Why We Give: Air Plant Shop & Pencils of Promise

Air Plant Shop was built around a small, remarkable plant: tillandsias, known in Guatemala as "gallitos," the little air plants that grow on trees and need no soil at all, just what they can take from the air and rain. From the beginning, that's given us a real connection to Guatemala, and it felt right that a piece of every purchase go back to the communities that make our business possible. Since 2016, we've worked with Pencils of Promise to help support education and build schools in communities throughout Guatemala. What started ten years ago as "let's give back a little" has grown into one of the most meaningful parts of what we do. We've seen firsthand just how far that support goes for the children and families in these communities.

This question is personal for us. The new classroom we're helping build in Santa Elena Chichop is dedicated to my aunt, Valerie, whose love of music, singing, and teaching inspired generations of students. The dedication reads, in part, that this classroom would be "a safe haven where every child finds joy in learning, creativity, and music."

That's what education means to us. Not just a curriculum, but a safe, accepting space where kids have the freedom to express themselves and learn in whatever way is truly their own. A school is so much more than a building. It's where kids make friends, discover what they're good at, and start building a future with more options in front of them.

Our relationship with PoP isn't just a line item. It's something we actively live out. Over these ten years we've had the privilege of supporting four school projects across Guatemala, and this past August we got to see even more of that work up close. In Chosavic, we learned about PoP's WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) and Teacher Support programs, a reminder that a good education needs more than a classroom; it needs a healthy, safe environment and teachers who have real support and tools behind them.

In La Estancia Pachillip, instead of just observing, we got to put our own hands to work, planting flowers and bushes and helping build the new school alongside the community. We also helped paint a mural with the kids' handprints, and it turned into one of our favorite moments of the whole trip: some kids kept coming back again and again, asking for their hands painted in a new color each time, while others hung back shyly before finally joining in. Watching them warm up, one handprint at a time, is something we still smile about!

We also returned to Santa Elena Chichop, back in Quiché, where Valerie's classroom will soon give dozens of students more room to learn, a project our customers made possible, one small purchase at a time.

If we could tell one person why they should support PoP, it's this: PoP runs a humble, efficient organization. There's no financial waste, and everything they do, in a community, and across Guatemala, is transparent. That kind of trust matters to us.

But honestly, what keeps us coming back isn't a spreadsheet. It's the kids. Going out to the communities and seeing their faces lights something up in us every time. Knowing that even modest support genuinely changes lives is what inspires us to keep going.

We're grateful for the chance to be part of PoP's work, and even more grateful for everyone who shops with us and makes it possible! 💛