Our Story
Who We Support
Pulseras
School Sales
Photo/Video
Student Trips
The Pulsera Team
COLIN
PATTERSON CRANE
Co-Founder
CHRIS HOWELL
Juan Carlos Mayorga Garcia
Pulsera Co-op Leader
After volunteering for three years, Colin was hired by the project in June of 2011 to handle the project's expansion into more than 170 schools. When Colin is not working with student groups, he represents the project at many fairs and festivals, and gives talks to community service groups like Rotary and Optimist clubs about the project's work in Nicaragua.His degree in Media Communications from American University benefits the project in countless ways. He designed, built, and maintains the project's website and facebook pages. He is also the project's numero uno photographer, and he co-produces many of the project's videos with Chris Howell.
A recent graduate of the The College of Charleston with a major in Latin American Studies, Chris was hired by the project to manage projects in Nicaragua and to create educational films and documentaries for the project as part of the Pulsera project's mission to educate US students. Chris was formerly part of the project's unpaid staff for three years. When not overseeing projects in Nicaragua, Chris works with Colin in speaking to community groups and in supporting student volunteers in more than 170 schools. He also plays a key role in developing the project's educational mission.
Juan Carlos entered the Los Quinchos shelter when he was three years old and lived there for 15 years. He now attends Ave Maria University in San Marcos with scholarship funding from the Pulsera Project. He also leads the project's pulsera makers' cooperative of twenty ex-Los Quinchos youths. Known for his great passion - especially his passion for living a simple life with integrity - he is an inspiration and outstanding role model for countless young Nicaraguans. To see him address the twenty co-op members is to see true leadership in action !!
Pulsera Crew
SUE PATTERSON
CHRIS CRANE
Sue Patterson
Enmanuel Urbina
Nica Projects Leader
Chris Crane
While he's not working as a contractor, Chris is part of the project's unpaid staff. He handles a lot of e-mails and administrative details and usually spends about two months each year in Nicaragua overseeing project donations and pulsera purchases with his wife, Sue Patterson. Chris works side by side with shelter staff members and members of the project's fair-trade cooperative to ensure that project funding is well targeted. Chris helps develop educational philosophies that direct the project and he devotes a lot of time to reading about international aid and development.
Sue is a software support team leader by day and the Pulsera Project's numero uno number cruncher by night. Part of the project's unpaid staff, Sue keeps track of school sales and Nica projects and mountains of receipts. She and her husband Chris travel to Nica at least four times a year. When Sue is not visiting the project's many small community development projects in Nicaragua or meeting with young co-op members, she and Chris are scouting the Nica outback looking for new student trip adventures.
Enmanuel, also known as "Pica", lived and worked in the Los Quinchos shelter for many years. Most recently he worked with children in "La Chureca", the Managua municipal landfill, home to 1500 people. Hired by the Pulsera Project in July of 2011, Pica oversees many small community projects developed by members of the Pulsera Project's artisan co-op. Pica ensures that all funding is effectively spent to further the project's mission of empowering young Nicaraguans to achieve their goals.
Jimmy Gaitan
Pulsera King
Joan Dukovic and Chris
Joan and Chris
Joan and Chris are a mother and son team who you can often find selling pulseras at festivals and events. Chris, a high school senior with classic autism, played a major part in one of the very first school sales. Since then, Joan, a kindergarten teacher and Spanish-speaker, and Chris have served as enthusiastic and compassionate players in four student trips. Chris is an example of how the Pulsera Project affords opportunities for everyone to make a difference in the world, one pulsera at a time.
In the summer of 2010, Jimmy was crowned the "Pulsera King" at the Pulsera Project's first ever pulsera competition. Known for his innovative styles and sometimes mind-boggling pulsera designs, Jimmy is now leading the development of the online Pulsera store as a full-time employee of the Pulsera Project in Nicaragua.
