The Santa Clara Valley Chapter Overview

Our mission is to provide the young people of Silicon Valley with an extraordinary opportunity to safely explore a different side of our world.  And in the process develop important leadership skills, a rich cultural awareness, and gain a huge boost of self-confidence.  Oh, and also make new friendships that will last a lifetime. For more information, watch this video, or visit our International Office website.

This year’s training director is Carlos Jimenez, an experienced educator and international leader. He is charged with organizing and delivering a robust series of training events during the year. To personalize the delivery of his curricula, Carlos has recruited nearly a dozen veteran volunteers (who have recently returned from projects in Latin America) to assist him in the training delivery.   

An important aspect of our training program is fund raising. Beyond just helping to defray the costs of travel and important in-country support services, we view fund raising activities as critical to teaching our student volunteers essential selling skills.  We believe that great leaders are able to sell ideas and ask for support.  Our fund raising process is designed to this ideal. Moreover, we have found that our fund raising activities provide the added benefit of bolstering the self confidence and communication skills of our volunteers.

 This year’s fund raising will be two fold: 1) selling 50 cases each of grapefruit, poinsettias and chocolates from November through February, and 2) soliciting donations through a formal direct mail campaign from February through April.