

We are currently raising funds to build 3 new classrooms at the El Hato School!
One will be used primarily for English classes and the other 2 will accommodate the overflow of preschool and kindergarten classes. These classes grow larger every year and as of now, they are extremely overcrowded. We are finalizing our prices but we estimate in the $12,000-$15,000 range to build all three. We will be using materials bought locally, labor from the town of El Hato and any and all volunteer muscle that we can find!!
For more information on this project and for info on how to donate, please contact Jonathon Engels lasmanosvolunteer@gmail.com.

Thanks for all your support!!

Thanks to those that sponsored for the 2010 School year.

A big thank you to all that sponsored children for the 2010 school year. We fell a bit short and were not able to raise enough money to send the kids on the field trip as we had hoped. However, we used the $45 per child to instead sponsor 2 children, so we were able to buy school supplies for 2 kids instead of one. This way, we were able to buy school supplies for all of the children in the school.
We still need funds to buy vegetables and fruit for the breakfast program and we will now start raising funds to build 2 new classrooms. Due to amount of help sponsors give each year, more and more kids are attending school and the classes are getting overcrowded. We estimate that these 2 new classrooms will cost about $4000 total, so any help that can be given is much appreciated.
Please contact Briana at elhatoschool@yahoo.com for more information.
Thanks!!