Help Feed Hundreds of Hungry People

The Cuenca Soup Kitchen has experienced tremendous growth over the past year as the need for services for our refugee guests and financially challenged Ecuadorians has grown. Our journey started out three years ago serving 20 – 25 lunches, two days a week, to parents of children staying at Hospital Vincente Moscoso. As our numbers grew we were able to create a partnership with Club Rotary Tomebamba who were able to secure us a bigger space at Casa del Migrante and from there to the Posada San Francisco which acts as our current home. During that period our numbers swelled to our current population of 1,000 lunches a week with many of our guests being under 5 years of age.

2019 saw us move into our new “Store” on Padre Aguiere where we supply donations of gently used clothing and housewares to our guests at no charge and our Outreach Program where we bring bag lunches to the needy in our community continues to be an important program for those in need in our community. Another important change is our recent partnership with Hearts of Gold Foundation who is now handling our finances, acting as our 501c3 and is acting as our consulting partner.

Change is an organic part of any growing organization and the Cuenca Soup Kitchen has had its fair share. Our pool of volunteers (all who work for free) changes regularly as people move out of the area or just get involved in other interests/projects. The store was moved this year to its new home and we now have a nutritionist on board to help us create nourishing meals. Another big change is that The Soup Kitchens Executive Director is stepping down to help create a new Soup Kitchen in Poute. This change will officially become effective February 1. The leadership of the soup kitchen will be turned over to Des Dizney, Bill O’Brien, Mr. Smith and Jane Minor. Their dedication to the soup kitchen and their energy to move forward assures that the Cuenca Soup Kitchen will continues to grow and learn of new ways that the soup kitchen will be a service to those in need in our community.

It has been an honor to work together with such dedicated and involved people in our community.

Thank you all for your kind heart, please contunue supporting this project that has grown because of your generosity.

With love and Gratitude,

During this past few months Sustainable Cuena has been serving meals to 160 Venezuelans and has been able to offer lunch 5 days a week.

Thanks to you we have been able to grow and maintain this projects beneficial for hundreds of refugees who come to Cuenca looking for a better life for their families.

Sustainable Cuenca not only provides lunch for venezuelans, our volunteers make sure everybody who attends feels welcome and in a safe place, all of our beneficiaries are always happy to come and talk about their day, sometimes besides a full stomach they need a word of encouragement and a hung to continue with their day to day activities.

You are giving this families the opportunity to look for a better future and you are also giving them back their hope in humanity most of them have lost due to the rough reality they had to face back home and coming to Cuenca. 

You are the main heart of this project and we are honored and grateful for your trust and support.

We are currently focusing on working with volunteers committees that will be in charge of different areas and a nutritionist will guide us on how to serve a nutritious affordable lunch.

We have grown tremendously and now is time to focus on different ways to make this program stronger, stable to continue growing with time.

Please stay tuned for the upcoming great news and updates we will have.

We will also publish our first annual report, we will share it with you as soon as it's ready!

“My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and  how you are, to astonish the world with your acts of kindness”

Big hugs,

We have grown tremendously since our humble beginning serving 20 people two days a week at Hospital Vincente Moscoso. The Soup Kitchen now serves 160 Venezuelan guests and 80 working poor Ecuadorians Monday through Friday. Sustainable Cuenca is becoming stronger and well known in both Expat and Cuencano Community, we have had several visits from local and national news papers, tv and radio to learn more about our project. Thanks to your support we have been able to increase this project and now offer our services 5 days a week, with this, we have had more beneficiaries joining us and with this, expenses also have gone up, this is why we would like to ask for your help on spreading the word with your family and friends to contribute to this cause. every bit helps. Hearts of Gold has also been working on getting discounts with businesses and food donations to reduce some costs, we are waiting for a positive response. We are also trying to get a building donated from the City that will allow this project to expand and have its own space. We are here today because of you, thank you for helping us make this world a better place for everybody!