Yes, I am going to ask for your money. Let me tell you why.
Raising Money was never my job. I certainly didn’t start out as a fundraising specialist. Which is probably a good thing. Not only is it MUCH harder than I would have thought, but it is also pretty difficult just to ask people for their money. Try walking up to a stranger and asking him to open his wallet, and you will know what I mean. After all, my training was in the fire service and paramedicine, two of the most trusted professions. Armed with those skills, previous disaster response experience and along with good ideas and a great cause, people would immediately see the need and send money.
Hmmm…. not.
The reality is that there are many thousands of charitable organizations out there, good, bad and just plain silly. In fact, I get more mail, E-mail and texts from professional fundraising companies than I do from donors. Charity fundraising services, classes, and internet programs are big business. If they just pooled what they spend on trying to sell me their services and donated it instead I could stop harassing you for funds. Alas, that is not to be.
Making it Personal.
When I first came to Central America a decade ago it was not as a dedicated relief worker, but simply to discover the land from which my immigrant grandfather came. What I found was a place filled with natural beauty. Where people still say hello to strangers on the street, where they actually care about how you are doing, and where, though impoverished, they share a common dream of making their country better.
Equipped only with my high-school and street Spanish, I began to volunteer for a small NGO and quickly discovered the “mission” that would consume the next decade of my life, and become my full-time, unsalaried job when I retired from the fire service. I met incredible people and talented volunteers, people who would become my dearest friends and valued co-workers in a daunting task, to make things just a little bit better. If it sounds like I am trying to be noble, I am not. I get far more from the people I work with than I could ever give in return.
It is not until you watch firefighters have their boots burn off their feet searching smouldering hot volcanic ash, then offer you the shirt off their back (Thank You, Henri!) that you begin to understand Guatemala. Share a humble meal with a teacher in a rural village who hasn’t been paid in six months, yet goes to work each day. Spend a morning with a Maya elder speaking of the spirits of the mountains or an afternoon with a farmer who explains the intricacies of growing papaya or a fifth grader harvesting coffee in the mountains to earn a few extra quetzales for his family. Once you know these people, it is difficult not to want to help. Raising money is a small price to pay.
The Sales Pitch
AMEDICAusa was born of a simple idea. Take the expertise and experience of our founding board members and volunteers and apply them to some of the major problems in Guatemala and Central America. Medical care, education and disaster relief. Make a big bang for the buck. Use targeted programs to help in specific areas and not try duplicate the “big guys”.
We Are There Before, During and After the Disaster.
Perhaps what AMEDICAusa is best known for is our disaster relief and training programs. Existence here can be dangerous. Guatemala is the most “at risk” non-island country on earth from natural disasters. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, storms and hurricanes from both the pacific and atlantic oceans, landslides or flooding are nearly daily occurrences. Add to that the “normal” emergencies of daily life and the violence endemic in the cities.
Most disaster relief organizations are reactive. Choosing to “bank” donations in accounts that may never be used, or relying solely on “Disaster Relief Teams” to respond to future disasters, days or weeks after the event. These efforts are valuable, to be sure. But they do not provide immediate response in the all important first seventy two hours after the event.
The AMEDICAusa Difference
AMEDICAusa chooses to be proactive. As in the United States, the primary Guatemalan emergency response in case of disaster is the Fire Service. They provide the rescue and emergency medical care for the vast majority of the nation. But they are stretched thin, having only about 250 stations in the entire country. (For comparison, Tennessee, about the same land area, has over 1200 fire stations for its 6 million residents. Guatemala’s population is well over 17 million.)
Many of the firefighters and medics are volunteers. The career firefighters are woefully underpaid (about $300 a month for 24 on – 24 off schedule). Training is hit and miss. Equipment is in short supply. Paramedics must purchase their own medications out of pocket. Government support is meager at best. Many stations still must rely on bucket brigades for firefighting because they have no fire engine. And, the roads are bad. Seriously bad. Travel times between stations can be greater than four HOURS. That’s a long time to wait for help.
By providing donated equipment and training to the Emergency Services of Guatemala on an ongoing and “pre-disaster” basis AMEDICAusa and our partners, The Reds Team, can make an impact in disaster response before the ground even stops shaking. Not just in major disasters, but in the smaller, non-newsmaking events that happen on a daily basis.
How We Do It
We supply equipment donated by agencies all across the United States. Generally used, but serviceable, gear that represents a substantial improvement over what little they have in Guatemala. Collecting, sorting and transporting this equipment, (everything from Helmets and boots to fully equipped fire engines) is only the beginning of our mission. The gear itself is valuable, but the training to use it is equally important.
Our instructors are all volunteers, professional firefighters, paramedics and rescue technicians. They donate their time and expertise to help their brother and sister first responders do their jobs more safely and effectively. From small scale classes with two or three departments to biennial large scale schools with up to fifty departments participating, we are constantly supporting the disaster response of the most important rescuers… those that are already “in-country”.
What’s up, Doc?
Medical care in rural Guatemala is scant. Something like 90% of the physicians in the country are concentrated in the two largest cities leaving the more rural population with little care. Relied upon by most of the people, the national hospital system is underfunded, understaffed and ill equipped. But, they do what they can with what little they have.
AMEDICAusa provides donated equipment, medications and volunteers in rural hospitals and clinics in Guatemala. Supporting specialized medical and dental missions, providing internships and clinics to rural villages, and EMS training to the fire service we are helping to improve the care available to the poor and indigenous of the country.
It’s About the Kids Too
Education. Simply attending school can be difficult or impossible for the poor and indigenous people of Guatemala. One of the things I noticed as I travelled around the country is how many children are out and about during what should be school hours. Many thousands of children in Guatemala are unable to attend or finish elementary school simply because their parents can not buy the simple supplies needed.
Basic school supplies are expensive. Particularly when you only make a dollar or two a day. AMEDICAusa provides these supplies, at no cost to the families, directly to the individual children in rural schools. By purchasing the supplies from wholesalers in Guatemala, and having our volunteers deliver them, we stretch the available dollars. This adds a little to the local economy, and reaches farther than I ever expected. But it does cost money. Our reach is limited only by your generosity. Keeping children in school and improving their education is perhaps the greatest gift you can provide to kids struggling in poverty.
Tying It All Together
So, three major programs, what do they have in common? They actually tie together more closely than you might think. It is rare that I do a school supply mission and I am not asked to examine an ill or injured child. Firefighters often serve as our volunteers on school missions and are always our most valuable ambassadors into a community. (Who knows a community better than the local firefighters?) Does it do any good to teach CPR if the local hospital does not have the equipment to treat the patient? One program flows into the other and all are important.
Yes, I am Raising Money
Raising money was never supposed to be my life’s work. Frankly, I would much rather be teaching firefighting in the lowlands of Petén, visiting a small school somewhere in the mangroves or seeing patients in a mountain village. But the fact is, none of those things can happen without you.
The reality is that raising money is probably my most important job. It is what allows our other volunteers, instructors and experts to reach the communities where they are most needed and can do the most good. Taking good care of that money, being as miserly as Scrooge with costs while being as generous as Santa with aid, is probably a close second.
If you have read this far, I hope I have “sold” you on the benefits of what we do. There are a LOT of charities out there and you are going to hear from them all over the next few weeks. But I am extraordinarily proud of our work and of the people, volunteers all, who make it possible. So, please, forgive me if I brag a little.
And, please, take a little time to open your heart and your wallet, and donate to AMEDICAusa.