LATA Foundation

The LATA Foundation was set up by the Latin America Travel Association (LATA) to support  charitable projects throughout the region. Our work is now helping thousands of people in Mexico, Central and South America. Please see our projects pages for further information.

Current Appeals:

Reforestation in Peru - part of a campaign to plant a million trees by 2020

Gregorio Ferro, vice president of ECOAN (Asociacion Ecosistemas Andinos) has confirmed that they are planting 8,000 trees funded by the LATA Foundation today, 19 January 2012. We are grateful to the Adventure Company for their contribution to this project.  

ECOAN planted 70,000 trees in December and have already planted 4,000 this month.

The total number of trees planted by the end of January 2012 is expected to be over 200,000, of which the LATA Foundation has contributed 28,500. The project is on track to plant a million trees by 2020.                                                                                                 

For further information please see our Reforestation pages.

Water Project in Nicaragua - help us donate 3 miles of pipes  

The LATA Foundation is arranging to supply 1 mile of pipes for a water project in La Prusia near Granada, Nicaragua. We have already delivered and installed a water pump to kick start the project but this will take it to the next stage which requires 3 miles of pipes and a second water pump. 

Two hundred donations of £10 will provide a mile of pipe for this project - please help us if you can.    There is further information on our Water Project Nicaragua pages and you can see a sample certificate here: Water Project - sample certificate               

 

Natural Cosmetics in Guatemala - appeal for equipment and support  

Guatemala NGO As Green as it Gets have asked for $3500 (£2150) for additional support for product development and further equipment. A steam distiller will enable them to produce essential oils from flower petals to give the cosmetics their scent and with a combination hot and cold press they can extract carrier oils from macadamia nuts, castor beans and coconuts. Our trustees are sending $1200 (£750) immediately and are inviting additional contributions to support the project.

Claire Betts from our projects team visited Guatemala in September. You can read Claire’s report about Maria Benita's lip balm in the Natural Cosmetics in Guatemala pages of our website.

If you can give these projects your support we would be very grateful.

A word of thanks:

We are grateful to Americas, which provides travel services throughout Latin America, for kindly making a donation in lieu of sending Christmas cards ths year.  Lillian Mathieson, spokeswoman for Americas, explains: "Since we are not sending or creating a Christmas card this year, we feel the money would be better spent by the Foundation."

Saspo has generously donated £300 instead of sending Christmas cards this year. They have asked us to divide the funds between our projects supporting children in Colombia and in Bolivia and towards water fountains in Mexico "We are delighted to support LATA Foundation projects," says Diana Marshall, MD of Saspo. "We know how important these projects are."    

Diana's company was amongst the founder members of LATA and she headed the organisation in the early 1990s. Diana has recently stepped down after two years as head of fundraising for the LATA Foundation and has been instrumental in our development. We are immensely grateful.

Newsletter:

Our December/January newsletter is now available in English here. It is also available in Spanish: Noticias Dic 2011/Ene 2012. We are grateful to Clara Rivas for her help in translating the document.

Contributions:

None of our work would be possible without the financial assistance of our sponsors and individual donors. We are enormously grateful to them for their support.

If you would like to make a contribution or a monthly donation towards our projects it is easy to do so via the link on our website or through www.justgiving.com/lata. Please remember that if you are a UK taxpayer we will be able to claim an additional 20% via Gift Aid.  If you would like your funds to be earmarked for a specific project please let us know when prompted. Otherwise please send an e-mail to info@latafoundation.org.

We wish all our supporters and readers a very Happy New Year.

Registered Charity Number 1123580

Inauguration of Sewing School, Mexico, April 2011                                                           Photo: Philippa Vernon-Powell, New Life Mexico

Latest news

University News

20 January 2012: Leicester University - The Latin America Society are holding a "Break That Piñata!" fundraising event on 2nd Feb in aid of the... More >>

Reforestation in Peru

19 January 2012: The LATA Foundation is planting 8,000 trees today in the Cancha Cancha region of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. More >>

Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon

05 January 2012: Film-maker Louise Martindale will be running the Tunbridge Wells half marathon on 26 February to raise funds for the LATA Foundation. More >>