Every day large and small groups of volunteers in Guatemala work side-by-side with indigenous Mayan people to help bring immediate necessities, like safe drinking water, food, and shelter, plus long term necessities, like education, medical care, and small business opportunities to Mayan communities.
HMF service trip
In winter 2008 a group of 26 volunteers, calling ourselves the Helping Mayan Families group, traveled to Guatemala for one week to work with an amazing service organization, Mayan Families.
Our wildest hopes of what could be accomplished in a one-week service trip were exceeded many times over!
- 12,000 people ate a hearty holiday meal.
- 850 school children enjoyed a Christmas fiesta and gift;
- 400 patients received medical care.
- 88 animals were spay/neutered or vaccinated for rabbis.
- 25 orphaned children received shoes, clothes, and beds
- online student sponsorship was enabled on a new web site created for the Mayan Families organization.
The success of the HMF service trip was largely thanks to our generous donors who gave $44,000 in supplies and $25,310 to buy supplies for the service projects! (Volunteers paid 100% of their own expenses. All unused money and supplies at the end of the trip were donated to the Mayan Families organization.)
What's more, nearly every volunteer returned home with a deeper, more focused passion for service to the Maya community.
Branching out
Following the HMF service trip, we were excited about organizing yearly trips, similar to the first. But as we began sharing our newly focused visions, it became clear HMF was a group of volunteers with vastly different service plans. We eventually realized our efforts would be more effective as separate endeavors, with each volunteer pursuing the service projects most dear to them.
As we set out on our various service paths, some of the original volunteers continue to work closely with the Mayan Families organization. Others are working directly with orphanages in Guatemala. Still others have joined forces to establish a medical nonprofit, Global Health Missions. Many of those remaining are working with other established service organizations.
You can get involved too!
Our sincere hope is that every person who supported our HMF service trip in 2008 will continue to be actively involved in one of the many tremendous efforts to help Mayan families and indigenous communities in Guatemala. Without a HMF trip to promote here, we didn't want to leave you wondering how to get involved. To help, we've compiled a list of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) working in Guatemala. The list is divided into service groups that organize volunteer trips and those that do not organize trips.