Guatemala Team Reports

Greetings everyone,

Sorry to interrupt your Super Bowl weekend, but I’d like to let you know about two upcoming events we’re having to which you’re invited. The first is the annual Hands for Peacemaking Heart of Guatemala Dinner. It’s at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Marysville Historical Society. Come have dinner (on us!) and learn more about the work we are doing in Guatemala. One of the activities is to honor Ross Gaussoin as this year’s recipient of the Aller Humanitarian Award. See our announcement below for more on Ross. I should note that it is a fundraiser! Please sign up no later than Wednesday on our Evite page or to info@handsforpeacemaking.org. If you can’t make it but would like to donate please do so here. Funds go toward operational support and capital needs.

The second event is the Marine View Church Annual Guatemala Dinner at 4 p.m. on March 15. This is a fundraiser (again no cost to get in) at the Marine View Presbyterian Church East Campus in the Dash Point area of Tacoma. Proceeds from the dinner go toward the purchase of 115 stoves that will be installed this summer by the 2020 Marine View team. The dinner is hosted by the Iglesia Cristiana LA VOZ Guatemalan church and features terrific Guatemala food. If you’d like to attend that, please send me an email at briand660@gmail.com and I’ll get you on the list.

Thanks! Here’s the announcement about Ross:

Ross Gaussoin to be awarded Aller Humanitarian Award

The Hands for Peacemaking Foundation Board of Directors is pleased to announce the selection of Ross Gaussoin of Gig Harbor as this year’s recipient of the Aller Humanitarian Award, the foundation’s highest honor.

The award recognizes individuals who have shown exemplary service to the villagers of Guatemala as well as to their own community at large.

Gaussoin will receive the award at Hands for Peacemaking’s Heart of Guatemala Dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Marysville Historical Society museum, 6805 Armar Road.

In its selection of Gaussoin, the board noted his 10 years of service to Hands for Peacemaking. His involvement began in 2005 as a team member on a HFPF mission trip to the remote Santa Cruz Barillas area of Guatemala through his church, Marine View Presbyterian in Northeast Tacoma. He made three such mission trips, then served on the board for six years, three as its chair.

Gaussoin grew a family trucking business from a small to large, multi-terminal operation over 38 years before joining a separate arm of the business that manufactures trailer suspensions. He is a former president of both the Washington State Trucking and the American Trucking Association. While on the Hands for Peacemaking Board, Gaussoin provided oversight and business expertise to the organization as it built the Aller Skills Center in Guatemala and made both physical and operational improvements across the board.

Beyond his service to Hands for Peacemaking, Gaussoin was a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. He also volunteered for many years with Bikes for Kids, a bike shop on the grounds of Marine View Church that rehabilitates second-hand bikes for children in the community who don’t have bikes, and partners with other organizations to ship bikes to developing countries around the world. Ross and his wife Percy retired to Gig Harbor in 2018.

The Aller Humanitarian Award is named for the late Dr. Leeon Aller, a longtime physician in Snohomish, and his wife Virginia. Dr. Aller founded Hands for Peacemaking in response to the extreme medical and social needs he encountered in Guatemala during his 1984 trip to Central America. He and Virginia opened a 10-bed hospital and a K-12 school in Barillas. In addition to his medical practice Dr. Aller was involved in the VFW, the Boy Scouts of America, the Snohomish Rotary Club and numerous other endeavors. He and Virginia raised two children and numerous foster children.

Over the years the Everett-based Hands for Peacemaking Foundation has sent dozens of teams to the region to build schools and install clean-air cook stoves in the homes of Mayan villagers. The Foundation operates a manufacturing facility in Barillas and a 16-bed mission house there.

More information about Hands for Peacemaking Foundation can be found at handsforpeacemaking.org.