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 …

Prayer is the foundation for the success of Nicolás Fund for Education! Please join us as we meet to pray for all our students and staff on the third Saturday of every month at 8:00 am. The meetings take place at Evergreen Covenant Church, 3200 78th Ave SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040. Students submit prayer requests for us to pray for. This is a great way to get to know students and their stories!

Applications are being accepted now for the July 20-30, 2018 NFE Impact Team trip, and those applications and instructions can be found at nicolasfund.dream.press under the tab “Your Impact at Work”. The dates for the fall Graduation trip are November 8-18, 2018.

Thanks to the Ten Talents Scholarship fund administered through Nicolás Fund for Education, Twelve students are attending college at the University of San Carlos in Nebaj! Ten of these students are participating in the Ten Talents Scholarship Program and will repay a portion of the scholarship. Those repayments are critical to funding scholarships for future graduates of Nicolás Christian School. Another student is in nursing school in Nebaj. An additional student is receiving a college scholarship through a different organization, FEP Maya, and is studying in Quetzaltenango (also known as Xela).

[spacer height=”20px”]How might Nicolás Christian School serve communities too remote for students to attend our school? Some of these communities might only have a school with a teacher but lack the resources for junior and senior high school curriculum. Nicolás Christian School hopes to share the blessing of our excellent teaching staff by making DVDs of classes that could be distributed to other schools or as part of a Nicolás Christian School distance learning program. One example would be English classes presented by our own Professor Moises, who is one of the best English teachers available in this region. The majority of teachers in this area attempting to teach English have a poor grasp of English themselves! Other classes could include mathematics, information technology, etc. This is more cost-effective for remote villages because they can have one teacher running a junior high school instead of employing eight or nine teachers for specific subjects. This concept called telesecundaria is quite popular in Mexico and Central America as a means to reach distant small villages without resources to build or operate a school. In some cases, classes can be streamed live if internet capacity exists. Where internet does not exist, all that is required is a TV and a DVD player and electricity or a generator. A local teacher oversees the program and the discussion period that goes over the material after it is shown. Even more benefits A side benefit of this program would be the education our Nicolás Christian School students would receive during the filming and editing process that could prepare them for potential future employment in the field of communications.

The Nicolás Fund for Education Board made a final decision concerning the location of our new school, and the location will be close to Cotzal. Our current lease in Nebaj ends in 2019, and by then it is anticipated that our student body will exceed the space available in our current location. The decision followed prayer, and the NFE Board felt God’s clear presence and direction in this decision. The Widow’s Olive Oil The Board shared a devotional on 2 Kings 4, “The Widow’s Olive Oil”. In this passage, Elisha advises a widow wondering how she and her sons will survive with so few resources. All she had was a small container of olive oil. Elisha advised the widow and her sons to go and collect as many containers as possible from her home and from all her neighbors. Elisha instructed the widow and her sons to shut their door and begin pouring the olive oil into all the containers. The widow filled all the containers until there were no containers left, and at that point, the oil ceased flowing. The widow was able to sell the oil, pay off all her debts and she and her sons were able to live on the remaining funds. God’s supply was as large as the widow’s faith and obedience. As long as we are without greediness or improper motives, God will supply. We are imperfect earthen vessels, so we must empty ourselves of priorities and goals and then present ourselves as vessels to be filled (controlled) by the word and spirit of God. As the Board contemplated this passage, we felt the assurance of God’s financial provision for His plan. The Board …

Did you miss the Nicolás Christian School 2017 Graduation? Watch it here!