While browsing in a jade shop in Antigua in 2003, Fran Lenski, picked up a flyer with a photograph of an impoverished Mayan girl on the front. Its headline, The Maya Need You, resonated with him, so he folded the flyer and put it in his pocket. “When I returned home to home to Portland I shared the flyer with my wife, Sue, who was also moved by the photo of the beautiful but obviously poor child.” said Fran Lenski, 72, a retired attorney whose love of travel has led him to explore six continents, including multiple visits to Central and South American. After reading about Adopt-a-Village in Guatemala’s mission of empowering youth through education, Susan Lenski signed up to become a child sp

Residents of Newport Beach, California, Alison and Charlie Nightingale and their family have supported Adopt-a-Village in Guatemala for more than a decade through the organization’s Child Sponsorship program. Here Alison shares her family’s emotional 13-year journey sponsoring Pascual, a Mayan boy with Cerebral Palsy. How did you learn about the organization? A friend of mine was one of Adopt-Village’s first volunteers. She told me about the organization and I was inspired by its work. My friend traveled to Guatemala and explained to us the many challenges the indigenous people face due to poverty and discrimination. The organization seeks to empower Mayan children and their families through