EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS

In Guatemala many Mayan families cannot afford to send their children to school due to a low income (the average annual income is $250). Therefore, a major focus of Hearts & Hands Foundation is education.

Kitchens for schools so that children receive one meal a day have been financed as well as the paving of three playgrounds to protect them through the rainy season.

A yearly scholarship program for a secondary student $500.

Hearts & Hands Foundation is working on the construction of elementary schools/classrooms with financial assistance from the "Ripple Effect Program" of Rotary International for the next three years. The first two classrooms were completed in Los Chivitos, Uspantan in 2008.

Heart & Hands Foundation has it's own fundraising campaign "Buy a Block, Build a Future" to build new secondary schools. It is hoped that this will give the children a more complete education and the opportunity for a better future. One in El Pinal is underway and will be completed in 2010.