Quacktastic News (June 2023)

But before all our quacks, we want to thank you for being here and reading more about our journey! Believe us, it has been amazing working on every project and watching our little community become bigger and stronger. Also, thank you for your love on social media, it means a lot to us because we are expanding our wings and we could not have done it without your support.

We, of course, invite you to continue supporting us on this fulfilling journey: to read our previous newsletter, just click here, and to see our latest social media post, just visit our nice and neat Instagram page.

That being said…

You won’t believe how happy we are with our progress this month. May was a whole journey! Not only because we worked hard as a team on upcoming projects, slightly redesigning our brand and updating our website, but because ¡we went to Colombia! We met our first group of Winged Students, beneficiaries of our very new WingCycle2 scholarships, and it was more than amazing, and we can’t wait to tell you all details about it!

First things first: ¿What is the WingCycle2 project about? Is a project where we aim to offer scholarships that grant access to English language acquisition. If you remember Emilse, from our last newsletter, she is one of our beneficiaries so far, and she keeps killing it! By supporting Colombian children and youth’s educational journey, we ensure they have numerous opportunities for their future and we support breaking the poverty cycle. We already gave 8 scholarships, creating this way our first group of Winged Students, who live in Manizales, a small city in the middle of the Colombian coffee area.

But we are not going to let you imagine how they are, what they think and how our experience meeting them was because we want you to feel inside the classroom and to be part of this amazing achievement with us! So first, meet Paola Hoyos, one of our beloved Marketing & Communications team member check her profile here. She has worked as a brand consultant for brands with social purposes and she was the one who welcomed our brand new group of Winged Students last month.

Paola’s life purpose is to create projects that inspire people to believe and work for their dreams.

Meeting our WingedStudents strengthens our idea of creating a community and a sense of belonging. Paola believes that they were inspired by the fact that we come from the same spot, that the people who were able to give them this opportunity once were young people without many opportunities for themselves. We want them not only to take their classes and study but to think bigger, dream and make huge plans, just as our duck does 😉

“I think this is going to open up a lot of possibilities for me in terms of applying for a scholarship in another country. I want to study fashion design. Also because I seek to know the world, because since I was little this has always filled me”, says Juan Pablo Ospina, one of our Winged Students. He is 20 and he loves design, painting and skating. He is studying pattern making and clothing in the Cruzada Social, a foundation based in Manizales, with whom we partnered to create the scholarships possible as our students are also completing training and courses with them.

We are sure we made a big impact with this event since we got closer to our beneficiaries in a way they now feel belong to our foundation. Something that caught Juan Pablo’s attention about The Winged Foundation is that we are all volunteers, “this shows that what they do they do with love and that what they are looking for is really to give opportunities to people like them who at first also thought they could not do something and then they were able to do a lot”, he added.

And even for Paola, from our team, this was an experience that taught her about how we are giving to beneficiaries what we received in the past from others: “I come from a vulnerable neighbourhood in Manizales and a group of students from another school came to my school and talked to us about their life stories and their dreams, and that was like getting to know a new world. Doing that in the future for me has been very nice. I think that when you have a desire in your heart to do something, you work with more resilience and you are not afraid to keep trying and trying…”, she says.

We aspire to share many more heart-touching events like this one in the future, and we are excited to keep you on the first row! Our goal is to expand the number of scholarships offered, enabling us to impact a larger portion of the community. So please keep updated with our social media and keep supporting us!

Thank you to Chantiers jeunesse, the organization that gave us the grant for making this project possible and for their generous funding and support. Youth Workcamps is funded in part by the Canada Service Corps, a national movement that allows young people between the ages of 15 and 30 to gain valuable experience and skills while giving back to their community. Please support them and learn more about the amazing things they do here.

Our mindset is simple: the more we give, the better. And guess what? You can be part of it too! We are currently collecting technology equipment (computers, tablets, smartphones, etc.) to give them a second chance at service within our Colombian community. These tools will allow our Winged Students to access their courses and education.

If you happen to be in Canada and have any tech equipment to spare, please fill out this form.

Take a moment to browse through our latest gallery, featuring heartwarming images of our proud Winged Students.

If you represent an organization or foundation, we invite you to collaborate with us for a shared purpose! You can find information on how to partner with us easily by visiting this link

If you are an individual who stumbled upon our gallery and found yourself captivated by the stories of education in the Vaupés community and the WingCycle2 project, consider making a donation to support Colombian children and youth. Your contribution will help us shape a brighter future for them!