A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
Educating Children, Building Dreams
Community Aid & Disaster Relief
An estimated 60% of Guatemalans live in poverty and the sixth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world and the highest in Latin America. Guatemala is still recovering from a deadly, decades-long civil war that ended in 1996.
Only 40% of Guatemalan families enjoys food security. Chronic childhood malnutrition affects children of various age in Guatemala. The indigenous Maya people are most affected by the poverty with the majority of them live in poverty and extreme poverty. Indigenous Guatemalans remain targets of racism, exclusion (from land, labor, and education), and injustice.
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In addition to the country's poverty rate, Guatemala has been severely affected by multiple natural hazards, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tropical storms, hurricanes, flooding, and forest fires.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the already severely low food security. Many people are sick, some are dying, and countless others are losing their livelihoods because of the disease itself and because the quarantine prevents them from working and earning money. Right now, over one million people are currently in need of emergency food aid.
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Since 2017 El Lustrador has worked in several areas in distributing food, clothes, and other essential necessities throughout Guatemala where people live in extreme poverty and when natural disaster strikes.
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COVID-19 Relief Fund for Community Living in the Landfill in Zone 3, Guatemala City
Many Guatemalans have lost their jobs or can’t access informal work due to lockdown measures. This has resulted in a rise in malnutrition due to food shortages and increased price of essential everyday basic necessities. Families living in the area in Zone 3 Guatemala City who collect trash from the landfill as their main livelihood, have lost their income because of the pandemic. El Lustrador Foundation provided emergency assistance to help families fulfill their basic necessities. We accept monetary donation so we can continue to help the families in need. Donate here.
There are approximately 320 families with 2000 people living next to a landfill in Zone 3 Guatemala City. Many children of school age cannot afford school and help their parents work in the landfill where they comb through trash every day for items of the slightest value to sell for a penny. Families live in shanties made from found wood and sheets of corrugated metal and plastic.
Every year El Lustrador Foundation deliver donation to these families to help ease their burden. If you want to take part in helping these familiies, please donate here.
Food, Grocery, and School Supply Donation to Children and Their Family Who Live in the Landfill
Children's Day (el Día del Niño) Celebration
for Children Living in a Landfill
Every year, Children's Day is celebrated in Guatemala on October 1st. It is a special day celebrated by kids all over the country by playing games, watching performances, exchanging gifts, eating and drinking their favorite food.
However, not all children are lucky or can afford to celebrate their special day. Many children live in extreme poverty and oftentimes they have to work everyday to help their family make a living.
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Once a year on Children's Day, El Lustrador Foundation celebrates with children living in landfill and gives them opportunity to enjoy the same celebration many other kids have. On this special day, children whose families are too poor to afford a celebration were able to have a day off when they enjoyed each other's company by playing games, watching performances, dancing, receiving gifts, and eating treats. Putting a smile on every child's face is priceless and something that we plan to keep doing as long as we work in Guatemala.
Mother's Day Celebration for Moms Who Work in the Landfill
Every mother deserves to have a day off and has mother's day celebration. Mothers who work in the landfill don't have this privilege. For them, Mother's Day is just a regular day of combing trash.
On Mother's Day in 2019, El Lustrador Foundation surprised mothers and children with a modest but meaningful Mother's Days celebration where mothers and children had the opportunity to celebrate this special day .
On June 3, 2018, the Volcán de Fuego, a volcano in the Southern region of Guatemala, erupted in one of the most violent series of eruptions in a century. The eruption killed more than 100 people, 200 missing, over 12,000 evacuated and disrupted the lives of more than 1.7 million survivors.
The dangerous condition made access to affected areas difficult and government assistance could not cover enough areas to distribute emergency supplies.
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El Lustrador Foundation in joined cooperation with Rotary Club of Clarksburg and Casa de Español distributed emergency supplies, as food, water, clothing, medicine and other necessities to rescuers workers and to communities in San Juan Alotenango.
Emergency Relief for Victims of Volcán de Fuego Eruption
Truck Donation for Firefighters during
Volcán de Fuego Eruption
On June 2018, a catastrophic eruption of Guatemala's Volcán de Fuego affected more than 1.7 million people and caused the death of more tha100 hundred people. It was the deadliest eruption in Guatemala since 1929.
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The Fire Department Compania 55 of Alotnango only had 1 ambulance, they lost it together with 2 firefighters when the lava covered it while they were driving it to help the victims of the of the volcano eruption.
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El Lustrador Foundation in joined cooperation with Rotary Club of Clarksburg and Casa de Español donated a vehicle to be used as an ambulance to replace the one they lost, and some equipment for the firefighters of San Juan Alotenango, who participated in rescue work in the affected areas.
