2009 smiles to more Colombian children

Formula Smiles began this year with the fortune of benefiting more Colombian children.

Since last December 15th, Formula Smiles together with the provincial government of San Andrés, Chevron, Sopesa and EEDAS, inaugurated an athletic project in the island of San Andrés. The First Lady of the provincial government, Mrs. María Auxiliadora Zakzuk; Dr. David Bantz, President of Chevron Colombia; Dr. Miguel Rodriguez and Ronald Housni from Sopesa; Rafael Palacios from EEDAS; the Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya; his wife Connie Freydell, President of Formula Smiles; and the community of Sun Bay neighborhood attended the inaugural act. During the activity there were traditional and athletic shows and the participating children had the opportunity to meet and interact with the Nascar driver in a basketball game, which gave a beginning to the fourth project of the Foundation in the country.
This project is developed in the Sun Bay neighborhood under the program Education + Sports = The Best Formula, with the goal of addressing the social problems to which this community is vulnerable, such as illegal drug trafficking and scholastic desertion due to the lack of opportunities, in an educational, athletic, and divertive way.
The fourth project of the Formula Smiles Foundation was able to be carried out due to an initial investment by the Foundation of 20 million pesos, which were collected with the inscriptions of the participants of the IV charitable golf tournament; 80 million pesos donated by Chevron; the donation of the land by the provincial government; and the suitability of the Sports Center made possible by Sopesa and Chevron.
Formula Smiles thanks all the enterprises, governmental organizations, strategic affiliates and donors committed to our cause, for making the projects in Cartagena, Villavicencio, Ibagué and San Andrés able to continue showing good results; this year there already are 5,730 children and young people searching for a more promising future away from war, vandalism, and drug addiction.