Dear Friends,
A little over a month ago, I was in San Juan de Limay, Nicaragua, calling on people in their homes. I saw, firsthand but not for the first time, how people’s lives are changing because of Casa Baltimore/Limay’s programs. Generous people like you are making a difference in Limay. Thank you! Please keep up the great support as we enter our 29th year of friendship there.
Your tax-deductible donation to this appeal before the end of 2013 will be matched, 1:1, up to a total of $9,000, by a supportive major donor.
You can click here to donate to our projects.
Tranquilino Garmendia, chair of our Limay counterpart committee, was my guide for the house calls. Our first visit was to Silvia Chavarría Arosteguí. Silvia is 29 years old; she was only a year old when our friendship-community started. Now she has two children, ages nine years and eight months. Here is a picture of her holding the baby:
Silvia is one of our 30 scholarship recipients. She is in the fourth year of a five-year program of studies to become a licensed schoolteacher. She also works part-time teaching adults to read, and she says she is reaching her goals one grain of sand (un granito de arena) at a time.
I met about 20 other scholarship students during my time in Limay. They are happy about their opportunities for a better future, and every one of them asked me to thank the people of Baltimore.
These students receive an average of $150 per year for a partial scholarship, or $12.50 per month. A full scholarship is $300 per year. Will you consider supporting a scholarship, in full or in part, for a young person in Nicaragua?
Click here to donate to our projects.
Scholarships for college and technical school are only one of Casa Baltimore/Limay’s programs. Collaborating with our counterpart committee in Limay, we do a lot on a budget under $35,000.
♥ During my Limay home visits, I met four recipients of our food packets. You can “meet” them too, people like Filomena López, in the photo just below. Each month we provide food staples to 200 elderly and disabled people who have no family support. Few Nicaraguans have pensions, so the elderly without families are vulnerable. The packets mean food security for people who have so little.
Your donation of $85 will buy a year’s worth of packets for one person; $7 will pay for one packet.
♥ In November I encountered Víctor Rodríguez, a thin elderly man living near the village of San Lorenzo. He and his brother received a milk cow two years ago; the cow gave birth in April, and the calf will go to another family when it’s mature. Víctor is benefiting from our program of milk cows, chickens and beehives for poor families, with the animal offspring and new hives passed along to others. It is another example of the food security we support.
Poultry are an especially valuable gift for many poor families, because hens and roosters don’t need a pasture and can be kept near the family home. Eggs augment a family’s diet with vital protein, and extra eggs can be sold for income.
Will you promote food security in Limay? Six hens and a rooster for a family cost about $100. Fencing and a chicken coop for these birds will cost $180, or a pledge of $15/month.
Click here to donate to our projects.
♥ We subsidize CENIC, a preschool nutrition and education center for about 55 children at risk of malnutrition and stunted development. They get breakfast, lunch, and preschool classes five days a week. I visited CENIC in November and took a picture of the very cute kids you see below.
Will you help them? Our share of the CENIC budget is about $85 per child for a year, or $7 a month.
♥ I also visited with Irlanda del Carmen Bonilla Acuña. She is a beneficiary of our medical fund which paid for her travel to Managua for treatments. In addition to travel to medical appointments outside of Limay, the fund pays for prescriptions for people who couldn’t otherwise afford them, for those medicines not carried in the government health clinic.
Like our food security programs, the medical fund can mean a huge improvement in people’s quality of life in Limay – at times even the difference between life and death.
Will you support life and health in Limay? $125 pays for one month of our total medical budget.
I hope these descriptions help you feel what I experienced in Limay. Our ongoing work there affects people who are important to us. Through our programs, folks have more food to eat, people’s health is enhanced, and youth have a chance to contribute to Nicaragua’s future.
So I ask: Please give now, if at all possible. Your gift will be matched 1:1, and it will help us plan our budget for Limay projects in 2014. I hope you’ll dig deep, honoring 28+ years of friendship.
With grateful thanks,
Barbara Larcom, for Casa Baltimore/Limay
P.S. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can click here to donate. If you prefer, you can mail a check to Casa Baltimore/Limay, c/o St. John’s Church, 2640 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Thank you!!
Links