Urgent News
Plea for an Emergency Medical Fund
Mayan families has built a relationship with you and a group of very loving donors, by working in a way very different from many other humanitarian aid organizations.
We value all you have to offer to the people of Guatemala, and work hard to build a very transparent and trustworthy relationship with you. In this relationship we empower you all to have considerable control over where and how and to whom you give.
We find we honor and serve these children and families best by telling their stories to you, and asking for funds designated specifically to them.
In this way, you know where your money goes, and the children and family get personal attention from you.
This works well in many cases, but we have found, not for emergency medical needs. We are often under tremendous pressure to meet the needs of crying, worried mothers who walk in the door with a sick child or a dying parent.
We know have a fair chance of fundraising for them, and listen and take their stories, but at that moment we have to turn them away with nothing. That is so painfully, hand-tying for those of us who works here.
Many times donors promise to help, but then are unable to give for both consultations and medicines. Many times donors send payment or checks, but it is too late, and the family who may have traveled from far off or taken time off work, has gone away, and resigned themselves to alternative treatment, no treatment, or worse options.
These are situations where it is not realistic to collect the story, send the family away, and then fundraise after the fact. We need a fund we can use for medical emergencies.
Sometimes we will be able to replace the funds with designated donations after the fact, but realistically, sometimes, a sick person may slip through the cracks and not receive a designated donation to meet their needs. For that reason this fund will need both monthly donors, as well as one-time generous, donors to get it started. We estimate, we can reasonably at this time sustain this fund with $100 monthly (10 - $10 per month donors), on top of a start up fund of between $600-$1000 at least to meet the current needs of those who walk in the door.
We are faced with the reality that the fundraising technique for school sponsorship is not working for emergency medical care. Please help us continue to work in the caring, personalized way we have, and still do justice to these struggling families, in their most painful moments of desperation.
Natural disaster has devastated Guatemala, and the area served by Mayan Families is among the hardest hit. We need your help now more than ever before.
Tropical Storm Agatha caused significant destruction with flooding and landslides, and the eruption of Volcan Pacaya spewed thick, black ash around the region. Lives have been lost, several hundred injured, homes and possessions destroyed, thousands of victims evacuated to shelters, crops washed away, and livelihoods severely impacted by the reduction in tourism.
You have probably read our reports over the last few weeks and seen stories in the news. Even though this Guatemalan crisis is no longer in the U.S. and international headlines, the disaster continues as many communities are being evacuated and hundreds of families are living in emergency shelters.
Together, we can make a difference! We are determined to help the people of the Lake Atitlan area recover and rebuild. As a friend of Mayan Families, you know our resources were spread thin even before this disaster struck. Thanks to the compassion and generosity of supporters like you, we have been able to supply many communities with food, clothing, blankets and
medical attention. We are doing all we can, but the need here is very great.
Even families that have not lost their homes are suffering because they have lost their jobs. Many of the villages have lost all the crops that they would sell to be able to feed their families in the coming months. Even worse-- many families have gone days without eating.
There is an incredible need for clothing, shoes, and blankets.
We need your help. Please consider supporting the Mayan Families disaster relief effort in Guatemala. There are important ways you can help by donating on our website.
$150 US Feeds a basic diet to a medium size family for a month
$35 US Large Basket of Food
$90 100 lb of Black Beans
$5 Carton of 30 Eggs
$54 Baby Formula for babies 12 months and under for 1 month
$30 Milk for infants 12 months and older for 1 month
$45 Double Mattress
$170 Bed and Mattress
$110 Wooden Table & Chairs
$110 Sink for Washing
$95/$100 Traditional Clothing
$8 Traditional Belt
$30 Leather Shoes
$5 Plastic Shoes
$6 Umbrella
$18 Extra Large Golf Style Umbrella
$115 Pila-two sided cement wash basin sink for washing
$170 Family Wardrobe
$45 100 lb bag of Corn (This makes tortillas for a family of five, 3 meals a day, for approximately two weeks)
$85 100 blocks to help rebuild.
$25 Per tin sheet for roofing.
$50 Water Filter for clean drinking water.
$160 Give a Fuel Efficient Onil Stove.
$60 Give an Ecomal portable stove.
$20,000 Build a school or add additional school rooms (depends on location, distance and size required) Land not included.
$90 Buy traditional clothing for a child or woman
$20 Buy a blanket
Even a small gift can make a big difference with the Mayan Families response to this urgent disaster. And if you have already given, please consider another donation.
The people of the Lake Atitlan area in Guatemala are counting on you, and they have nowhere else to turn.
Small donations can make a big difference.
It's your time to give hope.
To make a contribution please go to our website
http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateOnline
and go the General Donation section to send a donation. If you would like to nominate a special family or a sponsored student to receive your donation gift please send us their name or student number by e-mail to info@mayanfamilies.org
If you would like to pay by check please send your donation made out to:
Mayan Families
P.O. Box 52
Claremont, N.C. 28610
If you would like to give this gift in honor of someone special, please send us an email at dwight@mayanfamilies.org giving us the details and we will put them on our IN HONOR OF web page. If you would like to include a photo of your "someone special" we will also post their photo. To have an e-mail sent to the person you are honoring – please send us their email address. Thank you for your support.
Best wishes,
Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES
Tel: 619-550-2608
www.mayanfamilies.org
ABOUT US:
Mayan Families is a small non-profit group working in the Highlands of
Guatemala. We are a registered 501(c)(3) Non Profit Charity of the Internal Revenue Code. .
Your donation is tax deductible.
Thank you once again for supporting Mayan Families!
Thank you everyone for your prayers and good wishes.
The Church members are fine. Patti arranged for them to move to another hotel as they are also unable to leave Guatemala ...I think the airport is opening on Thursday but I am not sure.
There are four Mayan Families families staying at Patti's apartments, including our family.
Her other apartments were rented. Patti has people sleeping on her couches everywhere, she has been wonderful.
The Mayan Families crew has been just fantastic. Julio and Gloria were busy helping a family evacuate their home not realizing that their own home was in such danger. When they finally got to their home, they were unable to get everything out. Their home is still standing , as is Amelia's but it is too dangerous to live there right now. The river is now only about 6 feet from their home and is excavating underneath.
The Mayan Families crew turned up on the Saturday, worked all day and night, slept on floors and where ever they could and got up again, still muddy and damp and worked all day yesterday in the rain till 8pm till we got everything out.
We think we have a place for the offices to move today and I am going there now to see what the situation is.
We hope to be up and running as soon as possible because we know we will be inundated with needs.
We got all the new shipments out, all the donations are safe, all the students gifts are safe.
But we will not be able to give them out just yet.
There are a lot of donations that we will not be able to send you photos of.
The Bomberos came to us on Saturday evening needing dry clothing for children, shoes for people who had none, blankets etc, we were able to send boxes of these goods, ( thanks to you) to the emergency shelters ...the Bomberos distributed them but we just could not spare the people to go and take photos and I hope you will understand if you don't see photos of your donations . Believe me, they went to good use!
Our pre-school was loaded with mud and the street in front had to have all the mud dug out, we had to sand bag and thankfully the mud did not get into the pre-school itself but stayed in the garden area.
We received our first call for help from Ernesto who is a parapalegic. You may remember we built a house for him in Aqua Escondido... .he said that his house was filling up with mud and asked us to send help. Unfortunately, we couldn't as the back road from Panajachel to San Andres was already closed with mud slides and the other road out of Panajachel was closed with the waterfall cascading onto the road.
In Pixabaj where we have a family sponsored, the whole town disappeared. The school, the Centro Salud, two churches.and the houses..fortunately , after the experiences of Hurricane Stan 5 yrs ago the people saw that it was beginning to look very bad and the whole town climbed a mountain to get to higher ground but they will have only been able to take what they could carry with them.
Another sponsored family called us from Patulul , a little way to the coast, they were stuck in their house, a river had divided around them and they were surrounded, no electricity, no water , no food and very panicked. Julio called the Bomberos to make sure that the Bomberos in their area had the message that they needed to get this family out. We heard from them later and they had been winched to safety but they have lost everything.
Our house is unlivable... .parts of it have gone but the rest is undermined.. .so we won't be able to live in it.
There is much more to say but I have to go and get to work, we have much to do.
We really need as much help as possible, please spread the word, think about having a garage sale, sell beaded jewelry from here, we are happy to organize to send it to you, not only do you make money to send back to help the people,but you help the women who are making it by buying it.
Anything you can do will help.
Please understand it may take us a little while to answer emails.
Sharon