Mr. Steve Dudenhoefer

Steve Dudenhoefer went to Guatemala in 1990 to find out why many of his employees – indigenous Mayans from Guatemala – worked in South Florida for decades and sent every penny they earned back home. He met people who lived on $1 a day, children without schools, mothers without vital medicine for their babies. Deeply affected by this experience, he returned home to sell his businesses and start Asociación Ak’ Tenamit, along with local village leaders on the Rio Dulce. Today, its Board of Directors is made up of 100% Q’eqhi’ Maya, the local indigenous people.