Thanks Natalie for this wonderful, and very different idea.

It turns out that Jose Canay Vi (photo bottom right) is the last man in the world that knows how to make the traditional Mayan hand-woven straw hats shown to the right. Jose is 84 with ailing health and is losing his vision. The Limitless Horizons Ixil organization is trying to raise funds to teach others his craft before its lost forever. They’ve launched the Hat Rescue Project and they hope to raise enough to teach a class of 30 people his craft.

Very nifty idea, and the Limitless Horizons Ixil organization has many other ways you can help the Ixil region in northern Guatemala where 80% live in poverty on income less than $2/day … much of this is attributed to the 36 year civil war from 1960 till 1996.

Photos were provided by, and used with permission of Limitless Horizons Ixil