La Casita Team
Co-Administrators
Candelaria and Gregorio, are the Co-Administrators of La Casita and have been there for the last 8 years. Their management and mentorship of the staff and students of La Casita has truly been exemplary. They have earned our trust and admiration over the years and through difficult situations. Their dedication to empowering Guatemalan youth and determination to provide the necessary environment and attitude for learning drives their spirits and is quite contagious. Gregorio and Candelaria foster a family atmosphere and promote their values: respect, responsibility, punctuality, innovation, empathy, and equality.
Volunteers
We are a small group of 6 volunteers from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. We pay all our own travel and living expenses when we are able to go to San Antonio Palopo, Guatemala. Every penny we raise goes to support these programs and projects. The photos below show us at La Casita over the last few years. Each month we organize a call with Candelaria and Gregorio to get updates on the programs, discuss the current situation, and by concensus, decide on the various issues that arise.
The following is an excerpt from Gregorio and Candelaria’s biographies:
“Gregorio and Candelaria both grew up in very simple families, with very little money. Gregorio sold beadwork bracelets to tourists after school, saving $10/year from age six to ten. With that $40, he found a used sewing machine, in another lake village. His father backpacked the sewing machine across the mountains, and Gregorio put himself into tailoring school at night, graduating at age 12. With that trade, and a lot of sewing suits and pants, he put himself through high school and university.
Candelaria grew up collecting firewood on the mountainsides, flowers for soup, and struggling to get to school. Her father Antonio, against the mockery of his relatives, decided that his daughters were going to get an education. Because of this, she graduated high school, and met Gregorio at university. They were both working at a disorganized Spanish school for foreigners, and thought “we could do this better.”
Our dream, however, has always been to be more than just self-sustaining business owners, but to be leaders who are giving back to our community and the next generation. With this in mind, we launched “FORMA” in 2011, applying business principles and accountability to the social work that is so dearly needed by our teenagers.”