A Guatemalan-themed dinner to raise funds for a service trip to Safe Passage was held March 3 at the First Congregational Church of Camden. “Fiesta Guatemala” featured live music, Mayan kid’s crafts, a silent auction of donated items, and a festive dinner, all to benefit a service trip for 17 local teens to the nonprofit Safe Passage in Guatemala City.

The event was the final fundraising push before the group heads to Guatemala next week. A collaboration of the MidCoast Interact Club and The Rig, the students of MidCoast Changemakers are hoping to make a difference while volunteering in Guatemala City, as well as inspire other teens to take service-learning trips.

“We’re all excited to head down to Guatemala and give our time for such a worthwhile cause,” said Lexi Doudera, president of MidCoast Interact Club. “The community support for our trip has been wonderful, and we hope this dinner will help us reach our fundraising goal, raise awareness about Safe Passage, and provide a fun community event, too.”

In addition to the Guatemalan-themed dinner of chicken stew over rice, corn and black bean salad, the event included live music from the Off Beats, an a cappella group from Camden Hills Regional High School, as well as musicians Clio Berta and Keira Haining. Several Mayan crafts, such as making quitapesares, (worry dolls), and quetzals, (the Guatemalan National bird), were available for children.

For more information, see the group’s MidcoastChangemakers Facebook page, call 236-7773.

Who are the Midcoast Change Makers?
They are a group of 18 high school students consisting of two unique clubs: MidCoast Interact Club and The Rig. The MidCoast Interact Club is a Rotary International-based organization for teens dedicated to local and global service. The Rig is a meeting place for young adults that provides an opportunity for youth to develop connection, with themselves, with one another, and with the community. Together, they have united over one goal: a service trip to Safe Passage in Guatemala City.

What is Safe Passage?
Safe Passage is a nonprofit based in Yarmouth, and working in Guatemala City to bring hope, education, and opportunity to the children and families living in extreme poverty around the city's garbage dump. Their program includes approximately 550 children, ranging in age from 2 to 21 years, coming from nearly 300 families in the surrounding neighborhoods.

What will the MCM be doing at Safe Passage?
The MidCoast ChangeMakers will be doing an art project with elementary and middle school aged youth that encourages self reflection. The project will involve bookbinding, journaling, cyanotype photography, writing, poetry, and self portraiture.

Donations will be used to purchase the materials needed to teach art projects to the elementary school children of Safe Passage. The materials include cardboard, thread, sewing needles, leather, modge podge, paper, pretreated cyanotype paper and cloth, transparency paper, developing trays, glass contact sheets, cyanotype mural tapestry, pens and markers, rulers, memory cards, and digital printing costs.