Project Erase spoke to ASWSU at their meeting Wednesday to share their mission and provide a platform for the initiative. The project supports children in Guatemala by sending them school supplies, and it wants to spread the message of the importance of educational tools.
President and founder Luis Morales-Carrera and workshop coordinator Sara Regalado-Lopez gave the presentation.
“We believe that together we can erase educational disparity, one eraser at a time,” Morales-Carrera said.
The initiative is community led and was recently founded at WSU. Project Erase has a team of WSU students from all different grades, majors and backgrounds, who work together to help fulfil the mission of the project.
“As undergraduate students, we need to acknowledge that we have the privilege of attending a four-year university that has some of the resources that other communities do not have,” Regalado-Lopez said.
Morales-Carrera, who was born in Guatemala and moved to the USA when he was 8 years old, founded the project out of his passion for educational equity.
“I’m very passionate about higher education, not just for myself, but for every part of the community that I belong to. I wanted to create Project Erase because I wanted to find a way to give back to those communities in Guatemala who weren’t as fortunate as I (was) to come to America,” he said.
Project Erase has raised $3,000 in funds so far, which has benefited 65 students in Guatemala as they sent more than 20,000 school supplies.
“Going into the fall we really want to continue building a community of passionate leaders that can help support our project and join the team,” Regalado-Lopez said.
Morales-Carrera said he believes community service is an essential part of any community, not just WSU, and urges students to become a part of Project Erase.
“There’s three ways that students can be involved: following us on Instagram, signing up as a volunteer or joining our account on digitals,” he said.
Project Erase will have their two-year anniversary in June and they are currently searching for a volunteer coordinator. To get in touch with the team, visit their Instagram or email them at theprojecterase@gmail.com.
