About Us
In 1993, Douglas Rhodenbaugh, a Middle School teacher from Austin, Texas, was vacationing in the Guatemalan Highlands where he traveled regularly. As he wandered through the local cemetery of a small village named Chichicastenango, a group of children approached him. Douglas chatted at length with them and, as Douglas is a photographer as well as [...]
Schools in Guatemala
Dear Friends and Donors: The news from Guatemala this month has been awful. First, the volcanic eruption that dropped 6 inches of black sand on the newly planted crops, followed that same week by 30 inches of rain in two nights. The damage to the nation’s infrastructure was catastrophic….roads and bridges washed away, waste water, [...]
Volunteers
On January 21st, a group of very dedicated volunteers from Covington Middle School, and Austin High School in Austin, Texas took their Service Learning to a new level by participating in the 1st Annual MLK Day of Community Action by sorting and boxing donations for shipment. Donations come all year long to the storage unit, [...]
How Can I Help?
Dear Friend of The Pencil Project: Thank you for your interest in what we are doing to change the lives of children in both Guatemala and the United States! I am Douglas Rhodenbaugh, a public school teacher in Austin, Texas. Since 1993, my students and I have provided new and used school supplies to literally hundreds of thousands of poor Guatemalan children. The Pencils for Guatemala drive is an effort that my students look forward to every year, and many return year after year to participate. The Pencil Project now has Member Chapters in public, charter, and religious schools in several states, and now has an official Chapter at Brown University. For many of my students here in the United States, it is their first important experience to reach out and give, and feel the pride of opening their hearts to less fortunate others. The Pencil Project began as a personal project of mine. I had met and photographed several groups of Mayan children working in farms and small factories in the...
