Help Us Change a Child's Life Forever!

My name is Paul Porras and I have been traveling in Central America for the past 6 months with my girlfriend Mandelynn. While living in Caye Caulker, Belize, we volunteered at a local primary school helping with reading comprehension, math, spelling, and physical education. The 2nd grade classroom that we helped in had 40 students in it! We couldn't believe how difficult it was trying to keep the kids on task to do their work and have them focus on what the teacher was teaching. We noticed there was a big gap in the classroom from students who excelled in spelling, reading comprehension, and math. The students who would finish their work effortlessly would distract the students who were struggling to understand the concepts the teacher was teaching. There was not enough individualized attention in the classroom to help the students that really needed to get the foundation of their alphabet, reading comprehension, and basic math skills. Even with one teacher and three helpers at one point, it was not enough to catch these children up on their alphabet and reading comprehension. We did our very best to give the children as much individualized attention as possible, but we feared after we left that these children would just get lost in the shuffle. By no fault of the teachers, there is simply not enough funding to provide them the resources and staff needed to support the needs of the children. Our last day of school, Mandelynn and I realized we had to do something. It broke our hearts knowing that some of these children would go their entire lives not ever learning how to read or write. That is simply not okay. Every child should have the right to read a book. We devoted our time in Caye Caulker to helping at the school as much as we possibly could. The school, the teachers, the principle, and parents were so good to us. We knew that we couldn’t leave without doing the same for them. After some deep consideration, Mandelynn and I decided to sponsor a child we grew very fond of. So, we sponsored his education for life, yes even through college. It broke our hearts that we couldn’t make the commitment to do it for every child, but we realized just making a difference in one life is a giant leap. However, we realized, there is still more that we can do, and that is where you come in! Down the street from this school is a private school that limits the class size to 12 students to every teacher. We had a great conversation with the founder of the private school and his concept for his school was phenomenal. Mandelynn and I knew instantly that we wanted to make it more accessible for families on the island to provide their children with the ability to read and write. We have decided to reach out and make this happen. Even if it is just one more child. With your support, you can assist in changing the life of at least one more child. The overall cost for a child to go to the private school for a year is $2,500. This includes registration fees, books, class materials, uniform and monthly tuition.  Mandelynn and I have already committed to helping one child be able to attend the private school yearly. If you are able to help break our goal of $2,500, I will shave off my beard to celebrate, helping another student get the chance to attend this amazing school! And yes, I will make a video of me shaving my beard off! If you know me, then you know that my ginger beard means the world to me! Shaving my beard for the first time in over 5 years will be well worth it, if I can help a child improve their education and effect the community in such a positive way! I want to thank you all in advance for making our mission possible!