History
WINGS’ story began in 1999 when Sue Patterson, a retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer living in Guatemala, received a phone call from a friend asking for financial help to provide seven women, each of whom had at least eight children, with voluntary tubal ligations. Moved by the women’s desire to take charge of their reproductive lives and better provide for their existing children, Sue solicited donations from her friends. She was surprised to receive over $4,000 in donations from the initial plea. Impressed by this generosity as well as the widespread need for funds to support family planning in Guatemala, Sue decided to create an organization in order to continue helping men and women plan their families.
WINGS started by partnering with other non-profit organizations in Guatemala to subsidize the costs of birth control for Guatemalan families who could not afford it. WINGS' programming rapidly expanded to encompass reproductive health education, cervical cancer detection and treatment, and peer education for adolescents. In 2001, WINGS became fully incorporated as a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and in 2003, we obtained similar non-profit status in Guatemala.
Timeline
1999
- Developed a partnership with APROFAM and began subsidizing family planning services.
2000
- Expanded service area to include two low-income areas of Guatemala City and several communities in the departments of Chimaltenango and Escuintla.
- Incorporated officially in the U.S. State of Delaware.
2001
- Achieved U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit status.
- Hired first full-time staff member to provide reproductive health education.
- Began providing Pap smears for the detection of cervical cancer, referring women to appropriate follow up services when necessary. 200 women were screened in the first year.
2002
- Continued building family planning and cervical cancer programs.
2003
- Achieved official non-profit status in Guatemala.
2004
- Launched Youth WINGS program in October 2004 to educate adolescents about reproductive health and provide access to family planning services.
- Hired Meira Neggaz as WINGS’ first full-time Executive Director.
2005
- Conducted prevalence study on sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) in Chimaltenango.
- Conducted barrier analysis to determine factors contributing to low contraceptive prevalence in Guatemala.
2006
- Incorporated VIA/Cryo method into Cervical Cancer Detection and Treatment initiative, allowing for same-day delivery of results as well as same-day treatment for up to half of abnormalities.
- In partnership with Vivamos Mejor, launched WINGS programming in Sololá department.
- Voluntarily underwent first external audit.
2007
- Received the Juan Bautista Gutiérrez Foundation’s Apoyando a Quienes Apoyan award for non-profit excellence in Guatemala.
- Launched WINGS for Men program to raise awareness among men about sexual and reproductive health and counter common myths and misconceptions about family planning.
- Developed Advocates for Youth program, working with the Ministries of Health and Education in Chimaltenango to improve sex education and health services for youth in accordance with the 2006 Law of Universal Access to Family Planning.
- Began providing small micro-credit loans to community family planning promoters.
2008
2009