From Nate Bacon, one of our Missions Partners with Innerchange in Guatemala:

“If you and/or friends would like to help with an immediate need, we are trying to get grocery gift cards to the families Fito and Nanci are working with in the garbage dump of Guatemala City.  We are working to raise $500 as soon as possible.

Donors can give through our umbrella organization, Novo:   https://www.novo.org/projects?fund-code=4461-00

This pandemic has us all reflecting and searching for ways to be united and somehow make sense of what it means to live and love our neighbor in this time. Like many others, our Innerchange teams in Guatemala City, Sumpango, Xela, and Tegucigalpa are humbly doing everything they can to support the most vulnerable in these crucial moments, while still staying safe and heeding the urgent directives.

Just one example.  The Guatemala City garbage dump slum areas where our missionaries Fito and Nanci live and serve are reliant on the dump for their daily survival.  3,000 people work directly in the dump, scavenging recyclable materials, but a community of 30,000 relies on the whole process.

The dump is now closed to all those workers, and so 30,000 hard-working folks who live day-to-day are now left with nothing during this time.  And at this time of greatest need, 30 NGOs that work in that area pulled out their staff.  Fito and Nanci and their network are doing all they can to help address the needs.  But it will soon get desperate.  All over the world, similar situations are happening, and it is urgent that we do not forget our neighbors in most need, even as we shelter in place.

I am grateful for all the creativity and generosity that so many are bringing to these needs, but we (they) need so much more.  These are times for even greater solidarity across every barrier and border.  May God help us to be instruments of peace and hope!  Please keep all of us in Central America in your hearts and prayers…as you are in ours.”