Just a few hours left for a 2013 Tax deductible donation to Mayan Families!

Dear Friends,

We have just a few hours left before 2014 arrives.  That means there is still time for you to make a tax-deductible donation to Mayan Families before the New Year. 

Don’t miss this important deadline.  Please make a donation now!

No matter the size – big or small – your gift will make a difference!

On behalf of those we serve here in Guatemala, thank you for your generosity!

Our many successes for 2013 show what we can accomplish when we work together!

Help us achieve even more in 2014!

Thank you for your donations that brought hope to so many this year. 

Don’t miss this important deadline.  Please make a donation now.  We need your help.

Whatever you can give...we will put to very good use!

Thank you for your support.!

Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy and healthy New Year!

Sincerely,

Sharon and Dwight

All of your 2013 contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. But the window for this year is closing fast, so please get your last gift in today. Thank you!

If you have any issues with your donation please email us at  websupport@mayanfamilies.org

 You can also call in your donation at any time by calling 619-550-2608.

 You can also send your donation by check to:  

MAYAN FAMILIES

P.O. Box 52

Claremont, N.C. 28610

Make your tax deductible donation now!

P.S. Many of our supporters make a gift by December 31 for their tax-planning purposes. Your generosity is vital to help us plan and fund programs for the upcoming year. The need is urgent, and your support is crucial to our future success.
www.mayanfamilies.org

Mayan Families Year end giving

As the clock winds down on 2013, you have just a few days left to make a tax-deductible gift to support Mayan Families and the crucial work we do here in rural Guatemala.
Mayan Families End of Year Giving!
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs175/1103559743325/archive/1116043888397.html

Sabina

Sabina A0051, lives in a house made of adobe with a dirt floor. She does not even have a proper bed, she sleeps on a piece of cardboard laid over the coils of an old metal frame. She has no water in her house and must carry water from the community pump. Because of her advanced age and declining health, she is no longer able to work and cannot support herself.

Sabina will be spending her Christmas like she spends every day, alone in her dark home, sleeping on cardboard. Then a few days later on December 28th, she will spend her 75th birthday doing the same.

Sabina has many needs including: a water filter, food, blankets, a pila, and medicine. However her biggest need right now is a proper bed, mattress, and a pillow. We would love to be able to provide her with a bed so that she has somewhere comfortable to sleep for Christmas and her birthday this year. Sabina is also available for sponsorship for our Elderly Care Program, to ensure that she is able to receive a hot, nutritious meal every day.

If you are interested in donating a bed to Sabina as a life-changing Christmas or Birthday present you can go to our donation page and choose to send a gift, using Sabina's id number A0051.

If you are intersted in sponsoring Sabina for our Elderly Care Program you can go to our donation page and you will find Sabina under our "Sponsor an Elderly Person" tab.

Christmas Tamale Food Basket time with Mayan Families 2013!

Here is the link since this newsletter is not copying correctly!
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs175/1103559743325/archive/1115651902379.html

¨If you can´t feed a hundred people, then just feed one¨ Mother Theresa, Nobel Peace Prize Recipient, 1979 Greetings from Guatemala! A place where tradition can bring hope and joy, especially during the holiday season. The practice of "Tamales at Christmas" grew from the Mayan tradition of tamales as a special and festive symbol as early as 1200 BC. Sadly, many of our families cannot afford the ingredients for tamales so each year Mayan Families distributes Tamale Food Baskets to our impoverished families so they could celebrate the holidays...  Since 2006 we have distributed over 8,700 Tamale Baskets! With your support, you can help make this holiday season a time of joy for our families with the following gifts: A Traditional Tamale Basket to feed 10 people This includes:  a whole chicken oil & rice a block of drinking chocolate (it is traditional to drink hot chocolate with the tamales at midnight) vegetables & fruit sugar & fortified cereal black beans & pasta a packet of Christmas cookies.  Reusable plastic basket A Holiday Food Bag for an elderly person This includes:  rice oatmeal sugar a small block of chocolate a small packet of cookies beans and corn   A General Donation to our Christmas Fund Make a donation of your choosing to our General Christmas Fund.  This will allow is to supportmany more families during this important festive time withfood, gifts and support. Instructions for Donations: Go to Send a Gift Enter your student / family elderly person's number and click SUBMIT or simply leave blank if you would like it to go to a family with the greatest need Select Your Christmas Gift and click ADD TO CART Add any special instructions or designations (such as sending the gift in honour of someone) in the Notes section To pay by check please send your donation made out to Mayan Families to:  Mayan Families P.O. Box 52 Claremont, N.C. 28610  We thank you for all of your support in ensuring that these impoverished families will be able to have a happy holiday season. We truly could not have done any of this without you.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! www.mayanfamilies.org

Mayan Families | 619-550-2608 | melanie@mayanfamilies.org | http://www.mayanfamilies.org 2609 Hartford St. San Diego, CA 92110 Copyright © 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Sponsor a Student for 2014!

It's that time of year again! Time to Sponsor a Student and provide the gift of education made possible by you, our amazing donors. We are genuinely grateful for your support throughout the year. With your help we have been able to carry on our projects, begin new ones, and provide scholarships for students that would otherwise have no access to education.    See some of their amazing stories below... Gladys Elizabeth (1031) and Keder Samuel (1962) are both moving onto the 2nd Grade in 2014.  We are so proud of them for this achievement as so many indigenous children fail the 1st grade due to a lack of language skills and understanding of the system. This is often made more difficult as most indigenous parents having very little education themselves. Both Gladys and Keder are seeking new sponsors for 2014. Luis Andres (2706) whose parents did not study beyond the 3rd Grade, is graduating from High School this year. He is interning in our health clinic to gain experience in the medical field before he starts Medical School next year.  Your generosity gives Luis thetools to lift himself and his family out of poverty while developing vital skills to continue to support his community.  Sandra (346) is finishing up Graduate School where she is studying Social Work.  She has been in our Student Sponsorship Program since she was five years old.  We are so proud of her perseverance throughout the years and her hard work as head of our Education Department.  Your commitment to the education of our students has given Sandra the ability to create sustainable change in her community.   As we prepare for the 2014 school year beginning in January, we ask that you join us in our efforts to affect the type of change that has lasting impacts and can make generational differences by sponsoring a student.   Help us continue to reach students like Luis and Sandra whose families have difficulties providing the basic necessities of life, such as education, which so many of us take for granted. Your gift of education will empower students like them to pursue a better life.  Please click here to see some of our students in need of sponsorship. There are many students in our program; eager to learn. They are waiting for your indispensable support. Your gift of education helps: Empower youth to eradicate illiteracy and lead their communities out of poverty by offering them the gift of education Bridge the gender gap in literacy by giving a young girl the opportunity to receive a quality education Combat chronic malnutrition that plagues indigenous children by sponsoring them to attend a Mayan Families Preschool Nutritional Center Sponsorship fees for the 2014 school year (January-October) are as follows: SCHOOL LEVEL  SPONSORSHIP TYPE COST PER MONTH  COST PER YEAR  PreK - 12th Grade Full Sponsorship $30 $360 PreK - 12th Grade Co-Sponsorship $15 $180 University Full Sponsorship $105 $1,260 University Co-Sponsorship $52.50 630 Co-sponsorship means that sponsorship is shared between individuals or groups. Mayan Families actively looks for a co-sponsor. You are not obligated to find another sponsor; however any assistance is always appreciated. If you know someone that would like to share sponsorship with you, please contact melanie@mayanfamilies.org.    IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT PAYMENTS  Due to some launch issues through our new website we would ask that you make your payment using the old website method at www.mayanfamilies.net so that we can ensure that your payment goes through as quickly and effectively as possible.  Thank you for your patience and continual support during this transition time.  If you have trouble making a donation on our website, please call (619) 550-2608. We will be happy to assist you over the phone Monday through Friday 9-5 MST. You may also choose to send your Student Sponsorship donation in the form of a check. Please make it payable to "Mayan Families" and send to:                                                                                                                                   Mayan Families P.O. Box 52 Claremont, N.C. 28610   *Please be sure to include your student's number on the check We truly could not have done any of this without you.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!   Do you know someone that might want to sponsor a child? Please help spread the word by passing on this e-mail to friends and family. Feel free to also share on social media websites such as Facebook or Twitter. Thank you for your support...it is greatly appreciated!   If you have any questions, please e-mail melanie@mayanfamilies.org    www.mayanfamilies.org

Mayan Families | 619-550-2608 | melanie@mayanfamilies.org | http://www.mayanfamilies.org 2609 Hartford St. San Diego, CA 92110 We appreciate the opportunity to communicate with you. We are committed to protecting your privacy and will not sell, exchange, or rent your email address. Copyright © 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Today we had a meeting with 15 people in Guatemala

Today we had  a meeting with 15 people . 

These were representatives of the different municipalities in the Department of Solola.  

They came to ask for our help. Their concern was the great problem of malnutrition amongst children.

They had a list of 149 children who were in danger of dying from severe malnutrition. 

They asked us if we could just help these 149 children with food.  They had been able to help them a little but they needed on going help. 

As I looked over the list of children they had printed out, there were children at different levels of malnutrition. 

The worst was coming to children who had a line drawn through their name and the word deceased next to it. 

What is the matter with this world that we cannot work out how to feed these children ???

They were very excited when they saw the bags of Feed My Starving Children and Kids Against Hunger.    We said that we would try our best to make sure that these 149 families were included when we next get bags of food.  We are very grateful to our friend, Tom Heaton from Mission Guatemala who shares this food with us and to Peg Meyer and Corlene Horan who work so hard to help us get boxes of food into Guatemala. 

It was a good meeting....one young man told us that they had worked out that a family who had 10 children and the father only earned 30 quetzales a day ...would only have something like 62 centavos to spend on each child for food for that day. ...That will not even buy one egg. 

He also said that he saw the main cause of poverty being the lack of family planning. He talked about the two different sides of the reality that people live in...they have the physical side where having too many children can cause a great hardship for the family...and the spiritual side that teaches them that having a lot of children is a great blessing. 

It was a thought provoking meeting ...and it was so good to see so many young people concerned about the children and having such a strong desire to make a difference in their community and the future of Guatemala.   I hope we can help them. We just need to get some containers of food here!

Sharon

MAYAN FAMILIES

www.mayanfamilies.org

Our little clinic. ...In Honor of Ron Fletcher

Our little medical clinic sees a lot of people.  

They are people who do not have the money to buy the medicines that they need.

We rely on donations to help make this clinic able to help so many .

One of the ways to help the clinic is to donate the money for the medicine for just one day 

in Honor of a loved one.

Thursday and Friday's medicine was donated In Loving Memory of Ron Fletcher by Sue and Joy Cudd.

Thank you for choosing to honor Ron and his life through Mayan Families....the people who received the medicine will never know Ron but 

they will know the blessing of this wonderful gift in his memory.

Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES

a registered 501.(c).(3) Non Profit Charity

www.mayanfamilies.org

 

 

Mayan Families Medical Clinic

Mayan Families has a small medical clinic in our compound.  

It is small but very busy.

Dr. Louis de Pena attends approx. 40 people a day with a huge amount of different and often dire illnesses.

We do not have enough funds to be able to pay for the medicines we need.

We rely on donations to supply most of our medicines.

We are grateful for the donation of today's medicines for the clinic at Mayan Families.

The medicines for the clinic today are sponsored  IN HONOR of Sharin Lin Matras by her loving family.

This sign made by one of our sponsored students hangs in the medical clinic ....so that everyone coming in knows that the medicine they are receiving today is in honor of this lovely woman. 

We are all very grateful for this donation that has made it possible for so many people to receive care today.

If you would like to honor a loved one or would like to support the clinic for one day...it is just a donation of $60 US.

Please contact   Sharon@mayanfamilies.org 

Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES

a registered 501.(c).(3) Non Profit Charity

www.mayanfamilies.org

 

 

Some fantastic news!!!

Dear friends,

As many of you know , we have struggled to find a location for Mayan Families.

We started Mayan Families out of our house in Panajachel.

We used Zoe's computer in her bedroom. Sandra, our Social Worker and I used to share that computer....when one got off, the other jumped on. 

Then we moved into having an office  in my bedroom.  There were three of us working in there during the day.

Then we had 2 rooms built outside in the garden and we had the offices moved over there, but we continued to use our bedroom as my office.

After the flood in 2010 ...we had to evacuate our house and moved into the building Marti, which we had the use of half the building, the other half was used by a school.......then we moved to Calle Monterey, where we had a house with 5 rooms and a large garage outside that we used for many different activities....but anyone who visited us knows how squished we were. There was barely room to move in our offices.

Then we moved to the present location about 9 months ago now.  It is a huge space...a two storey building with 60+ rooms. ( a few of them are really storage rooms, no windows and small.)

But the other rooms are fantastic...we now have space for all the staff to have office space....we have the small medical clinic, the physical therapy room, the volunteer room, the pre school has four rooms and a large playground.   We have two kitchens, one for the pre school and one for the Elderly care program.  We have emergency accommodation room for families who have to go for medical care and need to stay over, we have three rooms for the four children that we have in our custody, two bedrooms and a kitchen for them. We also have a library for students, a computer lab.. two sewing rooms, a meeting room.and we still have some space. 

We have been concerned because we have a 3 year lease on this building and were worried about where we would go when the lease ran out. Where would we find anywhere to be able to fit ?

Well , now we no longer have to worry about this.

 

We have had the most amazing miracle !

A small , private  U.S. family foundation has gifted the building to Mayan Families!  

We have just been pinching ourselves ever since we got this news.
Mayan Families now owns the building and does not have to ever worry about moving again, finding a place big enough to rent or finding the money for the rent.

We are more grateful to these wonderfully generous  and kind  people, more than words can express!

Thanks to this gift we are also able to open the Mayan Families Manicure and Pedicure salon - Trade school - Beauty School on Monday...we have two store fronts that we do not have to pay rent on ..and now have this space available for the small school we are starting.  On Monday, 9 women and one man in a wheel chair will start taking classes to learn how to do manicures and pedicures!!   We hope that they will be learning a skill that will help them to earn an income in the future.

We are so grateful for all your help that made it possible for this gift to be given to Mayan Families.

It is thanks to your support that we have been able to grow! It is also thanks to your support and efforts that Mayan Families has be able to help the community here in Guatemala as much as we have!

 

It is thanks to all that you that have made this all possible, that the family foundation thought that Mayan Families was worth giving this wonderful gift, of this building to us. 

We are humbled, relieved and so grateful to have a permanent home where we know so much good will happen to  be able to help the impoverished families we serve.

Sharon

Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES

a registered 501.(c).(3) Non Profit Charity

www.mayanfamilies.org