Funding The Integral Heart Family School in 2020

Good morning from Guatemala!

I was in the city on October 1st and I snapped this photo from the roof top of the building where I had a meeting. To me the burst of sunshine through the burgeoning rain clouds symbolizes the hope we all hold for a better future, not just for Guatemala and its people, but for all of us around the world as we perhaps are nearing the end of this particularly difficult year.

And, in other news, the finally tally is in on our 50% Match Week at the end of September and, it is magical!

And… wow!!! — we really did it — 373 donors for the “Little by Little Drive” — shattering our 300 donor goal — we won 2nd place for most new monthlies which carried a $600 prize — we won 5th for most donors which carried an extra $100 to bring out net for the week to $15,905— and most important — we came together strong to stand for human rights — children have a right to study, to feel safe, to be able to dream big and have the tools to reach those dreams. Thanks to you all who joined us — it was an amazing week and 80 Integral Heart Family students and the 500+ people in their families have the security and safety of light amid difficult times. So, thank you, and thank you!

Have a blessed week

With love and respect.

Mick, Debora and all the students and staff
of Integral Heart School Guatemala.

And a very special thanks to our Integral Heart Action Team members who will be working with us to make this coming week a great success TOGETHER WE GOT THIS!: Luke, Joe, Tom, Erica, ReAnne, Cindy, Betts, Laurie, Nicole K, Nicole R, John and recently joined Wendy!

A warm hello from Guatemala and the Integral Heart Family. We hope that this newsletter finds you all well.

Many things have changed this year. The global health crisis and appearing with that, global financial crisis has become devastating to those who already had so very little.

Due to the health situation and because of the preventative measures, restrictions and curfews, our school have been closed since the middle of March. That doesn´t mean that we have stopped working hard to provide for our families. Here we can explain what we are doing and how:

Challenge
The challenge for us is two-fold: 1) Should the virus get a foothold in the vastly impoverished villages of Guatemala, the loss of life will be catastrophic. Compounding that, a major infection here could create millions of orphans. In families suffering from generational poverty, it is often a grandparent who raises their grandchildren. 2) The second issue is that since our school had to close from order of the president, our children will not have access to a nutritious meal or a holistic education.

Solution
1. The expansion of our existing food basket program will keep our children fed since they primarily only eat a nutritious meal when they come to our school. 2. These food baskets will include face masks and hand sanitizer which are being made from locally sourced materials, helping to slow the spread of COVID in our communities. 3. We will also distribute easy-to-understand flyers so that our communities know how to stave off the spread of the COVID virus. 4. Homework and books are being delivered among the food baskets so the children can continue their personal and academic growth.

This month we are adding chicken to each of our family food baskets and doubling the egg cartons. Our families did not know about this until our staff showed up this week and they were surprised and so (so) happy.

Thank you very much to all of you, heart members of our family, for continuing the support and trust in these challenging times. All our love to you.

The Integral Heart Family