Project Amigo

Project Amigo is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help poor rural children in the west-central state of Colima, Mexico achieve the education and skills they need to lift themselves and their families out of generations of poverty, and to build better and stronger communities.  It also provides safe hands-on service opportunities in Colima for Rotarians and their families.  (Please visit our website at www.projectamigo.org.)

Between the Founders and former Executive Directors (Ted Rose and his wife Susan Hill) and Alex and Jenna Saldaña, more than 350  Rotary Clubs spoken to and 20 District Conferences in the US and Canada have been introduced to Project Amigo.  The presentation helps new Rotarians and potential Rotarians visiting your club gain insight into the powerful family of Rotary; and it inspires “old” Rotarians to greater heights. We demonstrate what "ordinary" individuals have done when they envisioned an "extraordinary" possibility, and then worked together with other Rotarians to bring it about.

Alex Saldaña, Co-Executive Director of Project Amigo, is bilingual, bicultural, and has an array of other talents and skills. Alex grew up in Lomas del Real, Tamaulipas, Mexico, a poor town of 2,000 located on the Gulf Coast.  He understands the challenges that children and adults face in poor rural Mexico. Alex graduated from the Technical University of Queretaro with a degree in production processes. After graduating from college in Mexico, he worked in production and manufacturing at Colgate Palmolive. After marrying Jenna, the other Co-Executive Director of Project Amigo, he moved to Boulder, CO, learned English, and worked for both for-profits and non-profits in multimedia and operations. Alex has international development experience in Ecuador.