Caras Alegres is a non-profit organization serving children and families in Las Rosas, a neighborhood in the city of Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala. Caras Alegres is committed to strengthening the community of Las Rosas by offering afterschool programming and other resources promoting the well-being of at-risk children and their families.

For elementary aged children, we offer a free after school program that provides a safe and supportive space where kids can be kids and have fun and develop healthy relationships away from negative influences. This program serves children between 6 and 14 years, and usually we have  between 50 and 70 children every day. We do activities such as handicrafts, field sports, movies, dance and cooperative games. The aim of the activities is to stimulate creativity and we focus on emotional inteligency. The program runs from 2pm to 4.30pm, Monday till Thursday

Also, from the beginning of 2018 Caras Alegres opened up a Community Lunch Room where about 55 children between the ages of 5-14 come to eat a nutritious lunch 4 times a week. This project was developed to address the extensive problems of malnutrition among the children that participate in Caras Alegres’ other activities. A tipical lunch could be rice with chicken and vegetables accompanied by a fresh fruit drink. 

Other projects that Caras Alegres runs are backpack project, foodbox project and a scholarship project for secondary school students.