Volunteer Opportunities

Mission Trip Participants

We welcome volunteers who have an interest in serving on medical mission teams to Guatemala. At the present time, we could use primary-care physicians, dentists, dental assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, Spanish interpreters, spiritual leaders, team cooks, people to help with crowd control, and drivers. If you have a special interest or vocation that you feel would improve or enhance our mission trips, please write to us. If you feel called to volunteer, please fill out the application and send it to us. Don’t hesitate to write if you would like more information.

Casa Colibrí teams also go to Guatemala to train Traditional Birth Attendants and Village Health Promoters. For those mission trips, we could use pediatricians, pediatric and neonatal nurse practitioners, obstetricians, obstetrical nurses, family practice physicians, internists, and dentists. Spanish would be a real plus but is not absolutely required.

Construction Teams

Casa Colibrí clinic has ongoing construction needs. At present, we need a fence built around the perimeter. We also need a wall built around our generator to reduce noise. In the future, we would like to add on to the clinic building to allow for larger visiting medical teams and to make an outdoor education center for our training seminars.

Fund Raising

Like most non-profit organizations, we can ALWAYS use help with raising funds to support our mission. Our funds come from Rotary Clubs, private foundations, and individual donors. Our most energetic supporters have come up with creative ways to raise money. For example:

  • Two boys from Washington state decided to have a combined birthday party, and in lieu of gifts, they asked their friends to donate money to Casa Colibrí. The cash they collected was used to help baby Nicolás, one of our little patients who needed a cleft palate repair. The surgical center is located in Huehuetenango, about eight hours away from his village. The boys collected over $400 to pay for the family’s transportation, food, and lodging.
  • Students from Living Word Lutheran School in Rochester, Michigan donated their weekly chapel offerings during Lent in order to purchase anti-parasitic medicine for 400 children. Their parents were so inspired by the Worms-Be-Gone campaign that they also contributed enough money to purchase ceramic water filters for all 26 families in the village of Nuevo Edén. Total raised: $1,800.
  • Jenna, an 11-year-old Guatemalan child adopted by parents from the United States, had a rummage sale and lemonade stand on her front lawn. With the proceeds, she purchased 28 receiving blankets to be given to traditional midwives at one of the Casa Colibrí training seminars. Touched by what Jenna had done, her mother went to their church’s mission board and asked for a contribution toward one of the medical mission trips.
  • At First Presbyterian Church in Sylva, NC, the women’s Mission sewing group knitted over 50 infant caps for newborn babies. These caps are extremely important in preventing heat loss, a significant problem in the rural highlands of Guatemala.
  • Her 60th birthday looming, a supporter from New Orleans was not looking forward to a big bash to celebrate her milestone birthday. She heard the amazing story about María Ingrid and decided to commemorate her six decades in a different way. She asked her friends to write a check to Casa Colibrí to honor the work of her friend and fellow nurse, Karen Moore, in changing the life of this tiny child. She single-handedly raised over $1,000.

These are just a few ideas. There’s no limit to your creativity. Maybe your book club would like to raise funds to purchase library books for a village school. Perhaps your sorority would do a service project and raise money to purchase prenatal vitamins for 50 expectant mothers. National Honor Society members might organize a walkathon and donate the proceeds toward purchasing water filters for an entire village. No gift is too small, and all gifts are deeply appreciated. Please write to us if you have a specific idea in mind to raise funds for our projects. We welcome your suggestions!