The Story of Project Amigo
Transforming Lives Through Education
For more than four decades, including three decades as a nonprofit, Project Amigo has been built around a simple but powerful belief: education can change the course of a person’s life, and when a child has the opportunity to continue learning, the benefits reach far beyond that student. We reach families, communities, and future generations. In 2026, we celebrate 30 years as a U.S. nonprofit, a milestone that reflects the enduring commitment of the donors, volunteers, staff, and partners.
Since 1984, Project Amigo has worked alongside students and families in Colima, Mexico, helping students overcome barriers that can stand between them and education. What began with a small group of children in a rural community has grown into a comprehensive program that supports students from elementary school through university. Along the way, Project Amigo has brought together families, volunteers, Rotarians, donors, businesses, and community partners, all connected by a shared commitment to helping young people pursue their education and build a different future.
The organization’s history is filled with programs that grew from seeing a need and asking what could be done. Scholarships began when a local school director asked for help keeping seven students in school beyond elementary school. Homework Clubs grew from recognizing that students needed a place, a computer, and someone to help them succeed. Casa Amiga opened because rural students needed a way to attend the university in Colima. Partnerships brought books to children, dental and vision care to communities, clean water to schools, and classrooms to children who once studied under a tree.
Behind every one of these milestones are people who chose to get involved. Sharing our history gives us an opportunity, not only to reflect on the Project Amigo story, but to shine a light on the people who helped write it and thank them for making this work possible.
1984: A Wrong Bus, an Unexpected Encounter, and the Spark of a Mission
In 1984, Ted Rose and Susan Hill arrived in Colima with plans to hike the volcano. Instead, they took the wrong bus and found themselves in the small community of Cofradía de Suchitlán. What began as a wrong turn became the start of a lifelong commitment to children of Colima.
While sitting in the town’s jardín, Ted and Susan met a group of elementary school children who befriended them. The children invited them to the albergue, where they lived during the week so they could attend school. The albergue was a room-and-board facility overseen by Colima’s State Education Department. It was established to help rural families send up to three children to elementary school when there wasn't a school close enough to their homes.
Susan and Ted were struck by what they saw. Families who wanted their children to receive even an elementary education had to send them away from home during the school week. Ted and Susan left Cofradía knowing they wanted to help. That encounter became the spark that eventually grew into Project Amigo. Today, the organization’s mission is to ensure students in the state of Colima, Mexico, achieve the education necessary to improve quality of life for themselves and their communities. Ted’s Rotarian heart told him other Rotarians would want to be part of the effort. In that first year, he and Susan invited fellow Rotarians from Eureka, California, to join them. Together, they hosted the first Christmas Fiesta in 1984, bringing cake, food, and gifts to the children living at the albergue.
That successful celebration sparked a tradition that continues today through the annual Christmas Fiesta Service Week, now focused on Project Amigo’s elementary school Incentive Program students.
1986 to 1995: From a Christmas Fiesta to a Growing Community of Support
In 1986, Susan and Ted moved to Colima to fully embrace their desire to help children and families in the region. It was not long before Susan recognized that a Christmas celebration, while meaningful, was not enough. The deeper challenge was poverty and the barriers it created for children trying to continue their education. Susan understood that the work needed to help families build a different future. As she put it, they needed to help people “learn to fish.”
Susan and Ted began inviting friends, Eureka Rotarians, and Rotarians they met at Rotary International Conferences. Their goal was not simply to provide assistance, but to encourage children to complete elementary school, continue their education, and eventually pursue higher education. During these years, Project Amigo also developed initiatives that addressed broader community needs. Often, these projects grew from the skills and interests individual Rotarians brought.
Dental Care Visits
The dental effort began in the early 1980s, when volunteer dentists traveled into the countryside to provide extractions. Eventually, portable dental equipment allowed more volunteer dentists to provide the much needed care to children throughout Colima. Harry Johnson, a retired dentist and Rotarian, advocated for a greater emphasis on preventive dental health. When providing ongoing dental treatment through visiting volunteers was no longer possible, Project Amigo shifted its focus toward prevention.
That work continues today. Becarios and staff regularly visit schools to conduct tooth-brushing workshops, teaching children how to brush and floss while providing toothbrushes and toothpaste. On a future Service Week, volunteers may still find themselves taking part in this tradition helping children protect their health.
Literacy Through Books
Literacy became another important part of the organization’s work. During Work Weeks, volunteers visited orphanages and albergues to read to children. A visiting Rotarian once asked a simple question: why not leave the books behind so the children could write their names in them and keep them?
The idea took hold. Children began choosing books for their own libraries, and volunteers continued bringing books and reading with students. Many Service Weeks eventually began delivering mini libraries to rural schools where future Becarios attended elementary school. As these activities grew, so did the number of people coming to Colima.
A Growing Community
1986 was the first year visitors began arriving to spend time with Project Amigo. At first, they were Ted and Susan’s friends. Soon, friends of those friends began coming as well. The first formal delegation of Rotarians arrived in 1988. Rotarians from the Novato Rotary Club traveled to Colima to help with the Christmas Fiesta. The following year, Rotarians from Novato Rotary, Mission San Rafael Rotary, and the Ignacio Rotary Club joined the Christmas Fiesta effort. In those early years, visitors stayed in hotels in Colima and traveled by taxi. During one Christmas Fiesta, a volunteer suggested organizing formal Work Weeks, now known as Service Weeks.
1996: Becoming a U.S. Nonprofit and Expanding Services
Before Project Amigo became an independent nonprofit organization in the United States, it operated as a sponsored Rotary International program called Rotary Project Amigo. Its sponsoring club was the Novato Rotary Club.
The Novato Rotary Club played a central role in helping Project Amigo establish its own nonprofit status. Alan Dunham, then president of the club, agreed to sponsor Project Amigo as a Rotary International project and helped move the organization toward independent nonprofit status. On July 5, 1996, the Articles of Incorporation for Rotary Project Amigo were filed, establishing its official nonprofit status in the United States. Shortly afterward, Rotary International asked that the organization remove “Rotary” from its name due to trademark and copyright considerations. The name was amended to Project Amigo, marking the beginning of the organization’s independent identity in the United States.
The commitment of Novato Rotarians was evident from the beginning. Al Angulo had been part of the first formal trip in 1988. Serving on the original Project Amigo Board were Catherine Munson, Philip Dunnigan, Roger Smith, Marvin Scott, and Clark Palmer, with Catherine Munson serving as Board President. Following Clark Palmer’s passing, Joyce Palmer joined the founding Board of Directors.
The First Junior High and High School Scholarships
The year 1996 also marked another important turning point, as Project Amigo’s work expanded into a formal scholarship program. Sergio Benavides, Director of the Pueblo Juárez Albergue, asked Project Amigo to consider granting scholarships to seven students who were graduating from elementary school. His goal was to help those children continue into junior high school and bring the albergue’s sixth to seventh grade advancement rate to 100 percent. At the time, scholarships helped students with school fees, uniforms, and books. That first group of seven students marked the beginning of what would become Project Amigo’s comprehensive scholarship program. Today, over 250 Becarios receive scholarships, including over 50 attending the University of Colima or the Technológico de Colima.
Vision Care
Vision care also became an important initiative in 1996 that lasted for 17 years. Dr. Lassa Frank, a Rotarian with the Mission San Rafael Rotary Club, came to Colima with his wife, Lynn Kristal-Smith, and students from Marin Catholic High School to conduct a vision clinic. Retired Novato Rotarians Lloyd and Susan Witter assisted with transportation during that first year.
In 2002, Dr. Kurt Wilkening of the Bear Creek Valley Rotary Club took over leadership of the vision program. Over the years, the annual clinics served an average of 1,200 adults and children. The clinics were made possible through the collaboration of Lions Clubs and Rotary Clubs. The final vision clinic took place in 2013.
Today, when a Becario needs dental work or glasses, Project Amigo works with the family to address the need through existing partnerships with private eye and dental clinics. These needs are covered jointly by Project Amigo and the student’s parents.
1997 to 1998: New Challenges, New Programs, and a Home for Project Amigo
1997, Expanding to Quesería, Building a Classroom
The rural albergues were being closed by the State Secretary of Public Education (SEP). Project Amigo leadership was invited to visit the migrant labor camp in Quesería. The community needed help developing an education program for the several dozen elementary age children who needed a place to attend school.
Tita Arrellano taught the children under a tree. The first response was simple but important. A classroom was constructed from plastic tarp and corn stalks to provide shade for Tita and her students. Over the years, in collaboration with Rotary Clubs in the United States and Mexico, Project Amigo helped build classrooms, bathrooms, and other facilities needed to create a functioning school.
Today, Project Amigo continues to serve the children of Quesería through our computer lab, scholarships, and other educational programs. We proudly note that over time, many families have made the choice to stop migrating so their children can remain in school.
1998, Becoming a Mexico Nonprofit, Building a Project Amigo Home
Project Amigo MX, also known as Proyecto Amigo Colima, Asociación Civil, received its nonprofit status in Mexico. This registration allowed Project Amigo to hire staff in Mexico and receive tax-deductible donations from individuals and companies in the country.
La Hacienda
That same year, the organization began addressing another practical need: a permanent home for its offices and a place to house visiting volunteers. La Hacienda was purchased in 1998, and remodeling began immediately to prepare the property for both purposes.
Homework Clubs
At about the same time, Project Amigo was seeing another need among its growing number of Becarios. In 1998 and 1999, Homework Clubs were established in the four communities where Project Amigo had scholarship students. Long-term volunteers Allan Katz and his wife, Marylee Bytheriver, helped get the program started. They noticed that the students doing best in school were often the ones from Cofradía who came to use their computers at night. Those students needed a place to study, a computer, and someone who could help them with their homework. Allan and Marylee began visiting each community once a week.
Today, Homework Clubs are held at Project Amigo’s Education Centers in Cofradía, Suchitlán, Quesería, and Cerro de Ortega, as well as at Casa Amiga in Colima. In 2026, Project Amigo began a new partnership to serve children in Zacualpan.
1999 to 2000: Building a Place for Service and Student Success
1999, Work Weeks
Allan Katz and Marylee BytheRiver arrived in Cofradía as Project Amigo’s first long-term, year-round volunteers. They set a high standard for the volunteers who followed. They used their skills and talents to help strengthen the organization while also helping care for visiting volunteers. Marylee established Project Amigo’s formal database, an important step as the organization continued to grow.
Marylee and Allen were instrumental in staffing the first Service Week in 2000, the first week that housed visitors at La Hacienda. They were the first Inn Keepers, volunteers who served as hosts for visiting Work Week groups. Others who served in this role over the years included Tom Brown, Francy Rubin and their young son Troy, Sheila Anderson, Jack and Jan Grimes, Hal and Francie Kibby, Elly and Ramiro Contreras, and Coke and Cindy Newell. Today, a Project Amigo staff member serves as the year-round volunteer coordinator.
The completion of the La Hacienda renovation in 2000 marked a major turning point. Project Amigo officially launched its Work Weeks and welcomed the first group of 11 volunteers. For the first time, the Hacienda provided both staff offices and housing for visiting volunteers. Work Weeks quickly became an important part of Project Amigo’s growth.
The Amigo Bus Takes to the Road
Tom Brown, our longtime donor, volunteer, and current board member, helped secure the donation of our first Amigo Bus in 1999! It expanded our ability to connect volunteers, visitors, and children with the communities we serve. The use of an Amigo Bus came to a close in 2024. Today, it is more cost-effective to rent a bus when we’re moving large groups of Becarios and volunteers. Project Amigo continues to maintain its own vehicles for the organization’s day-to-day transportation needs for staff and volunteer essential activities throughout the communities we serve.
2000, Casa Amiga
Casa Amiga began as a way to help high school Becarios attend school in Colima. The first Casa Amiga was a rented home that housed five or six high school girls. The house was damaged in the 2003 earthquake, so Project Amigo rented a second home for the next five years. That house accommodated as many as 12 high school and university girls. A neighboring house was rented for four male university students, with all of the students eating meals together at the girls’ house.
In 2008, Project Amigo purchased the current Casa Amiga. Catherine Munson provided the lead gift, and many others followed her example. Among the early residents were Mireya Rincon, Cony Fonseca, Evangelina Suarez, Sandra Artemisa Guiza, Sandra Mariano, and Noe Hernández. Casa Amiga became an important part of Project Amigo’s commitment to making higher education possible for students who otherwise might not have been able to leave their rural communities to attend school.
2001 to 2009: New Partnerships and Projects
Project Amigo’s relationship with Rotary also continued to grow through international grants that brought together Rotary Clubs in Mexico, the United States, Canada, and other communities around the world.
2001, Providing Housing to Families
Past District Governor Bill Mickelberry of the Rotary Club of Albany, Oregon, led an effort to address housing needs in the city of Colima. Through the collaboration of numerous Rotary Clubs, including the Colima Rotary Club, 64 small houses were built and donated to low-income families. The municipality of Colima donated the land for 50 homes, while 14 homes were constructed on land donated by the municipality of Comala.
2002, Ciber and First University Sponsorships
The first Ciber, a computer lab, opened in Cofradía. That was also the first year Project Amigo awarded university-level scholarships to graduating high school students.
2005, Clean Water Project
A clean water project was implemented to give children access to safe drinking water and reduce missed school days caused by intestinal problems from the consumption of contaminated water. Three elementary schools in Cofradía, La Nogalera, and Suchitlán, benefited from a collaboration between the Sequim and Colima Rotary Clubs.
Project Amigo’s final major involvement in bringing potable water to schools resulted in nearly 40 water purification systems being installed throughout the region. Project Amigo is proud to have played an instrumental role in bringing together US, Canadian, and Mexican Rotary clubs to address this critical need.
GROW, a Lasting Partnership
GROW by Organics Unlimited partnered with the International Community to identify a local organization in Colima that understood the needs of the communities where its organic bananas were grown and could help the company do more for local families.
GROW, Giving Resources and Opportunities to Workers, began working with Project Amigo in 2005 to improve the lives of children and families through the GROW Education Center in Cerro de Ortega and providing scholarships to students in Cerro de Ortega. The partnership became an enduring example of how Project Amigo could bring together businesses, communities, volunteers, and donors around the common goal of expanding educational opportunity.
2009, Project Amigo Grows Beyond the United States
Project Amigo’s network continued to expand. In 2009, Canadian Amigos formed the Canada Society to grow the reach and impact of our mission.
By this point, the organization had grown far beyond the chance encounter that brought Susan and Ted to Cofradía in 1984. What began with a small group of children and a Christmas Fiesta had become a network of students, families, volunteers, Rotarians, donors, community partners, and staff working together across borders.
2013 to 2026: A New Generation of Leadership
In 2013, Project Amigo’s founders, Susan Hill and Ted Rose, retired from leading the organization’s efforts to help children in Colima obtain an education. They turned their energy toward helping children in Guatemala.
Project Amigo remains deeply grateful that, in 1984, Ted and Susan happened to find themselves in the Cofradía jardín and that their hearts were moved by the children and their families to help them improve their lives. The ripple effects of your commitment will continue for decades to come. Thank you!
Ted and Susan still call Cofradía home and remain staunch supporters of Project Amigo. Next time you’re in Cofradia for a Service Week, you just might run into them on their way to the tiangues or one of the local restaurants.
Following the founders, leadership transitioned to Coke and Cindy Newell. In 2015, Jenna and Alejandro Saldaña took over the helm.
After their departure, the Board of Directors moved to a new leadership structure and sought to hire an executive director and a fundraising staff member. In 2017, Kirk Dretzka became Executive Director and dedicated 8 years of leadership to Project Amigo.
2026 is Project Amigo’s 30th anniversary and it also is the beginning of the next chapter under the leadership of Amparo Lechuga, who, above all, leads with a servant heart. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Amparo served as Volunteer Services Director beginning in June 2024. She joined Project Amigo because of its powerful mission, its commitment to helping marginalized children obtain an education, and its strong track record of helping first generation students graduate from high school and continue on to university. It is a historic moment to have a Mexican-born and raised leader guiding the organization and helping Project Amigo grow and thrive.
There are many ways to support Project Amigo and help us continue transforming lives through education. Join the Circle of Giving to provide unrestricted support for our greatest needs, sponsor a student and follow their educational journey, or join us for a Service Week and experience the work firsthand. Whether through giving, sponsorship, volunteering, or sharing the mission with others, your involvement helps make this work possible.
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