Please support Nicolás Fund for Education on Giving Tuesday, November 27th by making a donation!  Giving Tuesday is a global day of GIVING that takes place after Thanksgiving and before the holiday season. It is a movement intended to help counter the consumerism of the holiday season and raise the holiday spirit through giving to others. What a great way to start the holidays! We have an NFE donor willing to match all contributions up to $1000! You can also support Nicolás Fund for Education by using your social media to encourage others to donate to Nicolás Fund. This year, we are asking all donations to go through our website.  Share this link to to our #GivingTuesday donation page: https://www.nicolasfund.org/givingtuesday-2018-donations/ Matching Donations Don’t forget many employers match donations. This is a great way to see your donations go further!

Nicolás Fund for Education is delighted to announce that we have purchased a piece of property for our new school. This was made possible by a very generous donation from a foundation for which we are so grateful! With God’s blessing and guidance, we now need to raise approximately $400,000 for construction of the school. The relative was so impressed by what they saw that the landowner  elected to drop the price by 43% to a sum we could manage!  The landowner had originally listed this property at approximately twice the price for which we eventually purchased it. When the landowner learned that Nicolás Fund for Education was looking at properties in the area, she sent a relative to Nicolás Christian School to find out what we were about. It was a learning process to buy land in Guatemala The 4.9 acre property is close to Cotzal. It is about 5-10 minutes from La Bendición, 15 minutes to La Esperanza and 20 minutes to San Nicolás. It is across the street from a cell tower and is reported to have the best internet connectivity in the region and very good cell reception. The land is adjacent to a soccer field on the road to La Bendicón, so most of you have driven past it! The land is mostly level and we do not anticipate problems with construction. Land is measured in cuerdas (a cuerda is a string or rope of 25m x 25m) and property boundary landmarks are legally described as the distance between a “bad milk tree” and a “pito palo tree”!

[spacer height=”20px”]The July NFE Impact Team investigated the possibility of Nicolás Christian School offering a distance learning program in the village of Trapichitos, contingent on finding a sponsoring church or organization. Trapachitos means “place of the sugar mills.” Trapichitos is an Agros village that was formed in 2000 with 61 families and 635 acres.  Trapichitos farmers grow coffee and have fruit trees bearing bananas, lemons, and oranges. The elevation is about 4,600 feet above sea level. Trapichitos partners with three surrounding villages to produce a Guatemalan coffee bean called “Ixil A’achimbal” (the local name for this region). The other partner villages are Batzchocola, Sumalito and Xeucalvitz. Trapichitos is about 22 miles from Nebaj, where Nicolás Christian School is currently located. The 22 miles is a difficult and treacherous trip with frequent washouts and mudslides on the road. Currently, the village has access to a junior high, but no senior high school.  Nicolás Fund for Education is exploring the opportunity to share the resources of Nicolás Christian School with other more remote villages through DVDs of teaching presentations from Nicolás Christian School teachers, provision of a qualified teacher, curriculum and textbooks, etc. Please pray with us that we are able to find the donor support of God’s own choice for this new venture.

Potential Property for a New School Our July team had the opportunity to view potential properties and assess how well they would meet our needs for the new school.  We now believe that we have found our ideal location, and are commencing negotiations. Once the deal is secured, more information about the property will be shared. We are so grateful to an anonymous donor, as they have agreed to cover the cost of the land for us. We plan to begin developing site-specific architectural plans soon. The proposed location has 4G and a cell tower across the street!  It will have the best connectivity in the area! Construction Costs We are accepting individual donations and grants from foundations towards the cost of construction of the new school with a target to raise $300,000. This new school will accommodate 150 students and will be much closer to our students’ villages. This location will significantly reduce, but not completely eliminate, the significant expenditures for transportation. Volunteers Needed We are seeking volunteers to assist us with raising the funds needed to build and equip the school and to assist us in planning the school. Interested in Volunteering? We’d love to hear how you’d like to help!    

[spacer height=”20px”]Nicolás Fund for Information is interested in YOUR ideas on how we could make our Impact Team experience even better! [spacer height=”20px”]Our desire is for our NFE trips to be a spiritually nourishing experience that leaves you feeling connected to our students and their families. By the end of the trip, our hope is that you will understand the Ixil and Quiche culture a bit better and have an appreciation of the many challenges these Mayan families face. We are curious to hear what stood out for you as an essential feature of the trip, and what parts of the trip you think could be improved. Please send your suggestions and feedback on the form below.

What local employers match donations?[spacer height=”20px”] Microsoft matches 1:1 up to $15,000 Gap matches 1:1 up to $10,000 Nordstrom 1:1 up to $5,000 Boeing 1:1 up to $6,000 including retirees that retired as an active employee. Laid off employees are not eligible until you convert to retiree status and draw your pension benefits. Once you are a retiree, you can gift match. Alaska Airlines matches 1:1 up to $4000 Expedia 1:1 up to $4000 Starbucks – 1:1 up to $1,500 Verizon 1:1 up to $1000 T-Mobile 1:1 up to $1,500 Intermec – matches 5:1 up to $75,000 per employee per year!!!!![spacer height=”20px”] How Do I Ask for A Gift Match? I am an Active or Retired Boeing employee. How do I match my donation? Donate to Nicolás Fund for Education. Log on to Boeing Total Access webpage. Click on “My Community Giving Gift Match”. On the Gift Match homepage, register your gift amount and date of your donation. Print your confirmation. Alternatively, you can call the Total Access Call Center 1-866-473-2016. Note: Gifts in 2018 must be registered with Total Access by Jan. 21, 2019. I am a Microsoft employee. How do I match my donation? Register with Benevity, Microsoft’s giving service provider. Select Nicolás Fund for Education. We are registered with Benevity. I am a T-Mobile employee. How do I match my donation? T-Mobile’s employees  register their matching gift requests electronically [spacer height=”20px”] Not sure about how to gift match with your employer? Google your (employer’s name)+matching gifts.

  THANK YOU Those of us on the Board of Nicolás Fund for Education want to express our deep gratitude to all who attended our two Fulfilling a Dream events this month! The combined events raised over $132,500 to support scholarships for junior and senior high students in the Ixil! DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT If your employer matches your donations, now is the time to double your impact by applying for matching donations! 65% of Fortune 500 companies have matching gift programs. Be sure to check if your employer will match your gift! FIRST SOUTH SOUND FULFILLING A DREAM EVENT We were especially thrilled with the strong turnout of 49 people for our very first South Sound Fulfilling a Dream event in Gig Harbor, WA. That event alone generated 25 new NFE supporters and raised $4750 for education in Villa Hortencia 1! THERE’S MORE WORK TO BE DONE Even with this strong support, our dessert fundraiser typically generates about half of the NFE budget for the academic year, so we still have plenty of work to do to raise sufficient funds to be able to provide a high quality, full-day secondary school education for youth in the Ixil. Help make our job easier by doubling your donation!

Mercer Island Fulfilling a Dream Event Nicolás Fund for Education is hosting our annual dessert fundraiser, Fulfilling a Dream 2018, on May 12th.  Our Fulfilling a Dream event on Mercer Island on May 12th has a Silent Auction from 6-7:00 pm, and our program will be from 7:30-8:30 pm. South Sound Fulfilling a Dream Event We are also holding a separate South Sound Fulfilling a Dream event on May 11th in Gig Harbor. The South Sound event on May 11th begins at 7 pm and will end about 8:30 pm. The event will be held at Spinnaker Ridge Clubhouse in Gig Harbor. All Funds Raised Go to the Kids Both events will feature wonderful home-made desserts made by our volunteer bakers. There is no fee to attend these fundraisers. We keep things simple and depend on volunteer labor and bakers so that all the funds raised go to the kids. We hope that you will feel free to invite a friend.  Please register for the event. These two fundraisers raise money for academic scholarships for 2019. Simply put, what we raise that night determines how many students we can serve next year. God is on the Move in this Part of Guatemala We have a financial goal of nearly $300,000 to raise. Our organization has expanded over the past seven years from serving 13 students in two villages to now serving 85 kids in seven different villages in the Ixil region of Guatemala! We are also supporting 16 students in college. Can you remember when we first entered these villages more than a decade ago and played with these children when they were babies and toddlers? Did you ever in your …

[spacer height=”20px”]Nicolás Fund for Education’s Fulfilling a Dream 2018 event will take place on May 11th in Gig Harbor, WA and on May 12th on Mercer Island, WA. [spacer height=”20px”] Our Special Speakers We are excited to have 2018 graduate Ana María Odilia speak about her experience with Nicolás Fund for Education. Odilia has a compelling story that you won’t want to miss! We are also excited to have Professor Moisés David Cárcamo Méndez speak at this event. Professor Moisés is our English and Multimedia Teacher at Nicolás Christian School. This is the first time that we have been able to feature a member of our excellent faculty. Gig Harbor – May 11th We are holding the South Sound event on May 11th at 7:00 pm at Spinnaker Ridge Community Clubhouse. Spinnaker Ridge is located off Soundview Drive in Gig Harbor, WA 98335. From Hwy-16, take Exit #10 (Olympic Drive), and then take Soundview Drive heading down into the harbor. You will take a left onto Erickson St. to head into Spinnaker Ridge. This event will enjoy home-made desserts, our guest speakers as well as a special presentation concerning the Nicolás Christian School distance learning program at Villa Hortencia Uno. Mercer Island – May 12th Our Fulfilling a Dream 2018 event on May 12th starts at 6:00 pm at Evergreen Covenant Church, 3200 78th Ave SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040. A silent auction will take place from 6-7pm. Tasty, home-made desserts will be available while you peruse the silent auction items. Our guest speakers will speak about education at Nicolás Christian School. Presentations will also take place to provide updates on progress over the last year in Guatemala. This event …