Friends, I'd like to share our Vallarta School Bag Project organized by our 'Vallarta Abuelos.' We plan to serve more than 400 of our little neighbors who dream of continuing their studies in Kinder, Primaria, Secundaria, and Prepa. For only $12.50 USD, you can provide a low-income child with a new backpack filled with everything he or she needs for the first day of school.

How to Sponsor a Child:

• Send a tax-deductible donation through Paypal to annemarieweiss@dfwinternational.org

• Click HERE to donate through GoFundMe

• Make a tax-deductible donation via check, mailed to: DFW International, 2717 Hackberry Lane, Garland, Texas 75042

About the Puerto Vallarta School Bag Project

WHO: Most of the 400 children on our list are being raised by single moms or grandmothers who earn the minimum wage (about $5 US a day) by selling tacos or cleaning Vallarta hotel rooms. As all students must buy uniforms, and youth in junior and senior high must also pay fees, transportation, and lunches, school costs are a real challenge for their moms!

WHAT: Here in Mexico, a backpack alone costs from 400 pesos ($21 USD) to more than 1,000 pesos ($52 USD), but by purchasing wholesale and direct from the suppliers, we're able to make this project possible at a greatly reduced cost!

WHEN: Our Vallarta-based team of volunteers will pack and distribute these back packs between August 1 and August 4, 2019, just prior to our (estimated) Aug 15 first day of school. In addition, we have sponsorship from a major US airline that will ship the bags without charge from the US manufacturer to us here in Vallarta, making it possible for a donation of $50 US to support FOUR Vallarta children.

WHERE: We're partnering with Mexican community leaders in 5 de Diciembre, Jardines, and El Centro.

HOW: The Vallarta School Bag Project is produced under the auspices of DFW International, a Dallas-based 501c3, and as such can issue receipts for use with US taxes.

WHY: We're the 'Vallarta Abuelos' and our focus is on giving back to the community by helping needy children. Since last Christmas we have given bikes to 76 children, and now we're focusing on school bags. This coming Christmas we hope to provide 400 children with gifts from Santa Claus.

The Vallarta School Bag Project supports children like 10-year-old Carlitos, who is in 4th grade, and who lives in a very crowded room with a hot plate for cooking and outdoor hose for bathing - along with his 14-year old sister Fatima, 9-year old cousin Jonathan, and elderly grandparents.

Each afternoon when she goes to work, Grandmother Elena leaves a pot of beans on the electric burner, and the children serve themselves for lunch and dinner. Grandmother is proud that her job keeps food on the table. But it's not enough to buy uniforms and shoes and the children's old school bags are ripped and worn. And this is just one example. Please help. The cost is only $12.50 US per child.