The Poco a Poco Children's Diner in San Pedro Itzicán Ricon area
Poco a Poco's Children's Diner moved in 2023 from our old office in San Pedro, initially to the terrace area at Anita's home, and since 2024, to the Community Center just across the road. (Our inauguration event was held on May 6, 2024.) It was wonderful to see the new dining area, with the new chairs and tables that Empressa Oxxo donated to us.
Anita hoped initially that she could find organizations that would provide enough food for the children, but as more and more kids came to eat, she has found these donations somewhat irregular and not enough for all the children who are now attending. So we try to raise funds to cover some of the food costs. And we look for regular donors to help with this.
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It's really important that the food is nutritious and healthy for these children - which of course costs money.
By the end of April 2024, there were between 160 and 180 children eating a meal, five days a week.
During holidays, the numbers are sometimes over 200 children each day.
It costs a lot of money to feed this many meals to over 160 children, five days a week.
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Poco a Poco contributes over 6,000 pesos a week to pay towards food, for fruits and vegetables, and meat for the meals.
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Anita gets delivery of food from some Guadalajara organizations, but she has to pay for the transport.
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We spend 880 pesos a week on tortillas, and
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The water 19 liter garrafons cost 665 pesos a week (for water based drinks for the children).
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Then there is the cost of gas for the truck to get supplies picked up - 1,000 pesos a week.
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We do get some donations of food, but meat is expensive and needs to be fresh.​
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We need better refrigeration for the food when its delivered. A walk-in refridgeration system would be best but would require solar electricity to run it. One really old refridgerator also needs replacement.
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Our grateful thanks to Fundación Querer y Hacer, German Hernández, Grupo Oxxo, the Chicken Chicks & Roosters, Puritan Poultry, and many others who donate food or money for food.
Donations towards Food are always needed so that we can continue feeding children. Given that many of these children only have one meal a day, they are always hungry.
The childrens kitchens that were initially set up and organized by Anita, are now run by CreSer A.C. (Grow, Create, Believe). Creser also distribute despensas (food packages) for renal patients and to the elderly.
CreSer leaders teach permaculture and many other exciting programs to educate people in the community. We appreciate what they are doing to help the community.
An estimated 70% of children in the San Pedro Itzicán area suffer from malnutrition, which is a major risk factor for kidney disease (which is prevalent in the area).
When we started feeding the children in 2020, an amazing team of volunteer mothers in San Pedro did the cooking, feeding more than 100 children, five days a week. When the program grew to other locations, stipends had to be paid to the cooks. It's a lot of work.
During early Covid, when things shut down completely in mid-March 2020, people were desperate for food. Poco a Poco provided despensas (basic food supplies) to over 1,900 families - each week. Thanks to the support from FoodBank Lakeside and many generous donors, the despensas (food packages) we were giving out each week. When people started to go back to work in August 2020, the focus returned to the needs of the children.
​Of course we had not budgeted for the crisis but we did the best we could in the circumstances and continue to do so.
One special group donates towards buying chickens for the food. The group is called the "Chicken Chicks & Roosters". These donors generously pre-pay to pay for chickens to be purchased for the meals.
Our grateful thanks to these donors and Rita Phillips and Sandi Lindsay, who coordinate the Los Sabinos "Chicken Chicks and Roosters". But we need more funding to include adding chicken to the weekly meals ... and we need more Chicken Chicks & Roosters!
Many people in these communities are facing many medical issues - especially renal failure. The most usual cause for this appears to be: 1. Genetics, 2. pesticide exposure, 3. malnutrition and 4. lack of clean drinking water.
We can't do much about genetics (these small communities have many inter-family marriages). There is known pesticide exposure by workers in high density berry farming. There is insufficient income to purchase protein and healthy food and drinks, so soda drinks are substituted (which are not good for young children). The water quality in the town's water is known to have heavy metals and people do not trust what they get from hoses connected to some of the homes. Many homes have poor sanitation habits; water treatment processes are not reliable so the water, garbage, etc., runs into the lake. Where people bathe.
It sounds so easy: "wash your hands, especially before handling food". But not much help if you can't afford soap.
There is widespread malnutrition. Young children, if not provided with enough protein and fresh vegetables or fruit, are very susceptible to renal failure. Dental health is also important for healthy heart and kidneys.
Families who receive food and despensas, are encouraged to "give back" by volunteering in their community - because we do believe that "A Hand up not a hand out" is the best way to go. Even during Covid, this continued. People helped clear areas of garbage or helped with other projects. It was a way for the people to find pride - so it wasn't just a "hand out".
A report from the University of Guadalajara that came out in late 2020 estimated that 4 out over 10 children living in the San Pedro Itzicán area will have renal problems - that's 75%. This is the link to the article in Spanish. This is tragic.
The Children's Dining program has become a safe place for the children to socialize and now, becoming a place of education too. See how we are evolving into providing more education to these children...
