April 1, 2017
Boston College students and recent alums are taking on a challenge issued by Hannah Ames Beavers and Katie Carey Nivard to help promote global grassroots initiatives. For example, as āGlobal Advocates,ā five Boston College graduates to date have raised just over $100,000 for schools in East Africa and Guatemala.
They include Katie Remy, a 2011 Carroll School marketing graduate who became the first Global Advocate from Boston College recruited by Beavers and NivardĀ (see main story). The others are Morgan DeLuce ā15, Tessa Peoples ā16, Marisa Maneri ā16, and Megan Sonier ā16 (all Morrissey College graduates). Still other Boston College students and graduates have supported the schools in other volunteer capacities: Ana Isabel Romero ā09; Peter S. Martin III ā11; Sarah Padial, Morrissey College ā16; and Elizabeth Holman, Morrissey College ā17.
Peoples, who majored in psychology and minored in Hispanic studies, has raised $19,000 so far for a school project under way in Panajachel, in the Guatemalan Highlands.
Through their global nonprofit organization Glorious, Beavers and Nivard became involved in the effort when Nivard identified Ingrid VillaseƱor as having the potential to be āthe next Alice.ā That is, Alice Mathew, the inspiring founder of Tanzaniaās Glorious Orphan Care. VillaseƱor has more than 25 students in her school, El Ćrbol del NiƱo. With Glorious support, the school has purchased land for a sustainable farm to serve as a community ecotourism center, grow local produce, and provide garden plots for the schoolchildrenās families.
Peoples has been working for nonprofits in Guatemala since June of last year. She will leave this summer but plans to use her experience and Spanish-language skills to work with immigrant communities in the United States.
Her time in Guatemala confirmed the importance of āworking in true partnership with the communities and listening to what they needed,ā Peoples said. āThose projects make the biggest difference and endure the test of time.ā
āKimberly Blanton