News from GRACES

English classes expand opportunities for junior high students Last month, Escuela Integrada kicked off the 2024 school year with an exciting new opportunity—English classes for all junior high students! In partnership with Academia de Lideres Futuros (AFL), every student in 7th-9th grade will take English for an hour at the end of every school day. In 2023, GRACES provided scholarships and transportation for up to 15 students to take English…

Dear friends, I want to extend a huge “Thank You!” to each and every one of you who donated to our year-end campaign in December. This campaign quite literally puts food in the mouths of children who live in poverty. For the coming school year, the Meal Support program costs a total of $120,000. I will be honest with you—this keeps me up at night! The year-end campaign directly impacts…

The amounts we often take for granted make a significant impact in Guatemala Did you know that the average person spends $166 per month on dining out and $12 per Starbucks visit? A routine trip to McDonald’s weighs in at $7.77 per person per trip, and DoorDash food delivery costs the average American $37.28 per month. Let’s say in one month, you ate out, went to Starbucks four times, visited McDonald’s three…

Guatemala’s malnutrition rate is the highest in Central America and the fourth highest in the world. The hunger crisis has reached such a dramatic threshold that the government is unable to meet the needs of its own people. In 2021, National Geographic published a story with statistics that show the rise in food insecurity in Guatemala from minimal to crisis between February 2020 and June 2021, with the majority of…

From now through Dec. 31, we’ll be tallying donations in our year-end campaign to see A) which state has the most individual donors, and B) which state donates the largest total amount to help us feed the future in Guatemala! At press time, Pennsylvania was in the lead for the total amount given and there was a six-way tie for individual donors. Don’t see your state on the map yet?…

Help us feed the future in Guatemala Today is #GivingTuesday! Did you know that the families GRACES serves have an average household income of $240 per month? As you can imagine, the daily necessities are difficult to obtain with such limited resources. Food is precious and not taken for granted. When children receive breakfast and lunch at school five days per week not only does it have a dramatic impact…