Four students from Lovejoy ISD in Fairview, Texas arrived in June with bags of school supplies for Delicias, Garza and Santa Marta Schools.

These Texas students ranging in age from 9 to 18 volunteered at Delicias school for a couple of weeks in June. They taught English and math plus provided games and crafts for the 30 kids in grades K-6. In addition, in the afternoons they attended Nosara Spanish Institute to polish their Spanish skills.

Dina Gundelfinger led this small group which consisted of her two daughters, Hannah (12) and Emma (9) plus Annie Tadvick (18) and Jared Monroe (16). Dina and her family lived in Costa Rica for a year 2009-2010.

Since living in Nosara, the Gundelfinger family has continued to work for the past 3 years raising funds and school supplies for the Nosara area schools. They’ve involved their school district in Texas and adopted Nosara area schools as their sister schools.

Annie Tadvick took a leadership role at her high school this past year raising thousand of dollars for the local schools. She was in Nosara with her peers this past January with 40 bags of school supplies and helping at Escuelita, the local kids’ summer camp. Her humanitarian efforts earned her some extra college scholarship money. Annie will be attending Texas A&M this fall and plans to work with the university to continue her fundraising efforts for Nosara area schools.

With the help of local Delicias families Matarrita/Matamoros/Gutierrez and Sarah Antonson of Surfing Nosara Foundation, this volunteer opportunity came together. The Texas kids were able to experience living in a Costa Rican village with host families. It is hard to say who benefitted most from this since these Texas kids have learned a great deal in the process and have a huge love and respect for the culture and people of Costa Rica.