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Join us for our virtual event!

Please join us on Wednesday, November 18th, from 8:00-8:45PM Eastern Time, for a virtual toast to Mission Santa Maria and its supporters!

We would usually be hosting our New York City event at this time of year, but since we cannot gather in person we hope you will be able to support us with your virtual participation. Please register for the event by clicking here.

Looking forward to seeing you!

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School changes, a new baby, and more!

In Ecuador, children “went back” to school in June (they typically start in April). The Ministry of Education has mandated that the school give classes virtually due to Covid. Many families in our school do not have internet or computers so it has been very difficult for our students to connect to their classes but they are making it work, borrowing cell phones or sharing a computer with other families. The teachers are printing work packets for those who have no internet access.

The children’s home has adapted quite well. The tutors we hired last year for some of the children are now helping all the children with their school assignments and even have a few hours of classes.  So, our children are getting the best education in the school at the moment!

We recently added a new member to the Mission Santa Maria family! Our baby girl was born a month early and we are very grateful we were in the U.S. during this time since she had to spend a few extra days in the hospital. Grace and baby Regan are doing very well now.

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A Million Meals

Between March and July, we gave out about 1 million meals to families in the surrounding towns. This herculean effort by our fairly small charity was made possible only by the incredible outpouring of generosity of our donors (including many new ones) and the local community who volunteered to put in the hours of daily work to distribute food (pictured below).

We are incredibly proud to have been part of this crisis response. As donations poured in, we were humbled by the generosity of our donors, and it enabled us to reach more and more families. On behalf of thousands of families here, thank you!

In so many ways, this has been a very difficult time for us. It is devastating to see such widespread suffering. People are so grateful for helping them feed their families. The reaction of most people is immense gratitude and joy for the help we bring (which we pass along to you). The few people who receive our help with tears often thank us profusely. The people here are extremely resilient, strong, and kind. We are left with a deepening admiration for our families here.

During the past few months, the Mission Home drew on the Emergency Food Fund twice. We created this Fund last year and it has been getting good use. The children have been very well fed! The women have been busy with trying to adapt to the online classes that the children are taking. The tutors that we hired last year for the children that were not able to be in school are now leading all the children at the home in their daily online classes. Trying to keep 80 children engaged in online learning is no small feat and we are incredibly impressed with our tutors.

Ecuador is slowly reopening their economy, but restaurants, bars and beaches are still closed, which employs a significant amount of people in our towns. Although some people have been able to return to work, many people are left without any income. We expect our area like most of Ecuador to enter into an economic depression. The World Bank estimates that Latin America as a whole will lose 20 years of progress in poverty reduction as a result of this crisis.

The situation has led us to examine our mission and vision here in Ecuador. We believe more than ever that educating children will improve their lives and the lives of the community around them.

 

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Our Food Drive Continues!

Click Here to Donate to the Coronavirus Food Drive
Mission Santa Maria is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, all donations are tax deductible.


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Faces of Our Food Drive

Click Here to Donate to the Coronavirus Food Drive
Mission Santa Maria is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, all donations are tax deductible.


This week marks the twelfth week of our coronavirus food drive. Last week we were able to feed 2,700 families in 28 towns in our state. Thank you for your ongoing generosity to make this project possible!

Sara’s family is one of the families receiving food each week. Sara is a single mother to her daughter, Oana, and her son, David. Sara usually works as a primary school teacher but has not received a salary since the beginning of March. While she has been without work, she has given her time to helping coordinate the food distribution process in her town. Every week when we arrive, Sara and her children are there having already prepared the families to receive their food. She is one of many town leaders that help make our food drive possible.

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A Plea for Help

Click Here to Donate to the Coronavirus Food Drive
Mission Santa Maria is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, all donations are tax deductible.


Next week our food drive funds will run out. We are making one last plea for help, aiming to raise $120,000 to continue feeding 2,500 Ecuadorian families for the next 4-8 weeks. You can join our GoFundMe campaign here to share this story and help these families in need!

 

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A Video Update and Word of Thanks

Click Here to Donate to the Coronavirus Food Drive
Mission Santa Maria is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, all donations are tax deductible.

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This Mother’s Day, Help an Ecuadorian Mom Feed Her Family

Click Here to Donate to the Coronavirus Food Drive
Mission Santa Maria is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, all donations are tax deductible. 


This Mother’s Day we are giving 45,000 pounds of food to 1,500 mothers and grandmothers in Ecuador to feed their children and grandchildren. $20 will feed one family, please help us help as many as we can!

In response to the emergency caused by COVID-19, we have been running a food drive for families. Last week with your help we fed 700 families but we still encountered mothers pleading for us to help them feed their children.

Since no mother should have to see their child suffer from hunger, we will feed 1,500 families this week and every week as long as this crisis lasts and we can. You can help us get there by donating on behalf of you, your mom, or a mother figure.

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Mayor Asks Us to Make Video, Food Drive Reaches Over 700 Families

Click Here to Donate to the Coronavirus Food Drive
Mission Santa Maria is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, all donations are tax deductible. 


The mayor of one of our towns asked to make a video for everyone helping his town.

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Feeding 350 families!

Click Here to Donate to the Coronavirus Food Drive
Mission Santa Maria is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, all donations are tax deductible. 


In the past two weeks the outpouring of generosity to help our families with food has been inspiring. We were able to raise over $30,000 in many small and large donations. We are now feeding 350 families in nine towns, which means we are feeding about 1,300 adults and children. We have enough funds to continue to make food purchases the next two weeks.

We delivered most of the food to the families in the past few days and they are extremely grateful. I wish you could meet the people you are helping. They are extremely kind and humble people. Their concern for their families is obvious the first moment you see them. We have met many young mothers with nothing to give their children. One young woman with three small children thanked us as we gave her a large (35 pound) bag of food. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days and I imagine she wasn’t eating to give her children the food they could find. We plan on returning with food every week until our funds last.

We have had to get a bigger truck to bring us to the city to get the quantity of food we are buying. We are very fortunate that someone in the municipal water department is helping us. We take two trips over two days to buy rice, oats, beans, flour, vegetables, oil, pasta, tuna fish, sugar and salt. Some days we can get fresh eggs or fish.

The food, which comes in 100-pound sacks, (and break our backs) is then separated into smaller bags. For example, we bought 38 sacks of rice that are separated into 350 smaller 6, 8, and 10-pound bags. The same is done for flour, beans, pasta, etc.

Then the bags are put into large, black garbage bags that weigh between 25-35 pounds, depending on the number of people in the family.

We use two pickup trucks to deliver the food to the different towns. We then have local contacts who help us identify the families most in need from their towns. It is quite a system and we have about 20 volunteers helping us do all this work.

Thank you. Thank you for helping us and our families in area. I pass on the many “thank you’s” we receive everyday from the people. This obviously would not be possible without your help!

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