Hello Supporters,
The Young Dreamer Network's mission is to inspire and equip young people from communities across the globe, to discover and pursue their dreams. Through a well-structured curriculum that focuses on leadership skills, inspirational content and communication practices, Young Dreamers have the opportunity to make a dramatic change in their lives and communities. The YDN places a heavy emphasis on both local and international community service projects. Our program provides internship/mentorship opportunities and scholarships for students in Guatemala, Ghana, India and California. These Dreamers are connected and form a peer system that offers support and guidance to each other. We are embarking on an aggressive international expansion plan over the next five years including programs in Costa Rica, New York, Uganda and Vietnam.
Before I highlight some of the recent activity of our organization, I want to explain some of our history. Dreamer Hall of Fame has been in existence since 2004. Dream Careers founders, Eric Lochtefeld and Beth Lochtefeld, founded the organization. In 2007, Brian Buntz became the President of the non-profit. He began to focus efforts on educational, economic and community development in communities in the developing world, and on running volunteer trips to those communities.
Building on Brian’s connections to Guatemala from his days as a Peace Corps volunteer, he reached out to a friend (Juan Carlos Martinez) in the popular tourist destination of Antigua who owned a Spanish school and travel agency called La Union. Brian and Juan Carlos devised a customized plan to meet the needs of the community in the three key areas, run volunteer trips to Antigua, as well as to plant the seeds of the youth development programs. The education and youth development programs are branded as the Young Dreamer Network and the volunteer trips are branded as Dream Volunteers.
In 2007, Dream Volunteers embarked on its mission by identifying and recruiting its first group of young dreamers. It set its sights on improving the lives of young people in a small village in the mountainous region of Guatemala. Set just outside the city of Antigua, the small farming village of Vuelta Grande is a representation of what daily life is like in rural Guatemala. These indigenous people harvest their crops on steep mountain slopes at an elevation of 1,500 feet. Boys as young as eight begin to work in the field alongside their fathers while girls work with their mothers tending to younger siblings and performing household chores. Dreamer Hall Of Fame and La Union collaborated to create the plan for meeting the educational and economic needs of the community as well as to form the Young Dreamer Network.
Their plan included the following: identifying 6th graders with the potential to succeed academically and become leaders of their community; granting scholarships to those young people to attend a top secondary school in Antigua; assisting women in launching or growing their small businesses by providing micro-loans; sponsoring teacher salaries at the elementary school; bringing volunteers to perform school improvement projects to strengthen and beautify the physical structure of the elementary school; providing seed funding and business consulting for the launch of a community-owned business which would ultimately fund infrastructure development projects; and engaging in home improvement projects with the families of our scholarship recipients. In addition to the aforementioned projects our volunteers have done, they have also brought thousands of donated items (clothes, toys, books) and organized several community events (picnics, games and social gatherings). We now have close to 40 scholarship students and 60 total student members in our Young Dreamer Network from Guatemala, Ghana, India and California.
Our organization has been very active and is changing and impacting our world communities. In the remainder of this post, I want to highlight the first local service project by our Young Dreamers in California, our plans to expand our reach to Costa Rica and our recent volunteer trip to Guatemala!
Our California Young Dreamers organized and carried out its first local service project last month. They led a day of games and activities for Redwood City children from the North Fair Oaks neighborhood. The event, which took place on while the children were on break from school, included an arts & crafts table, cookie decorating, contests such as sack races and hula hooping, face painting, food a drinks, and a surprise visit from Santa. It was a huge success on several levels. Our Young Dreamers acted as leaders. The children experienced joy and love on a day when they otherwise would have been at home watching TV or playing video games. The parents of these children witnessed service and generosity and expressed sincere gratitude toward our Young Dreamers. The Young Dreamers were given a unique chance to grow as leaders, serve their community, and inspire future dreamers. It was their first ever service project, and they took full advantage of the opportunity. The most exciting outcome is that they are now yearning for more.
With the New Year upon us, Dream Volunteers is excited about the inaugural volunteer trip to Costa Rica. With the help of Santos Tour, we've found a great community and look forward to establishing long-lasting relationships with the future dreamers of Los Santos. The Los Santos region, located approximately 70 km south of San Jose, is a coffee lover's dream as high altitude valleys surrounded by steep slopes make it ideal for growing coffee amidst beautiful cloud forests. Though coffee will not be a requirement to motivate the volunteers as the region's beauty and tranquility of the Tican lifestyle will provide ample 'caffeine.' The Costa Rican government provides Tican's with quality free education and most communities have a primary school within walking distance. However, these primary schools are in need of repairs and beautification as funding from the government has been reduced. Additionally, secondary schools are only located in larger towns leaving many young children no option for further education beyond elementary school. Dream Volunteers intends to work with the surrounding communities to enable children to pursue an advanced education and fulfill their dreams. There are abundant opportunities in Los Santos and Dream Volunteers is very excited to embark on this new journey and broaden the network of Young Dreamers. Click here to join us in Costa Rica.
Last month, Dream Volunteers led its eighth service trip to Latin America. Once again, our volunteers made a tremendous impact on the village of Vuelta Grande, our adopted community in Guatemala. And Vuelta Grande had an even greater effect on our volunteers. Three aspects of our trip jump out the most:
Service Projects
The organization that we partner with to run these trips, La Union Spanish School and Travel Agency, we instrumental in coordinating our projects. For this particular trip, our main focus was building an additional classroom at Vuelta Grande's elementary school to make room for even more children to attend school this year. Thanks to a very generous donation from regular supporters Randy and Heather Chambers, students will enter this classroom for the first time next week feeling eager to learn and grow. In addition to the classroom, school beautification was a big goals of ours on this trip. With the new school year about to begin, we wanted the students to walk into school feeling warm and welcome. Volunteers painted the exterior of the school and also dedicated a mural to the children of Vuelta Grande.
Scholarship Students
Our original class of scholarship students in Guatemala has graduated from High School! This is an amazing accomplishment for these pioneers because they are the first in their village to ever do so. They understand the importance of education and are devoted to improving their communities. More importantly, these students are inspiring their peers to pursue education, so they too can expand their opportunities and follow their dreams. Four out of the five graduating students are continuing their studies in education, accounting and business administration. Our fifth graduate has chosen to begin working to support his family. We are so incredibly proud of Luis, Ivan, Jose Lino, Angel and Otoniel. These budding Dreamers are destined for greatness.
Volunteer Experience
Each volunteer began this trip eager to make a difference in Guatemala without knowing the exact projects on which they would work. In the end, their sense of accomplishment and pride came not from the physical outcome, but from the emotional impact they saw in the faces of the children they served. Several volunteers expressed that visiting a scholarship student's home was the highlight of their trip. The volunteers brought donations to the families and were able to get a glimpse into each of their lives. In turn, they gained greater perspective on their own.
Make a donation: Add us to your year-end giving list. The Young Dreamer Network is sprouting into a fruit-baring tree, At this point, though, it’s a sapling in need of water and nutrients. All donations to our charity go toward programming as our minimal overhead is covered by an existing grant. By donating, you will be supporting the growth and development of young people both locally and around the world. You can donate by clicking here.
Sponsor a student: In Guatemala and India, we have dozens of students who are eager to improve their lot in life through schooling and exposure to greater opportunities. We provide scholarships to these kids, who would otherwise not be in school, to attend top-notch high schools in their area. The scholarship includes tuition, supplies, project materials, uniforms, daily transportation, extra fees, and homework support. Please consider sponsoring a student with a monthly contribution by visiting our Guatemala or India sponsorship page.
Take on a project: Offer up your marketing or PR skills. We need to get the word out about who we are, how we’re changing the world and the opportunities people have to sign up for volunteer trips. The commitment is your time and expertise on a project. This can be done remotely.
Share your story: Come speak to our group of Young Dreamers. Each week, we meet with our high school-ers for 2 hours to work on leadership development, self-discovery, career exploration and community service. You all have stories to share with respect to your personal journeys: where you are and how you got there. We can coach you on putting together a 10-15 minute presentation. If you’re in the Bay Area, please come in and meet them. The commitment is one visit.
Become a mentor: If you live in the Bay Area, consider forming a relationship with one of our Young Dreamers. No experience is necessary. You simply need to be a positive role model, willing to offer encouragement and advice to a teenager eager to pursue her/his dreams. We will provide training for you to effectively work with your mentee. The commitment is approximately once a month.
Join our advisory council: We would like to build upon our current advisory council. We’re looking for individuals with one or more of the following skill sets: fundraising, non-profit management and administration, grant writing, marketing and communications.
To get involved in any of these ways, or to volunteer in additional ways, please contact Roy Rivera at Roy@dreamvolunteers.org
We will continue to update you, as our organization grows. You can expect to read about our activity as well as hear from our scholarship students.
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