Mission Santa Maria, Inc

Dear Friends/Incredible humans,

I’m reaching out to invite you to join me in a meaningful and impactful challenge!

On Sunday 9/22 (9pm) to the following Sunday 9/29 (9pm), I will be undertaking a 7-day fast, abstaining from all food and drinking only water (+electrolytes and black coffee/tea) to raise money for an incredible mission. Going this long without food can seem crazy to many of us, but at the same time its what so many children have no choice but to go though often in poverty stricken communities through out the world.

The organization I am supporting, Mission Santa Maria, provides essential nourishment and education to impoverished children in Ecuador. Recently, government funding had stopped for an unknown reason and those funds were used to provide basics and food for the mission. They require $12,000 each month to keep operations running and children fed. My goal is to make an impact on the month and raise $5k through this challenge

Mission Santa Maria began a food drive in March to help families who have no food after the strict lock-down and curfew in Ecuador. We began with 100 families and are currently feeding over 2,500 families every week. This equates to over 12,000 people and 60,000 pounds of food at $30,000 every week. Last week we dropped off food to a woman in a part of town that had not received any help yet. When we handed her the bag, she just wept and said thank you.

After next week our food drive funds will run out. We are aiming to raise another $120,000 to continue feeding 2,500+ families for the next 4 weeks. Please join us and help these families. 
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The coronavirus pandemic has changed all of our lives, but it has disproportionally affected certain countries and communities. Ecuador has been hit extremely hard. Death rates are 15 times higher than reported and bodies of the deceased are being left on the street as hospitals and morgues cannot keep up with pickup demands. Ecuador enacted a strict quarantine and curfew at the onset of the pandemic, and with so many relying on day labor for their livelihood, few have been able to earn any income in over 9 weeks. Without social safety nets, after one week of no work and no income, people could no longer buy food. One family told us that they were feeding their children limes from a tree outside their home to survive. 

As a result, we started an emergency food drive and are now feeding over 2,500 families in 18 towns in our state. Though Mission Santa Maria focuses on helping children from abusive families and extreme poverty receive shelter and education, we knew we had to expand our mission to respond to this crisis.

We know that you have many worthy causes reaching out for your support during this time. We want to sincerely thank you for your consideration in supporting our efforts in Ecuador. 
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More information about Mission Santa Maria, Inc: Mission Santa Maria is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is dedicated to helping impoverished, marginalized, abused, and neglected Ecuadorian children receive high quality education with the vision of one day being able to connect these children to income-generating activities. To this end, Mission Santa Maria currently supports four programs: a school, a foster home for children, a program for children from extreme poverty, and a university scholarship program. Visit our website here.
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A quick video message and a few photos of our food drive effort:


Over 100 people line up (while practicing social distancing) to receive their food. We partner with local town leaders to coordinate how families receive food every week.  


An example of the contents of one bag of food. Food quantities are determined by the number of people in the family and usually weigh between 30-45 pounds. The goal is to provide enough food to sustain a family for one week. 


A mother and daughter receive their food for the week.