Community Lunchroom
Children´s development in the community has been affected by the malnutrition levels that they have due to the lack of access to regular alimentation. In canton Xeúl most of the children that live here have some level of malnutrition. With our community lunchroom we are trying to reduce those levels and to teach people the importance of good nutrition.
The purpose of the project is to continue contributing to the nutrition of children who need it so much, this is the fifth year that we could continue helping the 65 children who participate in the soup kitchen. And there has been a slight improvement. However, the crisis generated by COVID -19 continues to seriously affect the situation of people in the community who now, in the case of some families, spend at least one day without eating during the week.
Most of the families and children who participate in this project are in a rather delicate economic situation. For this reason, it seeks to continue promoting an adequate feeding time for children who are the ones who most need it for adequate development. In addition, it is a priority for this project to promote educational campaigns for families about the importance of healthy eating for children as they grow. Not only for the prevention of diseases that already arise in the community, but to promote adequate growth and development for children between the ages of 4 and 14 years.
In addition to the challenges that the community faces every day, there are greater complications that due to the COVID-19 crisis can still be perceived in many of the families. In the last year, as part of the awareness campaigns we have promoted the importance of vaccination in the community and thanks to this, 100% of the people who participate in Caras Alegres in the community are vaccinated or in the process of being vaccinated. However, due to the lack of employment and lack of resources within the community, many families have been left without food for even more than a day. Because of this, we have detected that some children are suffering from acute malnutrition. Last year we supported 40 families with the delivery of a food box 3 times a year. These boxes would cover the needs of the family with non-perishable food for the following 3 months. However, this year we have detected that 3 more families present chronic malnutrition and need our support.
This project has been developed thanks to the support of Harbourton since 2018 and for this year, which would be our fifth year. We are implementing some strategies to make it a sustainable project as much as possible. One of them is the support we have had from recurring thanks to the volunteers who have seen our project. In addition, one of the strategies is the purchase of tools that allow the association, with the help of the community, to create food. For this reason, this year we installed an industrial oven, which will serve us to bake the bread that is served at lunch instead of tortillas, as well as to bake some foods that are served in the dining room.
We have also continued with the sowing for the future project, which, thanks to the support of EntreMundos, we will continue to develope in 2022. And for this reason, we are reducing expenses in the purchase of some supplies.