But before all our quacks, we want to thank you for being here and dispose yourself to keep up with our journey! Please believe us it has been amaizing working in every project and watching our little community bacome bigger and stronger. Also, thank you for your love on social media, it really means a lot to us because we are really expanding our wings and we could not have done it without your support.
You won’t believe how happy we are with our progress to this month. May was a whole journey! Not only because we worked really 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, so we are going to tell you everything about it, right now!
What Our Duck Has Been Up To
First things frist: ¿What was the WingCycle2 project about? Is a project were 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 educational journey, we ensure they have numerous opportunities for their future and we support breaking the poverty cycle. We already gave 8 scholarchips, 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 was our experience meeting them, 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. She has worked as brand consultant for brands with social purposes and she was the one who welcomed our brand new group of Winged Students last month.
The idea of the meeting was to create a bound between them and our foundation, since we are not only thrilled to give them the opportunity to learn another language, but we want to create community and a sense of belonging from them. Paola believe that they were really inspired by the fact that we come from their same spot, that the people who where able to give them this opportunity once where young people without many opportunities for themselves. We want them not only to take their classes and study, but to think bigger, to 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 (Social Crusade), a foundation based in Manizales, with whom we partnered to make the scholarships possible as our students are also completing trainings 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 belonging 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 experienence that taught her about how we are giving to beneficiaries what we recieved in the past by others: “I come from a vulnerable neighborhood 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!
We cannot go without thanking…
Thank you to Chantiers jeunesse, the organization that gave us the grant of 3500 CAD, 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.
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 of service within our Colombian community. These tools will allow our Winged Students to access their courses and education.
Be the Change Today!
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 below link:
But wait, there’s more!
If you are an individual who stumbled upon our gallery and found yourself captivated by the stories of education in Manizales 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!
Pst! Don’t forget to follow us on social