Microbuses provided life-saving resources during pandemic

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the families of Escuela Integrada was significant. In a normal year, the families we serve experience moderate to severe food insecurity. The pandemic exacerbated the situation, and many families were forced to raise a white flag indicating that they were desperate and worried about starving to death.

“Those were very difficult times,” said Lesbia, a mother who had a son at Escuela Integrada during the pandemic. “[If the school hadn’t helped us], we wouldn’t have had food.”

Microbuses are a life-saving resource for GRACES. Every 15 days for almost two years, we were able to drive food to families who had nothing. A family from Escuela Integrada received a food bag and critical supplies for their survival during a very scary time in Guatemala.

This is a massive operation of shopping, packing and distributing food both at the school and in the many small villages where the students live—which was only possible because we had our own transportation. We followed strict curfew rules, went on long drives to gather supplies and met grateful hearts with each stop.

“I can’t imagine what would have happened to my family without the support of Escuela Integrada [during the pandemic],” said Lesbia. “The school supported us a lot.”

GRACES provided 110,796 meals for families in 2020 and continued supporting families with food assistance well into 2022 while kids remained at home. We are grateful that we were able to meet such an acute need by having access to transportation.

While we hope and pray that we will not experience another pandemic, we know that delivering food will always be part of our mission. Even without a pandemic, we bring food to families with every Vision Trip and during the students vacation months of November and December. We simply would not be able to continue this part of our mission without the microbuses.

As we approach the end of August and the end of our microbus fundraiser, we ask you to prayerfully consider a financial gift to help us purchase a new microbus. Will you help us reach the finish line?

In Solidarity,

Hannah Nadeau Girón
Executive Director of GRACES