AYUDA 2024 Campo Amigo Program

Hello Hello Hello! Thank you for your interest in AYUDA and my story! 

*****post 2024 program update*****

firstly, thank you so very much to everyone who has donated, shown up for my bake sales/garage sales/etc., shared my posts, and generally shown your support for me and this program. truly, YOU have changed lives, mine most of all. 

when i first arrived in Santo Domingo this year a fellow Volunteer Mentor asked me if i thought i’d be returning next year. my immediate and easy response was, “aren’t we doing this forever?” returning to this program for my 5th year has once again assured me that the work AYUDA does with Campo Amigo is unlike anything else, and that i want to be a part of this work for as long as they will have me. 

this summer i learned so much about what it means to be a leader from working in my camp group (shoutout groupo amarillo 💛💛💛), my fellow Mentors, and not a small number of mistakes. i saw the incredible impact of the community Aprendiendo a Vivir has fostered at Campo Amigo - Azua, brand new venue for AYUDA + our local partners. and i understand resiliency on a whole new personal level after waking up at 4am to run Camp at a site 2 hours outside the city!! 

one of AYUDA’s core principles is that our model is built on peer to peer connection and education, because of this our work creates a genuinely magical bond. the most wonderful part of my job as a mentor this year was getting to witness new leaders emerge. i was able to see campers who had been in my camp group become Youth Leaders for AAV, campers who have come back year after year gain agency in groupo amarillo, and witness new ayuda volunteers experience the joy of bonding with campers. 

i will forever be grateful for all that i have learned, experiences i have been invited to share, and they joy that this program radiates. as corny as it may sound, being a part of this program makes me a part of a whole that is truly so much more than the sum of its parts. together we really are stronger :) juntos somos más fuertes 🧡💙

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I am thrilled to be returning as a Volunteer Mentor for the Campo Amigo 2024 program. This will be my third year returning to the Dominican Republic to work on this incredible program, and I am as excited and proud of this work as I was when I began working with AYUDA in 2020. This year I will be taking on a leadership role and can’t wait to see the new things I can learn and be challenged by in this role. 

I have lived with Type 1 diabetes for 15 years, and I am extremely grateful for all of the resources I have available to me and the generosity and care with which I have been supported on my journey with T1d. Access to support, resources, and education is not the reality for many people living with the condition, and one of the most enriching experiences of my life - with T1d or without - has been working with AYUDA on their Campo Amigo programs to change this. The community I became a part of, the skills I have learned, and the lives that have touched mine doing this work, are experiences I carry with me in everything that I do. 

AYUDA is a volunteer-centric organization. This means that without volunteers like me, and support from our fundraising, it would be impossible to run these programs! My goal this year is to raise $8,000 for AYUDA and our work to support people living with type 1 diabetes. Everyone deserves to have the best tools possible to be healthy. As a youth volunteer, I am empowered to promote real change in the circumstances and lives of people in the diabetes community. 

Working with AAV (Aprendiendo A Vivir), AYUDA’s partner organization in the DR, I will spend my days planning for and running our 3-days of Campo Amigo, where we lead kids of all ages in activities we design to be fun + educational, show living with diabetes is not a death sentence, and you are never alone living with t1d. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has supported me and my adventures with AYUDA over the years. Your contributions make this program possible !!

¡Juntos Somos más fuertes! Together we are stronger!