When Mario made these images as per our request, none of us expected it to get so popular.

We obviously have our own Shepard Fairey.

Mario’s family arrived here some 13 years ago. A U.S. Border Patrol officer offered to obtain “green cards” for the family for $1,500 per person. Obviously, that never happened.

Mario has grown up here but he cannot afford to go university due to the prohibitive costs of out-of-state tuition.

He was recently interviewed by San Diego News Network:

I had to pay $200 per unit, plus books and all the other unforeseen expenses one incurs when pursuing your education. I was thrilled nonetheless. I was able to defer my tuition payment for a few months but was never able to put the money together to pay it off.

What would he like to study? Quantam Physics.

In the meantime, Mario has been helping with the graphic design needs of this site. He also made the infamous banner on DreamAct2009.com

Given the Facebook fervor and the fact that several schools have ordered their own from the low-quality graphics available, there is a great need and demand for these buttons. Hence, we are finally making them available with Mario’s permission.

The proceeds from these button sales go to a higher education fund for Mario and students like him that have dreams of higher education but cannot get there without much needed financial support. That’s the least we can do to support Mario’s work and commitment to the cause.

For now, the buttons are available to student groups and organizations as bulk pre-order in the following sets and prices:

• 100 – 1.5 inch = $50
• 100 – 2.25 inch = $75

(Includes shipping and handling). Drop us an email via the contact form indicating organization, address, size and quantity requested and we can discuss payment options.

Otherwise, they are available to everyone at $2.50 a piece (free shipping) via Ebay. Please give up to 3 weeks for shipment.

More merchandise, including T-shirts, will be available soon.