By Gema Gallo Gagne, Founder & Executive Director
I was eight years old when I realized the world wasn’t fair.
In my tiny village in Nicaragua, I watched my best friend stop coming to school because her family couldn’t afford a $3 uniform. I saw mothers walk four hours for water that often made their babies sick. At eight, I moved to the United States, but I carried those images with me.
Life wasn’t easy after I arrived. At 17, I became a teen mother, fighting every single day to give my son the childhood I never had. In the years that followed, I navigated the pain of a domestic violence relationship and the exhausting work of rebuilding my life—eventually moving from Miami to Canada after remarrying.
Through the hardest nights, I made a promise to God: If I ever “make it,” I will go back for the children left behind.
When I closed my eyes at night, I still saw those little faces. They kept me awake. They were the reason I couldn’t just settle for my own success.
The Birth of a Movement
In 2025, that promise became a reality. A group of us—strangers who had each tasted and witnessed what poverty is like—came together with a single, fierce resolve: We will not let another child lose their future simply because they were born on the wrong side of a border.
That is how Compassion Beyond Borders Foundation was born.
We are brand-new, yes. But we are not new to pain. We are not new to hunger. And we are not new to the fire that ignites in your soul when you decide, “Never again.”
Radical Transparency, Radical Impact
Today, we are already active in villages across Latin America, delivering the essentials that change the trajectory of a life:
- School Supplies & Uniforms: Because a $3 uniform should never stand between a child and their education.
- Hygiene Kits & Menstrual Products: So that young girls don’t have to miss a week of school every month.
- Clean Water & Healthcare: So that “being sick” stops being a normal part of childhood.
We do this with radical transparency. 90% of every dollar you give goes straight into the hands of these families. The remaining 10% simply keeps the lights on and pays for the plane tickets so we can continue showing up in person.
This Isn’t Charity—This is Family
We don’t need your pity. We need your partnership.
I want to make sure the next little girl who looks like 8-year-old me gets to stay in school. I want her to dream. I want her to grow up believing that the world can be fair after all.
If you have ever felt that a child’s future shouldn’t depend on a zip code or luck; if you believe that despair can be turned into dignity… then welcome home.
Join us. Click here to give $10 today (or even better, $10 a month). I promise you will see exactly where your money goes. I will personally send you the photos, the thank-you drawings from the children, and the videos of them opening their very first new backpacks. This isn’t just a donation; this is family reaching back for family.
From my heart to yours,
Gema Gallo Gagne Founder & Executive Director, Compassion Beyond Borders Foundation
P.S. The first 50 monthly donors will receive a personal WhatsApp voice note from me directly from the field on my next trip. I can’t wait to say “thank you” from the very village your love helped save.
