Ayudando Latinos A Soñar

Please join me in supporting Ayudando Latinos A Soñar (ALAS), a small, dedicated, volunteer-run, grassroots nonprofit providing cultural arts, education and social service support for Latino farmworker families in poor, rural, agricultural communities along California's northern coast. 

My graduate student classmates and I at the University of San Francisco's School of Education are fundraising to provide Internet access, basic computers, printers and educational resources as well as volunteering our time this summer to educate and empower children of low-income, migrant farmworkers in Half Moon Bay, California. Most of us are classroom teachers; all of us are deeply committed to social justice and passionate about making a difference.

When the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools and halted in-person classroom instruction, children equipped with computers were able to shift to new and creative modalities of online learning. However, for youth from migrant families whose homes lacked computers, the school year abruptly stopped in March. Whether their classrooms reopen in the fall remains uncertain.

We've stepped up to confront the racial and economic inequities exasperated by the pandemic. We’re volunteering with ALAS to ensure the youth they serve have educational access—and we’re asking for your help.

Our goal is to provide an Internet connection, computer and printer for children from sixteen families who have neither the Internet nor a computer. We are donating school supplies and books, developing a curriculum, setting up a library, delivering one-to-one instruction, setting up Internet hotspots and--hopefully--providing a simple $300 Chromebook computer and inexpensive $150 printer to be shared within each family. 

Please join us in making a meaningful difference. I know firsthand the wonderful work ALAS does and know the kids they serve are eager to keep learning, even when COVID-19 has closed their schools. ALAS is an amazing organization doing incredibly important work with families who have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. I am very proud to volunteer with them and grateful for any support you can give.

Please help. Any donation will help us reach our goal. $5, $10, $20, $50... No amount is too small. You can even come volunteer with us if you’d like. It all makes a difference and is greatly appreciated. 

All funds raised go directly towards this project. There are no administrative costs. 

GoFundMe does not charge a fee but provides an option for giving them a "tip." It defaults to 15% but you can enter any percentage (even none). I choose to give them a tip as my friend Jared who works at GoFundMe was extremely helpful and spent several hours answering my questions and assisting me setup this campaign. PayPal serves as the credit card processor but you do not need to have a PayPal account to donate. They do collect a 2.9% fee from ALAS, which is on the low-end of credit card processing fees (which I understand are typically between 2.9% and 4.4%).

Thank you for contributing to a cause that means so much to me.