Hello friends and family!

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page for Amigos de las Américas!  I really appreciate your support for my work and for an organization that means so much to me!

My experiences with AMIGOS have had a huge impact on my goals, career path, and personal growth as a young leader.  The AMIGOS program has offered me leadership opportunities and a level of responsibility I have not found through any other job or volunteer experience.  I have developed both professional skills and personal confidence that has carried over into many other areas of my life.  I am very grateful for my opportunity to be part of AMIGOS, and to now make that opportunity possible for other youth throughout the Americas.

This summer will be my third year with AMIGOS.  As a volunteer in 2006, I worked with Nicaraguan youth and community members to plan, promote training opportunities for, and implement a community-wide clay stove building project.  As a project supervisor in the Dominican Republic in 2009, I directly trained and supervised six volunteers to ensure their wellbeing and successful program participation.

This coming summer, I will be working as the Associate Project Director of an AMIGOS project in Intibucá, Honduras.  Along with two other senior staff members, I will be helping oversee the project as a whole, including managing a staff of 6 volunteer supervisors, being accountable for 60 teenage American and Honduran volunteers, managing the project's budget, working with our partner agencies Plan International and Save the Children, and being responsible overall for the successful preparation, implementation, and evaluation of the program.  It will be a lot of responsibility, but the opportunity is incredible and I'm up to the challange! I can't wait for the summer to get here!

In preparation for the summer, I will be working with my staff team on a pre-summer fundraising challenge. The funds we raise in this fundraising challenge will go towards providing scholarships for Latin American volunteers and low-income American volunteers, as well as providing extra program support to make sure our projects continue to provide high-quality leadership opportunities for AMIGOS volunteers and their Latin American youth counterparts.  In my project in Honduras, we plan to use some of the funds we raise to pay for transportation for Latin American youth to come to youth leadership training and workshops, as well as to enable more Honduran youth become full-fledged AMIGOS volunteers.  This staff fundraising initiative is really important to me, as it allows AMIGOS to make its programs more inclusive and effective. I have set a personal goal of raising at least $500 for this initiative. Thank you for helping me achieve this goal!

Amigos de las Américas (AMIGOS) is an international, non-profit organization that empowers young people from both the U.S. and Latin America, by providing unparalleled leadership and community service opportunities in hundreds of communities throughout Latin America.  This summer, the twelve AMIGOS projects will build partnerships that empower young leaders, advance community development, and strengthen multicultural understanding. For over 40 years, AMIGOS has worked in Latin America on an array of health, education, and environmental projects in local communities.

For more information about AMIGOS, visit their website at: www.amigoslink.org or watch their video.

I really appreciate your support of the important work that AMIGOS will be doing this summer.  Even small donations are great; every little bit helps!

Rather donate the old-fashioned way? No problem! 

Write "Marissa Fischer, Intibuca, Honduras" in the memo line

and mail a check to:

Amigos de las Americas
5618 Star Lane
Houston, TX 77057

Thank you so much for your support!

-Marissa