Category: Nutrition

It has been a very exciting 3 months. We just learned that the Mathile Institute will provide Shoulder to Shoulder with funding to continue our Nutrition Project for six more months. So, instead of ending on August 30, 2018….we can now continue the project until February 2019. In order to do that, we need to match the Mathile Institute funds.Along with distributing the Chispuditos product, we just started to provide nutritional education to the mothers and fathers in our program. Thanks to the generosity of Jessica Minesinger (one of the members of our Board of Directors), Community Health workers now have a nutrition curriculum to use. We are hopeful that this education will also help to improve the health of the children in our program. Families lack information about good nutrition, and many children fill up on sugary drinks and salty snacks.  We believe that change comes through knowledge!

Ana Gisela, the Coordinator of Shoulder to Shoulder’s Micronutrient Program (MANI), waited anxiously for a week.  Everyday, she waited for the phone call that would tell her that the Chispuditos were on their way.  Why so much anxiety?  Well, when you have 16,800 bags of micronutrients traveling by truck from Guatemala to remote Honduras, over dirt roads, you tend to worry about whether they’ll arrive or not.  But, finally, they did arrive!  Then, there was the challenge to get the huge truck through the gate at the clinic.  Challenge was overcome, and the bags were finally at the clinic site.Next, there is the challenge to distribute the Chispuditos.  These 16,800 bags will be enough for 2 distributions — in  April and July.  All through the month of April, 18 Community Health Workers will be distributing 1/2 of the truck load (that is, 8,400 bags) to the 2,800 children in the program.

It takes lots of organizational skills to ensure that all these bags get into the homes of 2,800 needy children.  But, Gisela and her team are up to the task!