Give Your Hands to the Future is a new club that will directly assist children in Mexico. Club president and junior Bella Layman, said the club will host fundraisers throughout the year to raise money for essential living supplies.

Layman said club members will travel to Quintana Roo, Mexico this summer, where they will pass out the food they bought and help the towns in other ways, such as building cement houses. In the towns they visit, the houses are made of wood and do not have electricity. According to Layman, the difference between this club and other clubs that raise money for children is this one directly helps the families and children with whom the club members form close relationships.

“It’s so important that people know (giving impacts) people’s lives. It’s hard to explain it if you haven’t seen it before, but that’s why it’s so amazing; you have the opportunity to actually go there and see the kids that you’re helping,” Layman said.

According to Layman, club members have to travel three hours into the jungle before they reach the first town. The rest of the towns are even deeper inside the jungle and are noticeably more isolated the farther in they are. Layman said she has traveled to these areas multiple times before and keeps in touch with children she met there.

“This kid, his name is Juan, and I’ve known him since he was nine, I think,” Layman said. “We send letters to them, we keep talking to them and each year I go back and you can see the difference that just a couple hundred dollars makes in people’s lives.”

Gabriela Mendoza, Spanish teacher and club sponsor, said she is impressed with the work Layman puts into this club.

Mendoza said, “She’s thinking globally and it’s just so impressive to me, everything she’s doing.”
According to Layman, the club works with the Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (DIF), a Mexican public institution of social assistance, to help as many families as it can. The children in the towns speak Mayan instead of Spanish, making it impossible to find a job in a city. Despite government schools that teach Spanish, students usually only attend school until fifth grade, after which they typically have to start working or farming.

Layman said although she recently started the club, she’s confident CHS will raise enough money to make a difference.

Layman said, “In my last school for instance, I had 50 kids in my grade. The school was really small but we ended up raising $20,000, so imagine how much we can raise in this school.”
Layman said the club meets most Thursdays in A219 and welcomes new members.