I first traveled to Honduras in 2000 to participate in constructing houses for an area devastated by Hurricane Mitch which hit the country with a vengeance in 1998. I was struck by the beauty of the country and the charming people. Our church was involved in building the homes and a school in conjunction with Austin Helps Honduras, a nonprofit. Learning that most of the children who were living in the homes we constructed left school after the sixth grade, we established a scholarship fund to enable them to continue their education. Since 2002, we have given over 600 scholarships, and now are providing scholarships for our graduates who want to go to college and who can qualify.
All proceeds from sales of my Honduran prints go to the Austin Helps Honduras Scholarship Fund.
In November 2018, I traveled with a nonprofit, Art Ambassador for a Colorful World (www.artambassador.org), to Guatemala where we painted and brought art projects to the children of the Mayan village of San Martin Chiquita. The joy of the children was evident in their great big smiles, and our joy was multiplied with the hugs and smiles they gave us in return. Our trip with Art Ambassador was in conjunction with XelaAid (www.xelaaid.org), a nonprofit which empowers Mayan families to break the cycle of poverty and to prosper.