Local GoFundMe Campaign: Bring ‘A Salvadoran Christmas’ to Pleasantville

A local resident his hoping to celebrate Christmas in New York with two of his closest friends – who happen to live in Salvador.

Jaime Posa, of Pleasantville, met Fidel and Saul two years ago in Salvador during a Peace Corps service in 2010. After earning a two-year scholarship to move to Wisconsin in 2011, Fidel and Saul were required to move back this June. Now, Posa hopes to bring them back.

Here is part of Posa’s GoFundMe post:

No one from my Salvadoran community had ever studied in the states. Fidel & Saul had never traveled further than 2 hours (to go to the country capital) by bus. Fidel did not have electricity in his home, Saul was helping take care of his special-needs sister, with no help from doctors and/or the government, neither could speak English, both spent days off from school working in the fields, and neither expected to continue their education past high school.

Out of more than 300 applicants and only 24 winners, Fidel & Saul were 2 among the recipients of this coveted scholarship. They moved to Wisconsin in August 2011 and have ranked top in their class in their college business studies.

In June 2013, they are required to move back to El Salvador, with their Associate's Degree, to implement what they have learned in the US in their at-risk community at home in rural El Salvador.

This is not just a Christmas trip- this is an investment in their future. 

In a little over a year, Posa has raised $1,775 toward her $3,000 goal for Fidel and Saul’s Christams trip to America. To support the cause, click through in the window above. A total of 23 people have donated so far, according to Posa's GoFundMe page.