Jim Wesorick had been retired since 1996 for all practical purposes and was in need of a Winter project while Nancy Wesorick was working as the Assistant Principal of the Frederick Middle School in Frederick Colorado. Currently Nancy is the Principal of Longs Peak Middle School in Longmont, Colorado. While searching for a volunteer project that would use his talents and abilities he “discovered” Estacion Biologico Jatun Sacha, Tena, Napo, Ecuador Jatun Sacha Biological Foundation .

Volunteer organizations and the Jatun Sacha website described the Estacion Biologico as the site that he was searching for. Jim immediately sent for an information pack and soon after that became a volunteer in the rain forest. In order to be a volunteer at the station it was necessary to get a police report as to his character and a doctors; report of his health. Passport and money were already in his possession. He had to send a few emails and make an equal amount of phone calls to complete all the necessary steps. This was his first overseas volunteer project. He was to be gone for a month and desert Nancy who would still be with her 600 kids at school.

On February 17, 2004 Jim was on Continental Airlines flight #1209 headed for Quito, Ecuador. The plane arrived near 9:00 PM but he had to wait for another person coming from Canada. The Canadian volunteer was re routed due to the fog at the Quito airport. He taxied to The Posada del Maple for a needed rest. The next stop was at the Fundacion Jatun Sacha headquarters for paying fees and completing volunteer paperwork. The following day was used to travel to Tena, Ecuador and then transfer to another bus at another terminal for local travel to Estacion Biologico Jatun Sacha.

There, Jim joined another dozen or so volunteers at the site for introductions and assignment of duties for the next week. The typical work day was about 6-7 hours, some of which was walking to and from between areas. After about 2 weeks of working on miscellaneous projects such as seed collection, seed planting, organic gardening, and shed construction, Jim had the opportunity to visit a school with another volunteer who was teaching English there. Escuela Manuel Jesus de Calle is about a 45 minute bus ride west of the Bio Station. The visit was very touching because of everyone's friendliness, and because of their obvious and desperate need for supplies. In the USA individuals generally have more supplies in their homes than the typical rainforest teacher and students have combined. This problem exists because of the limited funds for supplies in these remote areas. Jim saw the needs and felt that he could help supply them. Plans began to form immediately.

Jim felt their needs so much that while on his return to Quito and before his departure flight back to the, he bought some supplies and a soccer (fotbol) ball for the school, so they would know he was going to help them as he promised. He delivered these items to the Jatun Sacha office and they were carried to the school by the next group of volunteers with the Estacion Biologico.

Now he has contact with 9 schools that he has visited and 4 others that he has helped by way of third or fourth parties who have carried materials from to the schools by bus. Usually, he can find out what is needed most and these items are purchased on the next trip to Ecuador. As of February 2007 Jim has traveled to Ecuador 7 times in 4 years.

Currently, there is a school West of Volcan Tungurahua that he has heard nothing from since the volcano erupted in July of 2006. Communication is slow due to limited facilities and common power failures. Mail from the US takes 10 days to 2 weeks to get to Ecuador and then an unknown time to get to the individual or school. Some areas have no mail service at all.

Jim tries to visit each school at least once a year. More and longer visits would be better, but that luxury will happen in the future (starting in 2007) when Nancy is retired and she and Jim can stay in Ecuador for a year or more.

Nancy and Jim want to live-in the rainforest for a minimum of one year to get to know all of the staff members of each school and as many of the students as possible. He feels this will enable him to learn the exact needs of the students and how to best apply the resources and skills of Friends of Ecuador Schools.

At this time, FES knows that two schools want to add a room or two to their existing facility, but we cannot fund these projects yet. There are several schools down stream on the Napo River that are ready to have our visits and donations. With the further development of Friends of Ecuador Schools we hope to keep expanding our charitable giving to the remote area schools in Ecuador. Currently, FES plans to work with schools in the remote areas of Ecuador(the rainforest and high altitude schools) there are no plans to work with schools that exist in the larger cities.

Our expansion plans are to help all the schools that we have worked with and then assist others as fast as our charitable funding grows.

On occasion the schools will have entertainment consisting of dancing and singing as a thank you for the materials received. Other times the teachers will have a special meal that is shared with the volunteers as an additional thank you. We have asked them to refrain from giving gifts because of the cost and the need to bring them back to the USA. For our reward, our statement to the administrators is, "We will be extremely happy to find that all the materials are used up and all the books are read or worn out."