In the community of Los Ricos de Abajo, a corps of volunteer teachers from the USA and Canada, under the direction of a former Feed the Hungry San Miguel Trustee, conduct English classes for children and adults, have built a school library and a Learning Center with computers and internet, funded a dining hall at the school, and provide the children with scholarships and encourage continued education.
The Biblioteca and Learning Center were recently refitted with new desks and Chromebooks with a large screen for teaching. The library space has been streamlined with more teaching resources and materials storage. The Learning Center allows students to access the Internet. They open three times per week for 4 hours. Students use this facility to attend online classes and do homework.
This school year, we once again turned our attention to the Naciones Unidas scholarships that the program awards to every Los Ricos seventh grader as they start junior high and continue through their high school graduation, and the support that is provided for graduates attending university.
Why Grade 7-12 Students Need Scholarships
According to an article in Mexico News Daily, the cost of attending school is now more of a challenge than ever: parents must pay for school supplies and uniforms, as well as tuition and re-enrollment fees, all of which have risen in cost due to inflation. According to the newspaper El Economista, the education sector saw an annual inflation rate of 5.24% in the first half of August 2024. Considering all expenses associated with the new school year, the National Alliance of Small Business Owners reported that each student’s return to school will cost an average of 9,689 pesos (US $492).
How Your Support Funds Future Success
By comparison, Naciones Unidas scholarships provide 3,800 pesos a year to the students in grades 7-9 a year and 7,200 pesos a year those in grades 10-12. In addition, 10 students attending accredited universities and institutions receive funds to cover tuition, fees, transportation, and living expenses. Students have chosen careers in accounting, agronomy, biochemistry, computers, massage therapy, nutrition, law, veterinary medicine, and tourism. Students are expected to provide their grades each semester and also receipts for their expenses.
How Donations Are Disbursed
Maestra Lucha Jiménez Rodríguez has spent the better part of her career teaching at Naciones Unidas. She had been there for 30 years, and she retired in 2019. She was the Directora as well as a teacher when she retired. Since then, she has continued to support our Los Ricos program by distributing the donated funds that keep our students in school—the scholarships for Secundaria and Prepa as well as the reimbursements for the students who go on to universities and trade schools.
These transactions are all done in cash and require countless trips to the ATM. Most families do not have checking accounts, nor do the students, and there is a general reluctance to have too much cash in one’s house. Lucha also tracks and records each transaction. She knows the community and the families, and although these days she may not know every student personally, she often knows their parents and older siblings. The service she provides is invaluable to the success and continuation of this program for the community of Los Ricos.
How You Can Help
Whatever you can pitch in would be very much appreciated!
At this time, other than donations already set up for automatic transfer, we can only accept donations by check. To make a donation by check, make the check payable to Feed the Hungry San Miguel with Los Ricos in the memo line. Mail it to:
Outside Mexico: Feed the Hungry San Miguel, Box 636, 220 N. Zapata Hwy, Suite 11, Laredo, Texas 78043-4464
From within Mexico: Feed the Hungry San Miguel, Box 636. Aldama 3, Centro, San Miguel de Allende 37700, Guanajuato, México
Please notify Veronica Olvera and Suzanne Bacon that you have made a donation to the Los Ricos scholarship fund.
The School on the Other Side of the River: The Educational Journey of Los Ricos de Abajo
If you’d like to know more about the Los Ricos community and our work there, this book takes you into the village where you meet students of the program who talk about what the project has meant to them. You’ll meet the amazing Lucha and also hear the voices of the volunteers and how the giving at Los Ricos is two-way, with volunteers expressing what it has meant to them to know the students and families of Los Ricos. The book is available on Amazon and at the Biblioteca and Aurora Books in San Miguel de Allende. Proceeds from sales of the book benefit the Los Ricos Scholarship Program.
EN 
ES 