Newsletter

Dear Friends of PEACE,
I hope you had an enjoyable Summer and are thinking about returning to your vacation homes in the Punta de Mita area. At PEACE it marks yet another year of renewed excitement as area children return to school, hopefully their first full year of uninterrupted attendance over the last three! As you may know, PEACE has been a long-standing advocate of continuing education beyond middle school with activities, such as teaching English, a parental monthly informational newsletter (The Gazette), and the acclaimed year long motivational program, Campeones, that takes middle school classroom learning to a new level. Thanks to your financial support we are making significant progress. In fact, a 1Q22 census of North Shore school principals revealed that some 140 students who reside in our focused region now attend high schools outside of the immediate area!

While this statistic is very revealing, it should come as no surprise. Due to your immediate response to our call for financial aid at the beginning of COVID, PEACE was able to provide online education during the 2020 and 2021 school years. This effort has eased the transition for students who now find themselves two years behind in the classroom. Back then PEACE could have simply closed its doors and hibernated. Instead, we faced the pandemic head-on feeding people and educating children, even though it has placed financial strain on the charity today. Consequently in 2021, the charity attained only 65% of its annual donation goal, and now we again implore your financial support to help us continue our work in the community. For instance, our success in launching a proven successful online English teaching methodology in area schools will depend on our ability to hire more qualified instructors over the coming years in addition to seeking more interconnect technology solutions.

As in the past, its with a deep sense of respect that I present the following levels of gifting as defined by our Chairman Emeritus, Peter Newton, some years ago:

• Patron - US$20,000 +
• Benefactor - US$15,000
• Companion - US$10,000
• Member - US$5,000
• Associate - US$2,500
• Friend - US$1,000

Finance Director and Treasurer, Roberto Santa Cruz, comments, “The goal in this giving period remains the same as last year, to raise US$550,000. Please CLICK HERE to donate and receive a tax exempt receipt for gifts from residents of Canada, Mexico, and The United States. As in the past, a PEACE Board Member will reach out to you over the coming months, but please don’t wait DONATE NOW to help us offset the current 8.5% rate of inflation in Mexico. If you are a current donor, would you please consider increasing your contribution to a higher level?”

In closing, I thank you for your past donations and in advance for answering this call for financial support to help people you see nearly everyday in our towns. If you need more information, know of other like-minded donors or corporations who provide charitable matching grants, or just want to lend a helping hand, please contact me directly: ron@budacz.com.

Ron Budacz, Chair.