NOTES FROM THE FIELD

Guatemala City, Guatemala – 2013

Jewish Helping Hands (JHH), started by Rabbi Joel Soffin and friends, has teamed up this year with Plenty and Grupo de Soya Santa Maria to continue providing nutrient rich foods to undernourished and vulnerable children, and related education activities for mothers living in extremely difficult conditions at the entrance to the Guatemala City waste dumpsite. In February JHH donated $5,000 to help sustain the children’s nutrition supplementation service through the beginning of next year. - Chuck Haren

Bajo Rio Lempa, El Salvador – 2013

Representatives from Plenty Austin are providing technical support, tools and materials to help subsistence farming families in San Carlos, Rancho Grande and Taura, in the Bajo Rio Lempa area of El Salvador, to address nutrition and economic development needs. Families are establishing production of non-gmo soy and red beans, and increasing production of chaya, moringa, papaya and other crops rich in vitaminA/beta carotene. Farming families are also learning to use locally available Neem tree seeds to protect field crops, gardens and homes against insects. These efforts, along with soy food processing and nutrition education activities, are being carried out in response to local requests for assistance, and in cooperation with the non-profit El Cuenco and the University of El Salvador (UES) School of Medicine. A grant from The Trull Foundation in 2012 made it possible to deliver much needed water filters, tools, equipment and seeds to families who had lost most personal possessions to extreme flooding. – Chuck Haren 

Chimaltenango, Guatemala – 2013

In Chimaltenango, Guatemala the women’s organization Tecnologia para Salud (TPS or Technology for Health) and Amado Del Valle are establishing a nursery for propagating and distributing plants and trees that have insecticide and erosion control properties. With the support of a grant from The Atkinson Foundation, Plenty representatives are working with TPS and Amado Del Valle to help 80 subsistence farming families grow trees and plants near their fields, both to protect against erosion and to provide a resource to make their own organic insecticide. This “Essencial Seeds and Trees” program is also helping farming families to increase production of non-gmo soy and native black beans. – Chuck Haren