Aprender y Crecer provides school supplies and books to approximately 150,000 students at 283 public schools in seven Latin American countries where PriceSmart operates. The main source of funding for this program is the Juntos Por La Educación (Together For Education) fundraising campaign that takes places in PriceSmart clubs each year.
The 2024 Juntos Por La Educación fundraising campaign, which collected nearly $2.6 million in donations from PriceSmart members plus another $905,000 in matching funds from Price Philanthropies, will allow more students to receive the important benefits of the Aprender y Crecer program in 2025.
PriceSmart’s cashiers continue to be the secret behind the campaign’s success. “My main motivation are the students, and knowing that I can help them when I ask Members to donate,” remarked Verónica López, a cashier in El Salvador. With that simple but powerful motivation and a lot of personal commitment, Verónica has been the cashier that has collected the highest amount of donations in El Salvador for the last seven consecutive years, and has collected the highest amount of donations company-wide for the last two years.
While providing school supplies for students continues to be a primary benefit of Aprender y Crecer, the program also provides schools with basic cleaning supplies and paper products, to foster a clean and dignified school environment. Also, the more than 7,300 teachers at schools that participate in the program also receive a package of materials to support their work in the classroom.
Sandra Mejía, a teacher at Institución Educativa La Piedad in Medellín, Colombia notes the difference working in the classroom before Aprender y Crecer, and after. “Before Aprender y Crecer we worked with very little material or resources. There were kids that had more than others. Now as a teacher it is much easier to work, I can say ‘take out your notebook,’ and everyone has their notebook, ‘take out your pencil,’ and everyone has a pencil.”
Since its inception in 2006, Aprender y Crecer has donated more than 1.5 million school supply packages and nearly 3.1 million books to students, along with 319,000 books to school libraries. The Juntos Por La Educación campaign funds 100% of these donations.
Rosa Serrano, the cashier who collected the highest amount of donations in Panama, commented on her very personal reason that motivates her during the fundraising campaign:
“My daughter had only one year at a school supported by Aprender y Crecer. I could see how much more she learned there compared to her other school that didn’t have the program. Now she knows how to analyze a book, how to identify the important elements of the story. She loves to read.”
The Juntos Por La Educación fundraising campaign will return to PriceSmart clubs in Latin America and PriceSmart.com in October 2025.
