On April 16, we launched our COVID-19 food security campaign. The response was remarkable. Thanks to the generosity of more than 100 first-time donors, we have raised over $20,000 that is providing immediate, life-saving support to 400 families in Yoro, Honduras.
Following the closing of the economy in March, we began to work with local institutions and churches to identify the most at-risk families in the community, families who have had neither income nor economic assistance for months. With no access to social safety nets, such as unemployment pay or food stamps, thousands are going hungry here in Yoro.
Our partners at the San Yves Nutrition Center recently took in an infant and his mother. Manuel is five months old, but weighs just ten pounds. Manuel’s father is a carpenter. Carpentry is often a lucrative job here in Yoro, but since the economy closed in March, he has struggled to find even small contracts and his income has dropped to almost zero. As a result, he hasn’t been able to put adequate food on the table for his wife and Manuel has been breastfeeding from his under-nourished mother for three months.
Thanks to the incredible work done at San Yves, Manuel and his family will recover. However, thousands of people here in Yoro face similar challenges. To promote sustainable solutions to food insecurity, all families are taking part in our home gardening initiative. Our COVID-19 food security response is now ensuring a bi-weekly food package—conditionally linked to their participation in the home gardening initiative —to 400 families.