Youth Engaged is Service (Y.E.S.)
Phoebe Fuentes
At our August 7 meeting, Phoebe Fuentes, a 17-year-old student from Arlington High School and Skagit Valley Community College, presented on her experience with the Snohomish County YES Team. She was introduced by Past District Governor Bev Harrington. PDG Bev picked up the idea from one of her Rotary visits and brought it back to her club in Burlington.
The YES is now a Rotary District 5050 program, with teams in Skagit and Snohomish Counties. The program is for high school juniors and requires monthly meetings, 80 hours of community service, and an annual international service trip to Guatemala for the Snohomish County team. The Skagit team goes to Honduras.
Phoebe was sponsored by our club. She completed her service hours at The Gathering Place in Stanwood and volunteered for various events at The Caring Place. Her presentation was about her team's experience in Guatemala. She pointed out that one of the adult chaperones on the trip was our own Marianne Pauley.
The service trip was facilitated by Hands for Peacemaking, an organization that had prepared infrastructure, such as bathrooms, showers, and water tanks, before the team arrived. Hands for Peacemaking also provided villagers with water filtration systems and stoves through signed personal contracts.
Phoebe’s team traveled from SeaTac to Guatemala City, then to a village and on to Barillas, to reach their mission house. The team stayed in the village of José María and resided in tents set up near a cleaned schoolhouse. A primary task involved building metal stoves; Phoebe and Katie completed their stove in a record 26 minutes. Other activities included teaching villagers how to make pot holders, conducting hygiene lessons with toothbrushes, and installing water filters using chicken wire.
The team engaged with the local community by playing games, visiting the river, and distributing soccer balls donated by Kathleen and Rick Olson. On their final day, the villagers performed a traditional dance in beautiful outfits for the visiting group. Following the village stay, the team toured an eco-filter facility in Antigua and visited a local convent.
Phoebe noted that seeing firsthand how villagers live changed her perspective on gratitude and global inequality. She explained that the new stoves prevent smoke inhalation diseases, reduce fire hazards for children, save wood, and create more space in small homes.
During a Q&A session, participants discussed local living conditions, including heat reaching 107 degrees Fahrenheit and scorpions in homes. Participants must raise $1,500 for the trip through methods such as selling raffle tickets or hosting individual fundraisers, like Phoebe's cake sale.
PDG Bev noted that approximately $1,000 of program funds goes directly toward purchasing stoves at $325 each. A Guatemala-themed fundraiser is planned for February at Everett Station to support continued program operations.
To learn more about Hands for Peacemaking, which was established by Rotarians, click HERE. That site has photos of some of the projects. We have had programs in the past from Marysville Rotarians that organize an annual trip to build schools in these same villages through Hands for Peacemaking.
