Jesus Pacheco Gives Baseball and Smiles to the Underprivileged Children of Venezuela
Regalando Sonrisas: PE student gives the gift of smiles, baseball to disadvantaged children in Venezuela
During the summer 2009 semester, Jesus Pacheco, Petroleum Engineering Master Student and Dr. Luis Gomez, TU Visiting Assistant Professor, carried out the 1st International Baseball Camp in Venezuela of Fundación Regalando Sonrisas (Giving Smiles Foundation) and World Baseball Outreach (WBO, Tulsa).
Jesus is a co-founder of Fundación Regalando Sonrisas in Caracas-Venezuela, a non-profit organization intended to help children with cancer and children from low-income families. Dr. Gomez, also from Venezuela, is always looking for opportunities to give to children with low resources.
Moreover, WBO is a nonprofit organization that gathers used baseball equipment from the US. They donate this equipment to different local and international communities with the intention of spreading baseball throughout the world. WBO has helped communities in Africa, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil, Russia, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and others.
In March 2009, Jesus and Dr. Gomez met with WBO and convinced them to do a baseball summer camp for 300 children from poor villages in two cities of Venezuela. This was the beginning of a hard, but exciting race. With almost no funds, they had to raise funds as quickly as possible and plan one of the greatest experiences for these children.
Finally on August 3rd, a team of 9 WBO coaches, Jesus, and Dr. Gomez travelled to Venezuela for 10 days with baseball equipment and lots of energy to teach these children to play the game. 150 children from Fundación Regalando Sonrisas in Caracas and 150 more from Jose Malanga Ferrer School in Coro received bats, gloves, baseballs, helmets and training from real experts. Many volunteers from these Venezuelan organizations also helped to make this experience special.
At the end of the camp, in the smiles and the eyes of these children, everybody could see happiness and gratitude. This was definitely an experience that changed not only the lives of the children, but the lives of every volunteer who helped to make this dream come true.
The Department of Petroleum Engineering enjoys an excellent national and international reputation. While teaching a balanced petroleum engineering curriculum is our major goal, the department also is committed to discovery of new concepts and technologies in the areas of drilling, production, and reservoir engineering utilizing unique experimental facilities. The petroleum engineering department offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Engineering, Master of Science, and doctoral degrees.