Browsing Tag

PathLight

PathLight Students Rule!

One of the fun parts of summer is seeing new students added to the PathLight family. I’m excited to hear the Belize staff selected 12 exceptional students for the Sponsorship+ Program. Nine girls and three boys will begin high school in the Fall, and we have very high hopes for them.

This high school class of 2018 have ambitions to become teachers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, and business managers. Our job at PathLight is to help them achieve these goals while fully developing their spiritual lives. To paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, raising up young men and women with great skills but …

Belize, Goble Properties, PathLight,

Social Enterprise Stories

Even after 33-years at Goble Properties, it is still fun to see others bewildered when I value people over profits, communities over growth, or the environment over margins. Of course I’ve failed many times on all counts. But when I do get it right, it often stands out as counter-cultural in the business world.

Which in turn triggers conversations about why I made a decision, which allows me to share how faith is central to my values.

Last week I wrote about social enterprise being a gateway to spiritual conversations with the wealthy. Within a few hours of posting those …

Belize, PathLight,

PathLight Event in Redwood City

Are you in the Bay Area this weekend? Do you have Saturday night free? I would love to see you at a PathLight event that is being hosted by Pamela Wilhelms, Erik and Bonnie Hansen, and Greg and Anjanette Lundell. It will be a great chance to learn about the incredible things PathLight is doing in Belize with teachers.

If you want to go, please let me know. Details below. Thanks!

When: Saturday, May 19th, 6 PM.
Where: At the home of Erik and Bonnie Hansen (address to be provided when you RSVP).
Childcare: Yes, childcare will be provided!
Dinner: …

Belize, PathLight,

Who Wants To Go To Belize?

PathLight’s second class of seniors will be graduating from high school on May 29, 2012 and a great trip to Belize is planned to celebrate this event. This trip is always very popular and recently a couple of slots have opened up. This is an excellent chance to learn more about Belize, to see what PathLight is doing and to encourage our new graduates. D’Aun and I will be hosting this trip, along with directors Mark and Adrienne Parcher.

The itinerary looks like this:

May 27: Fly to Belize and then drive to PathLight’s mission and conference center for dinner …

Belize, PathLight,

Meet the New Belize Program Director!

As some of you are already aware, the PathLight Belize Program Director, Bryant Kong, had to return home at the end of 2011 due to a family emergency. I was sad to see him go. Please keep the Kongs in your prayers as they transition back home to Korea. If you’d like to read Bryant’s personal message to PathLight supporters, please click here.

PathLight’s Executive Director, Mark Parcher, went to Belize in mid-January with plans to begin a search for a new program director. Finding a director has been a challenge in the past, and based on those experiences, I …

Belize, PathLight,

How Does PathLight Choose Their Students?

It’s a great question. I hear it from donors all the time. “How do you decide which students receive a sponsorship?”

Truth is that we have to be selective because we have far more worthy students than we have sponsors. But this recent post on the PathLight website is a great explanation:

July 2011 Student Selection Process
This summer marks the fifth year that we have gone through the process of selecting students for our sponsorship program.

Just as our program takes a holistic approach in building the students academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually, our selection process is designed to …

Belize, PathLight,

Transforming a Village, One Student at a Time

The transformation of a village started last night. One might say it began four years ago when a few students shyly stepped onto a bus and headed to their first day of high school. But that was the beginning of their personal transformation, not the village.

The village transformation began last night when Amalia, Danald, Concepciona, and Sulema graduated from high school during a traditional ceremony at the Belmopan Civic Center. All four live in Armenia Village, a small community on the edge of the Belize rainforest, created twenty or so years ago to handle the influx of refugees from …

Belize, PathLight,

Hurricane Richard Update

In my last post I mentioned the damage to the PathLight facility in Belize. I arrived in Belize yesterday and have walked the property, talked with our directors, and discussed options with our maintenance supervisor. It’s not a pretty picture. Hurricane Richard left a wake of damage to the surrounding countryside that defies description.

The PathLight facility took a direct hit. Of the fourteen buildings on the facility, twelve have damage. One is essentially ruined, though we might be able to salvage parts of the building. This particular building (cabana #6 to those of you who have been here) had …