Not a Donation Dump, Volunteers Teach

“Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime. Teach a man to teach others, he’ll feed generations,” reads the International Youth Initiative pamphlet.

On Dec. 7, a group of 45 volunteers, as part of the International Youth Initiative, from local churches and organizations went to Tijuana to conduct character-building programs, cook breakfast and dinner for families in two Christian churches and to donated food and gifts.

Each of the 30 families that assisted with the program was given a blanket, clothes and leftover food. A total of 120 people showed up for the positive character based programs and to play with the foam snow IYI volunteers brought for fun.

“We’re there to help them succeed, but really, it’s not about what we do, it’s about what people do down there because they’re the ones who’re going to live their lives,” said Executive Director of IYI, Keith King.    

IYI is a Southern California based non-profit organization, whose offices reside in Aliso Viejo, dedicated to reinstating thousands of young lives and their families’ in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Mexico by promoting and engaging in character empowering programs.

“Our real objective is to help develop programs for youth ages 12 to 25,” said King.

Most aid assistance is directed toward the immediate relief of small children, leaving the 12 to 25 age group with less than 10 percent of the financial, human and organizational resources needed.

“It’s really hard to get dollars for youth. They’re not cute, they’re probably trouble makers [and] people think that youth can survive on their own,” King said.

The youth in countries such as Haiti and the Dominican Republic grow up facing violence, poverty, disease and broken families. Within the next decade, half of the population will be within the 12 to 25 age group. IYI believes it is their mission to help them reach their full potential.

IYI works to train youth workers so they can eventually take over the programs and create more projects to impact their countries.

“We don’t want to make the donation dump,” explained King. “It makes the people in the U.S. feel better and it makes the people down there feel better really quick, but it doesn’t really have a long term purpose.”

Anyone can get involved in IYI by volunteering in the U.S. or Mexico, becoming a financial partner, becoming a part of regular, summer or intern staff or by joining a global team.

IYI staff, accompanied by students from Vanguard University, just finished a one-day trip to Tijuana to conduct more programs.