CasaSito USA

We are Alice So Fong Lee (originally from Hong Kong) and Greg Schwendinger (originally from the United States), the founders of CasaSito. Alice had previously worked in Guatemala and fell in love with the people and culture. We made the decision to make Guatemala our “temporary” home in 2002. We saw many opportunities to support education in Guatemala, so along with our friend Eric Behrs (from Texas), we formed CasaSito Association in 2004. “Casa” (or home) because we wanted to create a place where everyone feels welcome. “Sito” was Alice’s nickname, as she is like the small and powerful Sito scooter engine.

Our goal for CasaSito was to establish a small, close-knit organization that could have a deep impact in the communities where we work.

Our other goal was to have CasaSito be a locally managed non-profit. The CasaSito Guatemala entity and board of directors was formed in 2009. The first professional staff person (Sisi González, currently Sacatepéquez regional director) was hired in 2007. The staff has slowly and carefully grown since that time. The goal of full local control was realized in 2024, the year of our 20th anniversary, when Alice stepped out of the Guatemalan board. Currently (2025), CasaSito Guatemala has 11 full time staff, 14 part time staff, and a board of 7 members.

We still live and volunteer in Guatemala, and CasaSito-USA continues its work supporting Asociación CasaSito Guatemala and now also The Clean Water Project Guatemala.

CasaSito USA board of Directors. Our board consists of:

Eric Behrs, Secretary

Alice Lee, Member

Greg Schwendinger, President