Help hungry kids in Venezuela!
Donation protected
No child should grow up hungry! No child should die of malnutrition!
Stefany lived in Parroquia San Martín de Porres, Ciudad Guayana, she was two but looked eight months old, her skin was dried out, her arms skinny. She died in August. Her sister says that the family eats, what little they can find, only once a day. “When my belly and my head hurt cos I’m hungry, what I do is go to sleep”, she says.
A pale nine year-old girl fainted in front of her class, she had not eaten anything that day, and maybe not the day before either. In her school, cases of malnutrition have gone from 43 to 98 in a month. “We think that around 70% of the students struggle to get fed,” says the head teacher.
More and more frequently children in Venezuela are fainting in class or not going to school because they are too weak; they have not eaten. Many abandon school to help earn money for their families. Many mothers are filling their babies’ bottles with water and rice or cassava to ‘cheat hunger’; they cannot find milk. Parents are crying at night because they could not feed their kids. People looking for food in bins has become a regular and heartbreaking sight in cities around the country. Adults and children are rapidly losing weight, children are dying of malnutrition or illnesses associated with it.
Hunger has entered many homes and now dwells there.
How can we remain indifferent?
Who are we?
After listening to these stories, a group of Venezuelan friends got together. Our hearts hurt, we are filled with pain and rage. For days we couldn’t sleep. We felt impelled to act, to do something. We came up with the idea of raising funds to support projects that help people in poor ‘barrios’ (shanty towns) in Venezuela to feed their kids. Projects that could go some way to saving lives, to stopping the anguish of nights with empty stomachs, the pain of hungry children missing school or working on the streets, struggling like adults in a disfigured world.
We called our project Meals4hope. Meals4hope is now an NGO registered in Spain (G67011585), which supports nutritional recovery programmes for children in extreme poverty in Venezuela.
The projects
We are currently working in 9 areas of the country: Anzoátegui, Apure, Bolívar, Falcón, Lara, Mérida, Nueva Esparta, Portuguesa y el Distrito Federal. Among our main programmes are: nutritional recovery care centres (monitoring and tackling malnutrition), community homes (where children receive daily meals), school meals, nutritional support for hospitalized children, support for nursing mothers, local food production (community, school and family vegetable gardens and allotments), as well as packages of medicines and medical supplies.
These projects are seeds sown against hunger. They are benefitting over 1700 children directly. These seeds will grow if we nurture and water them. Together we can do so much!
Meals4hope is voluntarily run by volunteers both in and outside of Venezuela. The funds received here are either invested directly in the community projects outlined or in buying and sending them food, baby formulas, nutritional and therapeutic supplements, and medical supplies. We keep supporters updated on the progress and the impact of the projects, through our social media presence and via monthly newsletters (email).
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meals4hope (English) https://www.facebook.com/meals4hope.espanol (Spanish)
Instagram: @meals4hope
Twitter: @meals4hope
email: [email redacted]
Every bit raised will make a huge contribution to tackling child hunger and malnutrition, and bring hope to children in need.
Hungry children in Venezuela need our help!
Stefany lived in Parroquia San Martín de Porres, Ciudad Guayana, she was two but looked eight months old, her skin was dried out, her arms skinny. She died in August. Her sister says that the family eats, what little they can find, only once a day. “When my belly and my head hurt cos I’m hungry, what I do is go to sleep”, she says.
A pale nine year-old girl fainted in front of her class, she had not eaten anything that day, and maybe not the day before either. In her school, cases of malnutrition have gone from 43 to 98 in a month. “We think that around 70% of the students struggle to get fed,” says the head teacher.
More and more frequently children in Venezuela are fainting in class or not going to school because they are too weak; they have not eaten. Many abandon school to help earn money for their families. Many mothers are filling their babies’ bottles with water and rice or cassava to ‘cheat hunger’; they cannot find milk. Parents are crying at night because they could not feed their kids. People looking for food in bins has become a regular and heartbreaking sight in cities around the country. Adults and children are rapidly losing weight, children are dying of malnutrition or illnesses associated with it.
Hunger has entered many homes and now dwells there.
How can we remain indifferent?
Who are we?
After listening to these stories, a group of Venezuelan friends got together. Our hearts hurt, we are filled with pain and rage. For days we couldn’t sleep. We felt impelled to act, to do something. We came up with the idea of raising funds to support projects that help people in poor ‘barrios’ (shanty towns) in Venezuela to feed their kids. Projects that could go some way to saving lives, to stopping the anguish of nights with empty stomachs, the pain of hungry children missing school or working on the streets, struggling like adults in a disfigured world.
We called our project Meals4hope. Meals4hope is now an NGO registered in Spain (G67011585), which supports nutritional recovery programmes for children in extreme poverty in Venezuela.
The projects
We are currently working in 9 areas of the country: Anzoátegui, Apure, Bolívar, Falcón, Lara, Mérida, Nueva Esparta, Portuguesa y el Distrito Federal. Among our main programmes are: nutritional recovery care centres (monitoring and tackling malnutrition), community homes (where children receive daily meals), school meals, nutritional support for hospitalized children, support for nursing mothers, local food production (community, school and family vegetable gardens and allotments), as well as packages of medicines and medical supplies.
These projects are seeds sown against hunger. They are benefitting over 1700 children directly. These seeds will grow if we nurture and water them. Together we can do so much!
Meals4hope is voluntarily run by volunteers both in and outside of Venezuela. The funds received here are either invested directly in the community projects outlined or in buying and sending them food, baby formulas, nutritional and therapeutic supplements, and medical supplies. We keep supporters updated on the progress and the impact of the projects, through our social media presence and via monthly newsletters (email).
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meals4hope (English) https://www.facebook.com/meals4hope.espanol (Spanish)
Instagram: @meals4hope
Twitter: @meals4hope
email: [email redacted]
Every bit raised will make a huge contribution to tackling child hunger and malnutrition, and bring hope to children in need.
Hungry children in Venezuela need our help!
Organizer
Meals Hope
Organizer
Pompano Beach, FL
