Team Hope 2026
Team Hope 2026: One Team, Two Regions, Hundreds of Lives Impacted
As our largest volunteer team of the year, Team Hope 2026 came to Guatemala ready to serve, and the impact of their week reached across communities, families, and patients.
While united as one team, volunteers worked simultaneously in two parts of Guatemala. In Retalhuleu, our Impacting Health team provided medical and surgical care. At the same time, our Impacting Homes team worked alongside families in communities across Chimaltenango and Sololá, installing smoke-free stoves and water filters.
By the end of the week, Team Hope had reached hundreds of patients and families.
Impacting Health
In Retalhuleu, our clinic team provided essential healthcare to 615 patients.
From triage and medical consultations to specialized care, our volunteers and healthcare professionals worked together to listen, evaluate, treat, and support each patient who came through the clinic.
For many, access to this type of care can be difficult. Throughout the week, every consultation represented an opportunity to address a health concern, receive treatment, and move forward with greater knowledge and support.
At the same time, our surgical team provided life-changing care to 138 patients.
Behind every procedure was a person and a family who had been waiting for care. Surgery can mean relief from pain, restored health, improved quality of life, and the opportunity to return to everyday activities with greater confidence and independence.
Together, our clinic and surgical teams made Impacting Health a reality for hundreds of people throughout the week.
Impacting Homes
While our medical team was at work in Retalhuleu, Team Hope volunteers were also serving families through Impacting Homes.
Together, they worked alongside 126 families, installing smoke-free stoves and water filters that will continue to make a difference long after the team returns home.
The team served families in:
Cojol Juyu, Comalapa
Paxixil, Pueblo Viejo
Hierba Buena, San Andrés Itzapa
San Andrés Semetabaj, Sololá
Santa Clara La Laguna, Sololá
For families who have cooked over open fires, a smoke-free stove can mean a kitchen with significantly less smoke and a safer place to prepare meals. A water filter provides access to clean drinking water every day.
These are practical changes, but their impact becomes part of a family's everyday life.
One Team, One Shared Purpose
Team Hope may have spent the week in different locations and serving in different ways, but every volunteer was part of the same commitment.
615 clinic patients.
138 surgical patients.
126 families with new smoke-free stoves and water filters.
Behind every number is a person, a family, and a story.
Thank you to every Team Hope volunteer, healthcare professional, local team member, donor, and supporter who made this week possible. Your time, skills, generosity, and willingness to serve alongside communities in Guatemala made an extraordinary week of impact possible.
This is Team Hope 2026.
