(upbeat music) [Liz Adeola] We are here at the annual Bolivian Festival learning how the El Chasqui Foundation makes a big impact here in Utah and beyond.

Joining me now is Andrea Ibanez Kuntz to share how all of this began with an idea that came from your grandma, is that right?

- Yes, well, thank you so much for having me, but yes, El Chasqui Foundation was actually started back in the '80s in Bolivia by my grandma who taught her children the importance of really serving your community and handed that to my mom.

My mom brought that idea to the U.S., taught her children, and we've been going on since then.

- Wow, what do you think?

I don't know if your grandma is still around, but what would she think if she saw this today?

- Well, she actually came to the U.S.

for El Chasqui, or for Bolivian Fest a few years ago and she got to be the grand marshal.

She could not believe it.

It was such a full-circle moment for us to continue that mission of doing good and uplifting our community.

- And El Chasqui, that has a special meaning to it, right?

- Yeah, so El Chasqui actually means the messenger and it's a very important message for us because we like to consider ourselves messengers of good works.

And that's what we do in our community.

- And I'm happy we've been able to connect to share the good works that you guys are doing.

Can you talk about some of the projects that you do throughout the year?

I know this is your biggest event of the year, but there's so much more that you guys do throughout the community and beyond.

- Yes, so a big part of our mission is really strengthening our community through service and culture.

So this is a cultural component.

The service component happens, like you said, all year long from winter drives with feeding the homeless to really uplifting communities and cultural events that when we see a need, we fill a need.

And that's very important for us to continue that good work.

- Yeah, and a lot of this, what, 100% volunteer ran?

How do you guys get enough people or where do you find the volunteers to help?

- So that's why Bolivian Fest is so important because we find our volunteers, we find the organizations, we find businesses to support us all at Bolivian Fest.

And so without it, it would be very hard to do the good work that we do throughout the year.

And everything that you see at Bolivian Fest is 100% run by volunteers with 100% proceeds going to fund our projects.

- I love your passion, I love your heart for this.

What drives you to continue this work?

- I think that mission that my grandma passed to my mom, that I'm hoping to pass to the next generation too, is that it really is our love letter to our community to share our culture through service.

- Thank you very much.

If you'd like to learn more, head to the website that's on your screen.

I'm Liz Adeola, thank you for watching "Contact".

(upbeat music) Philanthropy, arts, culture, it's what brings us together.

Hi, I'm Liz Adeola, the new host of "Contact", a show that connects you with local events and organizations that serve your community.

If you work for a nonprofit and would like to be on "Contact", please visit pbsutah.org/contact.