FIRELIGHT FOUND ATION

The Wexlers were first introduced to Firelight Foundation in its early years by Peter’s
co-worker, David Katz, one of Firelight’s founders.
At that time, Peter was aware of the global AIDS pandemic, but didn’t really
understand the specific implications and didn’t have a sense that he could make
a difference. He was moved by what he learned from Firelight staff about the
human impact, he recalls. “There’s an entire adult population devastated by
the disease—teachers are gone, parents are gone.”
Firelight’s community-based, more-with-less approach made a lot of sense
to him. “Firelight was talking about going to the grassroots and working in
villages with people that are touching the problems,” he says. “They didn’t
have massive resources, but what they had was targeted very effectively: for
example, helping caregivers increase their incomes so they can take in more
children rather than building expensive orphanages.”
This strategy resonated with him. As an engineer, Peter has spent his career
solving complex problems. He has worked in large companies and smallto
mid-size companies. “I can appreciate that certain problems are better
addressed by a small group of focused people.”
Along with other Firelight donors, the Wexlers have attended regular briefings
over the past five years. During that time, Firelight has grown, adapted, and
increased its influence, Peter observes.
“Just as a small company moves to the next phase by adapting to conditions in the
market to be effective, Firelight has developed ways to measure progress, increased in
scale, and extended its impact by teaching others how to use their model,” he says.
When he talks to acquaintances about Firelight Foundation’s work, Peter emphasizes
Firelight’s unique model—not multi-million dollar projects, but small, effective,
community-led efforts.
And this year, his son is doing something similar—in his seventh
grade classroom.