Dear Friends and Family,

I am so excited to tell you about my plans to volunteer in Latin America this summer with Amigos de las Americas!

I will be volunteering in Ecuador for the La Sierra project for a total of 3 weeks. The overall project will focus on sustainable farming and justice for Indigenous communities.

Since its founding in 1965, AMIGOS has inspired more than 30,000 high school and college students to live a life of purpose as critically engaged citizens and leaders. Today, AMIGOS creates opportunities for young people to collaborate, design, and lead development projects based on the needs and desires of their host communities. To prepare, I am enrolled in an extensive AMIGOS training program with a group of other students from high schools up and down the South Bay and Peninsula. We are learning important skills in areas such as cultural sensitivity, community development practices, youth leadership, teaching young children, and how to protect my own health & safety. 

The La Sierra project intrigued my interest for many different reasons. La Sierra, meaning the mountain in English, is a project dedicated to allow high school students to explore the experiences of Indigenous communities of rural Ecuador. Living in the Andes Mountains for three weeks, volunteers learn native Ecuadorian farming practices, ancestral traditions, and food security and social justice in the local communities. Volunteers will also engage in Spanish language immersion whilst living with a host family for a total of 12 days. I am the upmost excited to engage in this once-in-a-lifetime experience, and expand my current knowledge of life as I know it.  Furthermore, I have always wanted to volunteer more within my community, but I realized that I could better utilize my privilege to help the less-advantaged minorities of the world. On this trip, I hope to renew myself and gain new insights from cultures who have known this land for centuries. I only hope that with your generosity will assist my journey.

As a non-profit organization, AMIGOS relies on its participants to help raise funds each year to meet the costs of its programs. Your support will directly affect the work AMIGOS does and the community-based project that I will be working on this Summer. With your help, AMIGOS can transform us participants and our Latin American communities and have impact on both a local and a global level.

I would be very grateful for any level of support you can give. Simply click on the Donate button above to donate online. Or, you can send a check made out to "Amigos de las Americas" and return it to me directly. 

Thank you so much for your support!

Sincerely,

Michaela 

P.S. As a 501(c)3 charity, your donation to Amigos de las Américas is tax-deductible. Many companies also offer matching funds for donations to nonprofits. Please consider matching your donation through your employer if that option is available to you