Nonprofit Organization

June 19, 2012

I've been wanting to announce this for quite some time now, but the process to become a nonprofit organization will begin this week.  Beyond the Wall becoming a nonprofit means that the United States will legally recognize me as a charity.  I will be able to receive financial help from everyone willing to donate, I'll receive more support for larger projects, etc.  As a nonprofit, I will be able to achieve much more than anyone can imagine!  

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

Plans for the second half of 2012

June 15, 2012

Now that everyone is updated with Beyond the Wall, I am going to announce what the plans are for the year.

Since I began my campaign when I was 17 years old, I've learned two very important lessons: to not plan too much and to go one step at a time.  I have such a big passion for Colombia, that I always want to do everything all at once, but now that I am older (21) and have experience working on this, I'm definitely going to plan, but doing things step by step.  I've learned to be a bit more patient, even though I'm still working on it.  With that in mind, the following will be done in 2012:

• The donations have been recovered.  As mentioned in the previous post, even if I didn't recover the "stolen" donations, I still would've had enough for just one distribution in El Talon.  Now that I have double the amount of donations, I'm guaranteeing many more distributions in the coming years...even though I'll never stop receiving donations.
• Storage is very important; now that I don't have to worry so much about donations filling up in my home, I feel much more relieved and it's good to know that everything is organized.
• The donations will be sent to Colombia by ship sometime between August and September.
• The next most important step, without a doubt, is to become a nonprofit organization.  I will not do anything else until Beyond the Wall is recognized as a nonprofit because it opens many doors for the campaign..this is true expansion!
• After the nonprofit process is complete, I'd like to plan on getting a group of students in Colombia together to offer classes on sexual education in El Talon.  Education to me is very important, and this quote expresses it all: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life." -Chinese proverb
• Health is also important, so I'd like to have another medical mission completed in December.

I wanted to have a distribution in July, but due to the whole issue with the donations being "stolen," it was cancelled and I cannot change them back now due to funding.  Like last year, I also wanted to have a park built in El Talon, but unfortunately, I am hearing rumors about the possibility of El Talon being relocated in the future, so I'm not sure if that is the best idea.  The Beyond the Wall event this year will take place during the first week of December, unlike the last two years (December 23rd).  

I will be updating everyone with this great campaign!  Thanks to everyone for the support!

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

First half of 2012

June 15th, 2012


I think that the first half of 2012 has been the most stressful but most rewarding ever since 2009, when I first started to work on Beyond the Wall.  While I was in Colombia working on the 2011 Christmas distribution, my Father had to take all of the donations to a storage unit in east Orlando.  The storage unit was to be paid by me every month, which I did.  The donations that were stored in the unit were the ones that would be used for future distributions.  In March 2012, all of the donations suddenly "disappeared" and were considered stolen.  I asked for footage of recent activity, but the storage company employees informed me that the cameras had been "disabled."  After filing a police report, nobody gave me hopes on recovering the donations.  I was very disappointed with everything, but I realized that I couldn't let this be a reason for me to not continue helping El Talon.

I decided to recover the donations as fast as possible; I began to inform everyone through Facebook and Twitter about the problems that I was going through, and to my surprise, everyone began to help.  I received support from people that I didn't even know, and it went great!  I drove all around central Florida picking up donations from awesome people that simply want to make a difference in El Talon.  I flew to Los Angeles to pick up donations, my family went to Chicago to get some more donations, and all in all, just through Facebook/Twitter, one interview on La Grande 1030 AM with Fernando Negron and El Guajiro, and one video of support from Miss Colombia 2010, I managed to collect and pack all of the donations...in two months!

On June 7th, 2012, I was informed that all of the "stolen" donations appeared!  When I found out, I couldn't believe it and I was excited, but at the same time, I was very puzzled.  According to the storage manager, the donations were "transferred" to another unit and I was shown the empty one back in March; however, they wanted me to pay four months worth of rent!  In the long run, we made a deal and I only paid for one month worth of storage rent, and I was allowed to take the donations.  I know very well that there is more behind this whole situation and that I can perfectly file a lawsuit, but I am not interested in fighting against that storage company; the important thing is that the donations have been recovered.  I then had the difficult task of transferring the recovered donations into a new storage unit with my family, which was difficult because of the heat.  

Throughout this whole mess with the storage company, I've come to the conclusion that things must happen for a reason.  I've learned that I have to "go with the flow" when it comes to my campaign and that I shouldn't stress out as much as I did when the donations were "stolen."  I feel very happy to know that I can count on the community for support and on my family for anything.  I now look at this experience like this:  the donations were taken from me, I worked very hard to recover them, the "stolen donations" appeared, and I now have double the amount of donations for El Talon.  Again, things happen for a reason.  Thank you very much to everyone who supported me when I really needed it!

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

Summary of Fall 2011

June 15th, 2012

After almost eight months of not posting any information on this blog, I have decided to come back to inform everyone that doesn't follow me on Facebook or Twitter about the campaign.  With work, going to school, and working so much on this great and prosperous campaign, my time is very limited; however, I think that it is important to keep everyone up to date with Beyond the Wall.

The last few posts of 2011 consist of working to build a park in El Talon, as well as having a distribution and medical mission- all in December 2011.  Even though the goal seemed very difficult to reach, in reality, it wasn't something difficult to do.  I flew to Colombia in mid-October 2011 to speak to the Mayor of the Municipality of Turbaco (where El Talon is located), Miguel Arnedo, and he promised to donate many acres of land in order to build a children's park in El Talon.  Beyond the Wall was responsible for paying for the actual construction of the park, but I was very happy about the Mayor's "donation."  When I came back to Orlando, we had car washes to raise funds for the park and ColSA-UCF organized a party and soccer tournament for us in order to pay for all of our costs.  In November 2011, the Mayor and the head of planning disappeared and never returned our phone calls, e-mails, letters, and my family went to their office many times and they only found themselves with lies from their secretaries.  The idea to build a park was scratched because without any permits, nothing can be done.  At that point, I was disappointed, but I had to complete my goals and mission in El Talon.

In December 2011, all of the donations were sent to Colombia, and Adriane Norman, Juan Esteban Cajigas, and I arrived to prepare for the project with the help of my family.  On December 22nd, 2011, I still had seven missing boxes, which made me panic.  I found out that the missing boxes were in Barranquilla, so I immediately had to go and pick them up.  After a day trying to go back to Cartagena/Turbaco with seven large boxes, I got back and began packing with my family.  A census was completed a few days before, so all we had to do was pack and have everything organized for the residents of El Talon.  Natalia Navarro Galvis (Miss Colombia 2010), the Colombian National Police in Turbaco, Samuel Alvarez from El Unviersal, coasts guards, and doctors from the Naval Hospital in Cartagena were among the guests invited to participate in the December 23rd, 2011 distribution/medical mission event in El Talon.  Luckily, everything went very well and I'm happy to announce that it was a successful event.  I'd really like to thank everyone that supported us with the campaign.

All in all, my view on politicians hasn't changed; I'm not surprised that the Mayor ran off that way, but it doesn't matter because I know that one day, El Talon will prosper with or without the help of politicians.

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).