Family of 4 Kids in Need of Sponsorship

This is a picture of a family of four children who we hope to get sponsored for our 2012 English Immersion Camp. You may notice that there are more than four children in this photo, along with their grandmother. The two two-year-olds are their cousins and the little boy in red being hugged up front is a neighbor. The other four are siblings.


In the back right in blue is the oldest, Miguel Angel. He is 11 years old. Then the boy in a red soccer jersey in the front right is Eduardo who is 9 years old. Shantal is to the left of Eduardo and is 7 years old. Then Shanel is to the left of Shantal, wearing a white headband and holding her cousin Wendely. Shanel is the youngest sibling and is 6 years old.


The kids live with their grandmother. Their mother does not live far and pops in occasionally but quite frankly is not very responsible or interested in raising them. Their father(s) is/are absent. Their grandmother works very hard and raises them in a strict manner. They are all four extremely fun-loving, healthy, athletic kids. They could use support in their education and would highly benefit from extra-curricular activities.


These kids are determined as perfect candidates to be sponsored to go to camp out of a pool of potential others in the same neighborhood because first, they have the determined need to be sponsored, second, they show the great need for educational support and extra-curricular activities, third, their grandmother desires this for them, and fourth, they have responded very well to small neighborhood activities and slight behavioral corrections given.


This year camp registration is 100 pesos and then there is a weekly fee of 250 pesos. The weekly transportation fee for kids from this neighborhood is 300 pesos per child. Therefore, to sponsor each of these kids in USD, the costs are as follows:

1 week - $16.80

2 weeks - $30.84

3 weeks - $45.00

4 weeks - $59.13

5 weeks - $73.26

6 weeks - $87.40

**Our apologies for a previous mistake that said $50 could send a child to camp. We made a mistake in calculation, only including one week of transportation costs. This is the correct cost. 

You can sponsor by sending a check to:

Project Esperanza

1291 Valley Mill Rd. 

Winchester, VA 22602

or by donating on PayPal. If you donate on PayPal, please add an additional 2.5% to your donation because that is what the PayPal fee is. Please help us send these kids to camp! We think it will be a huge encouragement for them in their difficult lives. Thank you! 

Pre-School Set to Launch Fall 2012

This update is a bit late, but better late than never. It is important that we explain what happened with the English immersion pre-school that has caused it to not launch this year, fall of 2011, but for us to plan on launching it fall 2012.


This was Change My Stars first year in existence, beginning with the English immersion camp in July, which went quite well. During the second half of the month of June, we just began renting the building and preparing it for the camp. Therefore, our program did not have a strong presence in the community. We were successful in getting kids out to camp, but really this year was low key as everything was just getting started. The campers who attended and the counselors who volunteered all had a great time and have gone on to tell friends and family about their experience, which will undoubtedly cause more interest in the camp next year. 


We made a strong effort to get the pre-school off the ground. We did the best that we could. But in reality, we just didn't start early enough and our program was not well-known enough. We were even last minute with teacher committments and such. We now realize that for a parent to send their child to an English camp is a bit more simple than deciding which pre-school to send their child to. Pre-school is a year long commitment and the parent wants to trust the program. Therefore, we have worked hard to maintain activity in the same building throughout the year, turning it into a volunteer and visitor hostel that has many things going on, English education and mini camps throughout the year being one of them. We will also start reaching out to parents well into the previous school year and accepting registrations, as we realize many parents are already researching for the following school year at that time.


Please stay tuned to see the progress!