By Tom Curl
For the past 13 years, the Elmbrook Rotary Club has worked with Common Hope, a Minnesota-based organization dedicated to educating the children of Guatemala. Some 97 of our members, family and friends, have made a combined 164 trips to Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to build simple houses and help social workers support students and their families. Many of us have sponsored students. Club coordinator Erik Moeser estimates that total contributions from our club, individual members and grants from Rotary District 6270 stand at about $478,000.
A special opportunity comes when Rotarians travel down in November to celebrate sponsored students who are graduating from high school. In early November, Dean and Karen Johnson represented our club at graduation for the club’s sponsored student, Maybelline. Tom and Lynda Curl enjoyed celebrating with Jazmin, a girl they’ve sponsored since 2013.
An impressive graduation ceremony was followed by lunch with the students and their parents. Then, the Johnsons and Curls had one last opportunity to visit with the students and encourage them to work toward great things in the future.
Over the next two days, the ERC representatives had an opportunity to make chocolate from the raw cocoa bean to finished product and also learn more about the medical and dental care, language classes, music program and enrichment opportunities Common Hope provides to students and their families.
We will be sending a Vision Team again in February 2025 and you are welcome to be part of it. Aside from being in a beautiful corner of the world, you’ll get a break from Wisconsin’s winter.
If this would be your first time in Guatemala, there are "scholarship" funds available to help with expenses. Contact Erik at (262) 420-8892.
Thank you, Tom, Lynda, Dean and Karen, for sponsoring and making a difference in these student’s lives as they begin a their next life chapter.
