Common Hope is a national organization dedicated to providing those in Guatemala with skills and supplies to live healthy, enriched lives. The Geneseo branch hosts school supply drives and craft nights to benefit the people in Guatemala (Courtesy of Common Hope).
Common Hope is a small volunteer club at Geneseo with a big mission. The group aims to promote health, education and living quality for people in Guatemala, according to the club’s president, biology major junior Lauren Todoro. Common Hope was founded by a couple who currently lives in Guatemala, and the organization has branches all over the world, with one right here on campus.
The situation in Guatemala is dire. Twenty-five percent of the population lives in extreme poverty and earns less than two dollars a day. Regarding education, only 70 percent of kids graduate from sixth grade, and generally go straight into the workforce, while only 18 percent graduate high school. There are, on average, only nine doctors per 10,000 people. So many Guatemalans are dying from simple things that could generally be treated because they can’t get in to see a doctor. “I really want to raise awareness [about what’s happening in Guatemala],” Todoro said. “And what we do directly helps people there.”
Past Common Hope fundraisers have included bracelet sales, making alphabet books to send to kids, a female hygienic products campaign and school supply drives. They’ve also done a Guatemalan cooking class in collaboration with CAS. “We want to start doing more events that focus on the Guatemalan culture and promote it so that we are able to get more people involved,” Todoro said.
She really likes being a part of Common Hope, even though it’s so small. “It’s a nice break from school, and it’s really nice to give something back and know it’s actually making an impact. It’s for a good cause and it helps people that really need it.”
Common Hope isn’t just a hand-out organization—it gives people a hand up so they can maintain their dignity and claim ownership and responsibility for their own lives.
Common Hope mainly targets poverty through education, helping students continue on to high school to get a diploma. Students aided by Common Hope are more likely to graduate, increasing their opportunities and pay in the workforce, and decreasing the likelihood that they’ll live in poverty for the rest of their lives. High school graduates, rather than those who only were educated through sixth grade, are more likely to earn more, experience better health and in general have a higher standard of living.
Todoro is focused on growing the size of the Geneseo Common Hope branch so that more of a difference can be made in Guatemala, and more events can be coordinated. Todoro expects for this semester another school supply drive and alphabet book craft night, as well as a cooking class on Guatemalan food run by CAS.
Events are open to all students. “We just really want to make a difference, and the more people the better,” Todoro said.