Donate We Can Create Empathetic Leaders
How can you know when you help another person that your time, effort, and money will be worth it? What if you could bet on a kid coming from a home where the entire annual income of the family was less than $60,000 a year? And that kid, with all the roadblocks, bad influences, and difficult circumstances still excelled in school. Not only did they excel, but they received acceptance from a prestigious university like Stanford University.
Imagine their elation. Imagine the lack of understanding they get from their peer group and family as they deliver the news. But they overcome that as well. They research as much as they can, take advantage of as much financial aid as possible, and get ready to head to college. They are up against the top valedictorians in the country and have the added stress of every class being graded on a curve. Still wanting to be contributors to their family, they work a 30 hour week on evenings and weekends to pay for their life and send money home when they can. They meet with their school counselor and find out that 90% of first generation low income students in the United States take over 6 years to graduate. 33% drop out after three years. Between courses, jobs, a lack of mentorship, and the sheer overwhelmingness of leaving home for the first time, it is a wonder even 10% of these kids make it.
These are exactly the kids want to bet on. We did not establish the Vida Valiente Foundation because we feel bad for them or because of their past. We are doing it because we believe they are our true hope for sending inspiring and empathetic leaders out into the world. They have overcome in almost every journey and as they reach this pivotal step in their lives, when they are the most alone they have ever been in life, the Vida Valiente Foundation intends to make sure they reach the finish line.
Each year, we are partnering with Stanford University to help aid and broaden the horizons of 25 empathetic and incredibly hard working students for the entire four years of their academic journey. It is our belief that our Scholars will go out into the world and pay it forward after graduation because their backgrounds and unfaltering belief in themselves will translate to wanting to help others overcome the way they have. We hope you will join us in supporting the Vida Valiente Foundation.