Rotarian and Electric City resident Rob Hughes will travel to Guatemala with a group of Rotary volunteers from across North America to bring educational opportunities to impoverished children.

The Guatemala Literacy Project (GLP) group will deliver first-ever textbooks and inaugurate brand-new computer centers in rural schools.

In 14 years of existence, the GLP has established 184 textbook programs, 52 computer centers, 27 primary schools with the Culture of Reading program and 578 one-year scholarships. There are more than 26,000 children using GLP textbooks, 16,911 students being trained at GLP computer centers and 117,622 textbooks in circulation.

This will be Hughes’ second trip to the region to support the program.

The Grand Coulee Dam Rotary Club has supported the project, which gets the textbooks printed in-country, creating a sustainable boost to the local economy.

“The long-term effect of the project, providing the means for people to plan for their future, is the real life example of giving ‘hope,’” Rotarian and tour participant Carolyn Johnson said.

Service tours with the GLP and partner nonprofit Cooperative for Education take place every February and late summer and are open to all. More information can be found at http://www.coeduc.org/tours.htm.

The Guatemala Literacy Project (GLP) was founded in 1998. In partnership with the U.S.-based nonprofit Cooperative for Education: over 350 Rotary clubs across the globe support the GLP.

The GLP’s mission is to help Guatemalan schoolchildren break the cycle of poverty through education. The GLP works to accomplish this mission by creating self-sustaining textbook and computer center programs within impoverished community schools. Learn more at http://www.guatemalaliteracy.org or http://www.coeduc.org.