Local Rotarian off to Guatemala to help impoverished schools

The Guatemala Literacy Project
News Release

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On February 4, 2011, Rotarian Colin Thacker of the Rotary Club of North Bay will travel to Guatemala with a group of Rotary volunteers from across North America to bring educational opportunities to impoverished children. The Guatemala Literacy Project (GLP) group will deliver first-ever textbooks and inaugurate brand-new computer centers in rural schools. Along with providing these badly-needed education tools, volunteers will experience Guatemalan life and culture through personal interaction with students and families.

Colin Thacker pointed out that his club - The North Bay Rotary Club has donated about $24,000 U.S.dollars over the past 5 years to ensure that Guatemalan children receive the educational tools that they need to allow them to be self efficient in the future. Over the past 2 years the Rotary Club of North Bay has been the highest contributing club in Canada and the second highest on the North American continent.

Guatemala has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world and through our support things are starting to turn around in Guatemala. I want to see our dollars at work and report back to my Rotary Club and the community at large what a difference we are making in Guatemala. I am truly excited about this trip.

In 14 years of existence, the GLP has established 193 textbook programs, 43 computer centers, 49 mini-libraries and 410 one-year scholarships. There are over 32,000 children using GLP textbooks, 15,200 students being trained at GLP computer centers and almost 154,000 textbooks in circulation. The Delivery Tour is an ideal opportunity to be a part of the good things that the GLP is accomplishing.

Rotarian and tour participant Carolyn Johnson summed up her impressions of the GLP's lasting impact on helping schoolchildren in Guatemala: "The long-term effect of the project, providing the means for people to plan for their future, is the real life example of giving 'hope'."

Service tours with the GLP and partner nonprofit Cooperative for Education take place every February and August and are open to all. More information can be found at www.coeduc.org/tours.htm.

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