2011 Volunteer Trip

Hello! 

The pictures from our 2011 trip to El Salvador are up on the blog as well as our Facebook page. You can access the Facebook photo album without signing in to Facebook by clicking HERE. We had an amazing fundraising year in 2011! We made just over $12,000 that we translated in to over $20,000 worth of supplies with the help of our community partners. We took down 8 new volunteers this year, which included our two instructors for the First Responder Course we led in El Zonte. The remaining 5 volunteers were the four Team Leaders (Jackie, Daryl, Lisa, and Greg) and the Director of BES (Noah) who had all made the trip before. The trip went well in the clinics as well as in the communities. One of our main goals at BES is to foster cultural exchange and dialogue, so that we can learn from our friends and colleagues in El Salvador, as well as share new things with them. This year also provided exciting new opportunities for BES expansion in the coming years. The Director was able to travel to several new clinics this year to assess the needs of the clinics, as well as their willingness to work with BES. Next year, we will also be donating supplies to the clinics in La Libertad and Chiltiupan in the department of La Libertad, El Salvador. We are very excited about expanding our efforts! As a result of this expansion, however, Benefit El Salvador is attempting to raise $20,000 this year! Due to some partnerships in Utah, we have managed to raise close to $1,500 so far. Keep checking back on the blog for more updates and news. 

Lisa

Weathering the Storm

Photo courtesy of CNN

      While our volunteers are focused on raising funds for our clinic partners in El Salvador, our friends and colleagues in El Salvador are focused on providing health care for displaced families and those affected by the rain and flooding along the coast in El Salvador. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are suffering and those who are assisting with the relief effort.

Ready to go!

After an amazing few months of fundraising, and over $12,000 later, our 2011 International Volunteer Team is ready to go! Check out some of the pics of all of the gear we were able to collect and pack up this year, with help from our partners at Globus Relief!

Climbing Competition Recap

Hello friends!

Well, it has been a crazy month! As soon as the silent auction was over, the volunteer team at Benefit El Salvador started collaborating with The Front Climbing Club in Salt Lake City for our next event: a rock climbing competition! With a little less than a month to plan, our team raced to action!

The Front administered the competition with the proceeds going toward our fundraising goal of $10,000!

We had a great turn-out of rock climbers eager to try all of the new routes - approximately 80 competitors!

In addition to funds raised for entering the comp, BES volunteers were grillin' in the parking lot to keep all of the competitors and spectators nice and full for a donation of $5!

Gorilla Bars (an all natural snack-bar company) came out to support our cause and brought free samples for everyone to try!

- Check out their website HERE to sign up for a FREE full size sample! (Trust us, they're delicious!)

Overall, the Climbing Competition was a great event with lots of fun all for a great cause!

- Pictures from our partner Caption Photography will be posted soon!

-Lisa Naujoks, Staff Writer