GET INVOLVED
Are you looking for ways to help educate children and empower families? There are many ways you can become involved in the work we do in Alotenango from volunteering to sponsoring a child, from purchasing a Guatemalan handcrafted item to contributing to essential supplies for the school room. Below are a number of ways you can lend a hand.
URGENT NEED FOR NUTRITIONAL ASSISTANCE
Antigua, Guatemala, the former capital of Guatemala, is a World Heritage site, a tourist destination, a weekend retreat for many middle class Guatemalans and a home for foreign retirees. It is a comfortable, vibrant, and historic city with wonderful restaurants, language schools, and nightly entertainment. And yet Alotenango, where Bendicion de Dios is located twenty minutes away, could be on a different planet. The contrast with Antigua is stark. Many inhabitants live in one room houses with dirt floors, laminated tin roofs and walls, and no running water. Kitchens have open air fires for cooking. The most common meal is beans and a tortilla when they can get it.
The families in Alotenango struggle to provide enough nutritious food to members of their families due to various hardships. Most adults never went beyond sixth grade if they attended school at all, work in marginal part-time jobs, pick coffee beans during the harvest season, and cannot afford to send their children to school. Many households are headed by women alone.
As we know, food insecurity is linked to various health issues, including poor nutrition, developmental delays in children, and increased medical problems. Bendición de Dios school tries to address the lack of food through a daily meal for the students. However, this simple meal is not enough.
Addressing food insecurity is crucial for improving the health and well-being of affected families, especially children. Providing regular nutritious supplements for school community families has become a regular part of the support provided by Under the Same Moon’s generous donors. If you would like to help please click the monthly recurring donation button below. Please indicate your contribution is for food baskets. bi-monthly baskets are $16 a month, or $192 per year. The school administration purchases and distributes the food to the neediest families in the community.
One Time Donation
When generous people like you make your 100% tax-deductible gift, Under the Same Moon will ensure the funds are directed to the children's most urgent needs.
Monthly Giving
As you can imagine, consistent monthly donations sustain our programs and provide resources to help us plan for pressing and future needs. Monthly donations can be made in any amount using the button below.
Donate Essential Items
There are so many ways to help children in need, choose the way that works best for you. In addition to child sponsorship, financial contributions can be made for general support of the school in any amount you choose or can be applied to one of the specific program below.
Teacher Scholarship Fund for a year $50
Energy Efficient Stove $195
School meals for one child for one year $75
Water Filter for a Family $50
Sponsor The Teachers
We usually focus on the children when speaking about sponsorship. Clearly they are the ones we most want to help. The school exists so that the community’s poorest children can break out of the vicious cycle of poverty. But as one of our Board members said, “Without the teachers, we’re TOAST!” So this plea is for the teachers, the backbone of the school who make everything possible. Those of you who are teachers will understand implicitly.
The teachers already deserve more
The teachers are motivated by their attachment to Julio, the children and the school, but they deserve more. Their current salary is about $400 per month without any benefits or pension. By comparison, a public school teacher makes $667 per month with a pension. We are asking for donations to cover the cost of providing a $62 bonus per month per teacher for ten months. To help support our teachers, donate below.
BENDICION TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS AND THE SCHOOL’S DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER, JULIO
It is through the generosity of folks like yourself that the children of Alotenango get to enjoy the benefits of getting an education and more.