Springville High SchoolSpringville High School students are ringing in the holiday spirit with style

and it’s making a difference for kids in Guatemala. Yuda Bands, handcrafted bracelets from Guatemala, are selling like hot cakes at the school, but there’s much more to this stylish bracelet than meets the eye.

Sponsored by the Red Devil Pride Club, the Yuda Band project is helping to educate several kids in Guatemala giving them a chance for a better future. The name Yuda Band is derived from AYUDA, the Spanish word for help.

Alyssa Whiting, who took the project idea to the Red Devil Pride Club, is excited about the response, but not surprised. “The Yuda Bands themselves are really cool, enough that they would sell on their own, but the fact that you can help sponsor a kid in Guatemala makes it even better. I knew the minute I saw them that it would go over well.”

Money from the sale of Yuda Bands goes to sponsor students at Legacy School in San Martin Jilotepeque, Guatemala, a city more than an hour outside of Guatemala City. This city of 80,000 people has about 8,000 youth between the ages of 15 and 19, but only 500 of them, 1 in 16, are currently attending school.

San Martin has no public high schools and therefore only the upper class who can afford a private school have the opportunity to get an education.

For the average family, putting food on the table is a daily concern making the $300 per year tuition out of reach. Yuda Band profits sponsor youth that are the top students at the elementary school level, but without financial support would never be able to move beyond a 6th grade education.

McKensie Schaefer, president of the Red Devil Pride Club, said the project has made her think a little bit about her own education. “I’ve never really considered the fact that it’s possible that I wouldn’t have started school when I was five years old, you know.” Schaefer said, “I didn’t really do anything to deserve it, I was just born here.”

Yuda Bands cost $6 each, which according to Lindsay Bailey, one of the first to purchase a Yuda Band, “is not a lot to spend to help a kid go to school.”

“If we can all just do it,” Bailey said, “it will make a big difference.”

With over 250 Yuda Bands sold and counting, Springville High School students certainly are making a difference.

Those who have purchased or been given a Yuda Band can visit www.guatemalakids.com to see which student they are helping to sponsor and learn a little about their life, challenges, hopes and dreams.

Information about Yuda Bands, Legacy School, and other opportunities to help children in Guatemala is available on the site.

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