Blog Archives

Wow! We Are Excited!

4/10/2023

On April 1 we made our first food support donation to Árbol de Esperanza to be used to help the women in their program who might be experiencing food insecurity. And based on the generosity of CAA’s members and friends, we will be able to continue to provide the monthly amount of 55,000 colones (approximately $100) to the organization through the end of the year. Arbol will use these funds to support the food needs, either crisis or routine, of the women who are working hard do move themselves and their families from poverty to self-sufficiency.

Árbol de Esperanza, their program participants, and CAA thank you for your generosity!

For more information on Árbol de Esperanza and the good work they are doing in the community, visit their website at https://www.arboldeesperanza.org

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

4/7/2023

This year, the Education Committee asked our scholarship students to fill out a questionnaire detailing their future goals, likes, and possible obstacles. This furthers our initiative to focus more on planning forward, earlier in the Colegio experience, to help students begin to identify goals and careers; and to help students begin to think of the academic achievements and vocational courses necessary to achieve those goals. This information also informs and drives the new tutoring initiative we are piloting for our students in 2023.

Below is an installment in a series that showcases the hopes, dreams, and interests of individual students in our CAA Scholarship (beca) program.

Elena* is a very impressive young woman in CAA’s Beca (scholarship) Program and I have been following her progress for almost 10 years, first as a member of the Education Committee and then as a close friend. She has always been interested in studying English, Math, and the Sciences and never lost her focus on these subjects during her years in Colegio. Her desire was to become a medical doctor or researcher in biomedicine. She attended the Palmares Bilingual Colegio, graduating in 2021, and despite her excellent grades in the International Baccalaureate Program at Colegio, she failed to make high enough scores on the entrance exam to attend the University of Technology in Cartago to study biomedicine. Instead of giving up, she devised a different route to achieve her goal and one very unusual for Costa Rican students.

Upon realizing that she would be unable to attend the University of Technology, Elena decided to take a job with the Cleveland Clinic Call Center. They gave her her own computer, installed very fast WiFi in her apartment in San Ramón, and then with a bit of training, she was off! Within nine months, she was training other Ticos new to the call center as well as taking three classes in the sciences and pre-medicine at the Universidad Americana in Heredia.

In Costa Rica, it is very unusual for college students to work even part-time while attending classes, but Elena manages to work a 40-hour week AND also pursue her academic dreams.

UAM is a private university where many students interested in medical and health careers study even though it is expensive to attend—certainly by Costa Rican standards! However, she is managing to both work and make A’s and I certainly expect her to ultimately reach her goals. She is an excellent example of the kind of students we see in our Beca Program every year who are learning how to set goals, work toward achieving them, and when meeting roadblocks like Elena did, finding a different route toward success. What a privilege it has been to witness this and to help these students achieve their goals through our donations—both money and time—and because of the personal relationships we develop with them through the years. I can’t wait to see Elena become a doctor one day or researcher one day. Who knows? Maybe she will discover a “cure” for aging.

Speaking of “reaching goals,” CAA has initiated the current session of tutoring for our 11th grade students (final year of high school in Costa Rica) in our Beca Program with 10 weeks of preparation for the entrance exams to the public universities in Costa Rica. Because most of them lost almost two years due to Covid, it is obvious they are not ready academically for these difficult exams. The Education Committee has been able to pay for the current group of high school seniors to attend three hours of exam preparation every Saturday for 10 weeks at MG Capitacion here in San Ramón. We hope that this tutoring and further tutoring in English, Math, Reading/Reasoning, and Chemistry will continue through this academic year and that these students will then be able to achieve their goals of a college education. Thanks to all our members for helping them be successful.

~Marian Latham, CAA Education Committee

*The name has been changed to protect the identity of the student.

Great News x 2 from the Sustainability Committee

4/4/2023

Little by Little Campaign Results
Hola everyone! Thank you so much to all of you who participated in the Little by Little campaign which ran from April 4-7. We had excellent results. Among our three projects on the Global Giving platform, (Feeding Hungry Families, Brightening the Lives of Children and Educational Scholarship Support) we raised $540 in direct donations and we received $220 from the 50% match offered by Global Giving. Together they produced a total of $760 that is now available to help us continue our philanthropic work in our community. Your continued generosity and commitment is so very much appreciated.

If you were not able to make a donation during the Campaign but would like to help support this important work, you can make a donation using any of the links below. Though a donation now will not have the benefit of the special 50% match, all ongoing financial support is important and always welcomed.

A reminder of the Recurring Donation Program: When you make a recurring donation to a project, after four consecutive donations, Global Giving will gift us an amount equal to one month’s donation. This is a great way to amplify our efforts and also provide predictability to our ability to consistently support our designated projects.

Feeding Hungry Families     www.globalgiving.org/56450
Give the Gift of Education    www.globalgiving.org/18714
Brighten the Lives of Children    www.globalgiving.org/57142

Helping the Hogarcito
Because of CAA members’ and friends’ consistent and ongoing generosity, CAA is able to explore other organizations who might be in need of food support funding. As a result, Linda D. and Mary Lou H. met with Johana Caldahar, Hogarcito Director on April 13 to discuss the orphanage’s food support needs. We agreed to provide them with 50,000 colones per month, starting this month, April, and going through the end of the year to purchase fruits and vegetables and other foods they buy on a weekly basis. This will allow 50,000 colones of the money they receive from the government to be redirected from their food budget to pay for other worthwhile and needed items. They were most grateful and appreciative for our support. The Hogarcito works hard to meet all the needs of the children, who seem lively and happy. Just take a look at the wonderful photos on their Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/Hogarcitosanramon. CAA is glad to be able to help them.

With much gratitude for all that you do,
The Sustainability Committee

Wow! We Are Excited!

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Great News x 2 from the Sustainability Committee

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