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US-based nonprofit Roots and Wings International launched its 50 Great Reasons Campaign on February 8, 2010. The goal of the campaign is to fund fifty four-year scholarships for fifty Guatemalan students who live in coffee-growing highlands of rural Guatemala.
Each scholarship is valued at US $3,800. RWI aims to bring in a total of US $190,000 by the end of this year to support the 2011 scholars. Various donation options are in place: donors can name scholarships in their business name or in the memory of a loved one or make a one-time donation.
Projects to publicize the campaign and bring in funding are fully underway. The campaign is set to last until the year’s end when the 2011 scholarship applications are reviewed. RWI President Erik Swanson said, “Our hope is to not deny any deserving scholar the opportunity for an education and the chance to achieve his/her dreams.”
The nonprofit has previously lacked the finances to supply scholarships for more than a handful of Guatemalan scholars studying to be doctors, teachers and engineers. In 2009 RWI received 52 applications and awarded 7 scholarships. Swanson said, “We need to find funding to support our Guatemalan students. The potential for success and the drive to succeed in these students are admirable. Even though it’s a hard path, we are pushing forward. We can’t let them down.” More importantly, Swanson’s aim is to break the cycle of poverty in rural Guatemala where RWI serves.
RWI was created in 2004 by Erik Swanson in an effort to improve the lives of Guatemala’s rural population through education, training and technology. Earning approximately $2 per day growing coffee beans, most indigenous Guatemalans live in extreme poverty. RWI recognizes the potential that education brings and seeks to deliver valued educational tools to promote economic and social opportunities. Swanson is an associate at Bullivant Houser Bailey, a leading business and complex litigation law firm of more than 140 attorneys with large law firm alliances in China as well as member firms of both the European Lawyers Network and MultiLaw.
For more information, contact Erik Swanson by phone at 202.747.4946 or via email at erik@rootsandwingsintl.org.
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