Thanks to the lavish generosity of many donors, Nicolas Fund for Education [NFE], in collaboration with Building Goodness Foundation [BGF], has begun construction of the new school in San Juan Cotzal! Sebastian Martinez is the onsite Field Manager hired by BGF. He has been busy preparing the land and meeting the Guatemalan Staff including Ivan Espana, NFE National Director, shown in the photo above. The parcel of land in San Juan Cotzal contains many beautiful trees. Wherever possible, these trees are left intact. In the specific location of the school classroom building, it has been necessary to cut and clear some of the existing trees. Lumber milled from these trees will be used for doors, window frames, and other construction needs. Nothing is wasted. A storage shed for materials, equipment, and supplies was built on the property. Stay tuned for many upcoming milestones in the construction project! The July Impact Team will get a first-hand view of the progress. When completed, the classroom building will allow NFE to serve up to 300 students for middle school and high school academic programs. It will also serve as a hub for community outreach programs of tutoring, distance learning, vocational programs, University partnerships, adult literacy programs, and preschool education. Thank you for partnering with us on this exciting journey. Your generous donations have made it all possible.
Interested in traveling to Guatemala to see student graduations?
An NFE mission team is heading to Guatemala from November 10-18, 2022. It is a joy to attend all the graduation ceremonies (preschool, junior and senior high)! On day one, we help with the dress rehearsal for the graduation ceremony. The excitement in the air is palpable! The next day the missions team attends the graduation and celebrates with students and their proud families. For another 2-3 days, the team then visits the Ixil or Quiche villages where our students live. Following that, we will relax in Antigua, an old Spanish colonial city, for another 2-3 days. To register for this trip, please visit our missions trip page and click on the November trip. A $100 non-refundable deposit can be paid on the same page if you click on the green box on the top of the mission trip page that says, “Click Here to Donate to Mission Trips”.
We Met Our Mid-Year Goal!
We are celebrating! We raised a total of $191,000 at our 10th anniversary Fulfilling a Dream event! Because of your generous giving, we are thrilled to announce that we met our mid-year goal for the 2023 Nicolás Christian School (NCS) Operating Budget. We are so grateful to those who acted as Fulfilling a Dream Ambassadors and invited people to watch our event. We were especially pleased to have a number of first-time donors! You are truly our partners in offering high-quality Education to Ixil-region students to help them overcome poverty. Nicolás Fund For Education will gratefully steward the funds that you have entrusted to us. These funds will be contributing to more success stories for students like the four you heard from at our Fulfilling a Dream event. Here’s the video presentation if you missed it or want to share the event with someone new to Nicolás Fund for education. Please consider making a gift to help us raise the remaining funds needed for our 2023 operating budget. We still need to raise $186,000 before November 1st to allow every student to return to Nicolás Christian School next year and to avoid reducing our tutoring programs. Together we’re changing the future of generations to the glory of God!
Join us for Ice Cream on August 13th!
Nicolás Fund For Education will be hosting an ice cream social on August 13th from 2-4:00 pm at Mercerdale Park. We are eager to greet you all in person and catch up with each other after being apart for so long during the pandemic. This event will be outdoors, and masks are encouraged but optional. This is intended to be a fun social event to express our gratitude for you all and is not a fundraiser. Let’s pray for good weather! The address for Mercerdale Park is 3009 77th Ave SE, Mercer Island, WA. You can park in the Evergreen Covenant Church parking lot, street parking, or in adjacent parking lots where businesses are closed. We want to ensure that we can have enough ice cream on hand! Please indicate how many there will be in your party. We hope to see you there!
Thank you to all who attended our Fulfilling a Dream event on April 23, 2022!
Viewers found the video presentations from our four graduates moving and inspiring! If you missed the event, it isn’t too late to view the 30-minute event or donate to Nicolás Fund for Education to help other students achieve their educational dreams. We are still receiving donations every day from Fulfilling a Dream so a final total from the event is not yet available. Early returns suggest that we might not achieve our $100,000 goal for this event. Please make your donation TODAY to provide Christian education for young people in the Ixil that transforms their lives and helps them achieve their human potential!
INTECAP: A New Opportunity for Nicolás Christian School Students
INTECAP: A New Opportunity for Nicolás Christian School Students In February 2022, Nicolás Fund for Education entered into a partnership with a Guatemalan non-profit organization called INTECAP. INTECAP is a leader in providing vocational training tailored to the needs of local employers and has existed for 49 years. INTECAP’s mission is to train and certify people to join the Guatemalan labor market so they can contribute to Guatemala’s development and economic competitiveness. Programs offered include Computing/Information Technology, Mechanics, Culinary Arts, Health/Beauty/Aesthetics, Construction, Electrician, Garment Construction/Tailoring, Automotive Mechanics, and Carpentry. A few classes will take place on the Nicolás Christian School campus (such as carpentry) but a much wider variety of course options are available at other INTECAP campuses in Huehuetenango (a three-hour drive from San Juan Cotzal), Quetzaltenango (a 4.5-hour drive from San Juan Cotzal) or Solalá. INTECAP also has multiple campuses located in five different regions of Guatemala. The Huehuetenango campus offers 13 vocational/career options. Other INTECAP locations in Guatemala offer a different assortment of classes so that within Guatemala there are a total of 72 different career options. INTECAP vocational training would be an option for our students who need or want to enter the workforce as soon as possible and could begin the INTECAP program after they graduate from junior high school (9th grade). INTECAP enjoys a very high job placement rate for its graduates and appears to be a solid option for Nicolás Christian School students to become employable or to become entrepreneurs after graduation. The INTECAP Huehuetenango campus offers our Nicolás Christian School students scholarships for tuition, books, basic lodging, and some materials. An INTECAP applicant must pay Q15 (about $2 USD) for the admission test. If …
Girl Scout Raises Money to Buy Library Bookshelves
Lucy Faulk has been to visit the Ixil region of Guatemala with Nicolás Fund for Education Mission teams several times. Lucy understands the importance of education for these indigenous Mayan youth and she had a dream to do something concrete on her own to make a difference. Lucy decided to raise funds to pay for materials to construct library bookshelves for small village libraries. It took Lucy about two years to raise $210. The bookshelves were constructed at Nicolás Christian School using Lucy’s donated materials and the forward-facing bookshelf model (seen in photo 2). The bookshelves were installed in the library in the village of San Nicolás. These libraries have been essential during pandemic-related school closures over the past two years, giving village children access to books and helping to ignite a love of reading. Lucy gathered donated books from Tillicum and Puesta del Sol Schools to take down to Guatemala when she visited in 2020 and 2022. She hopes to add more books as they are donated. The books in each library were selected by teachers and reading specialists and donated by supporters of Nicolás Fund for Education. Each library initially receives about 200 books, and we hope to add more books as they are donated. For anyone wishing to donate books, visit our Book Donation page. Lucy was awarded the “Gold Award” by the Girl Scouts of Western Washington. The Gold Award is the highest achievement available within the Girl Scouts of the USA, and can only be earned by Senior (9th-12th grade) and Ambassador Girl Scouts. Only 5.4% of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the Gold Award. To achieve a Gold Award, a Girl Scout plans a project that …
Nicolás Fund for Education Establishes Village Libraries During Pandemic-Related School Closures
For the most part, Guatemalan schools have been closed since March 14, 2020, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Finding strategies to help elementary, middle, and high students keep learning despite school closures is crucial. Nicolás Fund for Education partnered with nine Ixil region villages to establish village lending libraries between 2020 to 2021. NFE plans to open five more village libraries in 2022. These libraries have effectively promoted reading in a culture that typically doesn’t read for pleasure. Nicolás Fund for Education’s (NFE) Academic Chair Bill Safström, M.Ed. spearheaded this program with valuable assistance from NFE volunteer Shirley Kinsey. Mr. Safström is a retired high school principal who is currently working at Seattle Pacific University in teacher education. Ms. Kinsey is a retired middle school reading specialist who helped select appropriate books and apply for grants. NFE volunteer Conchita Chinchilla, a Guatemalan, helped find books in Spanish that were available at a Guatemalan book store. NFE’s Education Committee, populated by education specialists from the Puget Sound region and chaired by Mr. Safström, also assisted in book selection and promotion of a book drive to fill the libraries. Mr. Safström assisted in the creation of the Book Donation page on NFE’s website, where donors can select Spanish language books to donate. A village must donate the space for the library and commit to the ongoing maintenance of the building before establishing a library with help from NFE. The village Education Committee must select and support a village librarian to manage the library. NFE provides a minimum of 200 books to open a library, and we hope to keep adding new books to each library regularly. NFE is seeking book donations at …
Relationships in the Time of the Pandemic
Nicolás Fund for Education has always been a relational ministry at its core. During our mission trips, our friendships, cultural exchanges, and worship experiences with the Ixil and Quiche people have enriched our lives and strengthened our faith. We have provided prayer and encouragement to many students and families on our mission trips. Nicolás Christian School students and families look forward to our team visits. During this pandemic, we haven’t been able to travel to Guatemala since February 2020 to provide this encouragement because of travel restrictions. How can we encourage Nicolás Christian School staff and students when we cannot be there in person? One way would be to compose a short note of encouragement to a student. We see from the prayer requests submitted by our students for our monthly prayer meetings some common themes and concerns that you might address in your letter: Strong desire to get good grades Fear of their family contracting Covid Prayers that God will intervene in alcoholism of father Managing teenage emotions (frustration, anger, loneliness) Fathers who have found jobs far from home, and are missed Illness of a family member You will notice from these themes that many are universal concerns that many of us have experienced in our own lives at one point or another. Would you consider composing a short letter drawing from your own experience to comfort or encourage a student? Was there a particular Bible verse that helped you? How did God help you overcome those hard times? “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Let’s resolve to be encouragers for these students in 2022! Send your notes to bmerritt@nicolasfund.org. We will translate them …
A Special Visit
On my recent trip to the Ixil in November, I had some extra days to visit friends. I loved catching up and learning what was new in their lives. One special visit was to Ana Sajíc’s home in the Los Angeles village. Ana is the widow of Nicolás Toma Cruz, the man for which the Nicolás Fund for Education was named. Only a few days earlier Ana was present at two of her granddaughters’ graduation ceremonies from junior high, Cristel, and from senior high, Ana Elcy. Ana’s youngest son, Miguel Angel, graduated from high school in 2015. He received a scholarship to continue his education in nursing. Ana shared with me that Miguel Angel graduated from his nursing program two years ago and was offered a job in Guatemala City. Ana said that he turned down that job offer. He didn’t want to live so far from his home in the Ixil. Soon after turning down the first job offer, he got a job in the Ixil serving four villages. He absolutely loves his work and the team that he works with. Miguel Angel’s English-speaking cousin, Estuardo Sánchez, was my translator during my visits. Estuardo helped me communicate with Miguel Angel after I returned to Seattle. I had three questions to ask Miguel Angel. Here are those questions and his responses. What do you like best about your job? “In my work as a professional nurse, I like to care for the people of the Ixil region. This was one of my dreams and today it is being fulfilled. I am in charge of a good (medical) team, and we are providing good professional care.” What are the challenges you face in your job? “The challenge I …
