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Mayan Families has been recognized by the following organization(s): ABOUT US PROGRAMS OUR BLOGS DONATE NOW Support Our Work Monthly Donation Monthly Sponsorship Cost Free Donations For those donors in Guatemala Honorarium Cards Suggested Gifts Send Supplies Shipping Donations to Mayan Families Planned Giving Bequest Charitable Remainder Trust Gift Annuities Charitable Lead Trust Pooled Income Fund Life Estate Reserved Donate Stock Employer Matching Gifts Wish List Rotary Partnerships Bomberos Paramedics Firefighters In Kind Donations Program NEWS AND EVENTS SPREAD THE WORD GET INVOLVED FAQ - LINKS - FACTS CONTACT US MAYAN FAMILIES VIDEOS AND STORIES Urgent News A little over a month ago, Brenda was very concerned because her 9 year old daughter, Daniela was very pale and tired. She took her to a doctor and there started a parent's nightmare. Daniela was diagnosed with Leukemia. Daniela's father, Daniel, 39 years old, collects fares on the buses. He earns $6 US per day. He sometimes has work all week, other times, just for two days. The family lives in a rented house in Solola. They pay $60 per month. The mother , Brenda worked in a local restaurant washing dishes and cleaning tables. She earned $3 US per day. She was only able to get work 3 times a week. Her Mother- in - law lives with them and she minded the children when Brenda was working. The mother-in-law is 76 years old...and has a hernia....it was difficult for her to look after 2 young active children. Brenda is not in good health, she has been diagnosed with cysts in her ovaries. She is 30 years old and has more on her plate than most people ever need. For one month , Brenda has been in the hospital at her daughter's side. She is sleeping on the cold floor of the hospital , on just a blanket that she brought with her. Daniela is receiving free treatment from the hospital. She is receiving chemotherapy. The hospital gives all food to Daniela for free. But the mother has to buy her food. This is very expensive for the mother. Some days she can only afford to eat once a day. Her husband tries to come and visit as much as possible but he has to pay bus fare to the city which costs approx. $10 per trip for him to go to visit. He also needs to be able to buy his food ...and he has to find a cheap room to be able to stay overnight ...the hospital does not allow more than one parent there at a time. Combined with trying to pay for the bus fares, the food, the renting of a cheap room to stay over, the father also has to find money to pay the rent, the electricity and food for his mother and two children, Marcotulio 5 years and Harold 3 years old. Brenda has to stay one month more in the hospital. Then Brenda has to stay in the city, close to the hospital so that she can receive treatment.. This is a huge worry for the mother as she does not know anyone in the city and she does not have the money to rent a room. While the mother is sitting here telling me her story ...her 3 year old begins crying......he is hungry...he had breakfast this morning, tortillas with salt and has not had anything more to eat. Fortunately, I had a bag of 6 chipolin tamales that I gave them. None of the family had eaten since this morning. The children are often going hungry....Brenda is so sad as she tells this but she says there is nothing that she can do...there is no money. Brenda had a stroke 10 years ago, now her right hand side of her body where she had the stroke before is painful...she can hardly walk ...she is limping and says that sleeping on the cold floor at the hospital is causing her a lot of pain in her body. She is extremely stressed as you can imagine anyone would be in this situation but she has the problem that she doesn't even have the bus fare to get back to the city tomorrow. She is not worried about having food for herself but she is very worried for her two little ones as they are going hungry so many days. This is the first time that she has been able to come home in one month ....she is hoping that she may get one days work at the restaurant tomorrow to be able to pay her fare but her body is so painful it is doubtful that she will be able to stand to wash dishes. The family is asking for help to get them through this terrible time. The hospital is now asking that they bring in 12 donors to give blood as Daniela needs to receive blood transfusions. In Guatemala , people do not usually donate blood. It has to be purchased, you have to pay a donor to go to the hospital and give blood. It costs approx $50 including paying their bus fare to the city and to pay the lunch for each person to go . This is an impossible amount for this family. If you an help them with any small amount to help the mother get back to the hospital .....and to help her to have some food for her family, it would be so very much appreciated. Sharon www.mayanfamilies.org 20 years ago, Francisca was diagnosed with diabetes. Having received very little information on her disease from the doctors, her life did not seem greatly affected by this revelation, until 3 years ago when 60-year-old Francisca was told she needs insulin injections to control her glucose levels.Since then, she has suffered from numerous health complications due to her financial inability to take this medication daily. Two years ago she went blind. She was given medication to deal with this issue, but it only helped abate the problem, her vision remaining cloudy to this day. When her blood sugar is too high, she experiences debilitating headaches. Worst of all, for the past few months she has been battling with gangrene on her right foot. In February, she went to the hospital to get her toe checked out. The doctors gave her antibiotics and kept her under surveillance for 16 days. At the end of her hospitalization, the doctors told her she was fine, but it wasn't long before the unhealthy color and discomfort returned. Francisca has been attending the Mayan Families Diabetes Club for months. Thanks to the information our club supplies and our doctor's advice, Francisca was able to determine that she is in need of help. She has been working hard to control her glucose levels, but buying insulin has not been easy for her. She lives alone with her 24-year-old unemployed daughter in a one room house. At times they struggle to buy food, turning insulin into an expendable luxury that she can only afford on occasion. If you would like to help provide Francisca with the help she needs, please go to Donate Now and scroll down. In the Other $ section, insert the amount of your donation. In the Details box, write D-59 Francisca Medical Aid. She is in desperate need of seeing a private doctor as soon as possible so that she can save her toe! You can also provide her with a vile of insulin for $15 US. Using this essential medication consistently will make it less likely that this will happen to her again. If you would like to help Mayan Families continue to support this ignored population, please consider donating to our Diabetes Club. Thank you! This week a young mother from a nearby village of Santa Catarina came to the office....she has a child approx. 3 years old...another one who is 14 months old and she is 5 months pregnant.Her mission coming to our office was to find out if anyone would like to adopt the child she was pregnant with. She is living in a very dangerous situation with her husband who is very physically abusive. She can no longer take living with him and fears for her life and the safety of her children. She was very desperate when she came to talk to us. She had gone to see her parents and asked if she could move back home with them. Her father told her that she could not come home bringing this new baby. ...that she had to give it away.Gloria, the Mayan Families staff manager, called the mother in and talked to her. The mother is in agreement to have the daughter come back home ...and not give the baby away and she feels that she can convince the father....but that they cannot afford to feed the daughter and the children. On Friday, we helped the young mother move her very small amount of possessions back into her parents very small home. This family does not have a FA number but our hope for them is that we will be able to find a sponsor/s who will be willing to help with food for the family...even if it is only $60 a month....and help with the medical check ups for the mother while she is pregnant. The mother of this woman feels that her husband will not insist on the daughter giving up her baby...if we can provide food for the daughter and the children. If you can help or know of anyone who would want to help this family, please let us know. Thanks,SharonSharon Smart-Poage MAYAN FAMILIESa registered 501.(c).(3) Non Profit Charity Scan this QR code to Donate to Mayan Families on your Smart Phone.	Donate Sponsor A Student Renew Sponsorship Holiday Food Basket Donate Stock *Stock Donations:* Donating stock is a wonderful way to help MAYAN FAMILIES fund programs to end poverty and suffering. Whether your portfolio performance was above market averages or even if you had a decline in your portfolio value, donating stock to MAYAN FAMILIES is a wise investment in breaking the cycle of poverty. *Save Children, Women and Families—With Appreciated Stock:* If you have stock that you have owned for more than one year and it has appreciated since you purchased it, you can save on the capital gains tax you would owe if you sold it yourself by donating the stock to MAYAN FAMILIES. And since MAYAN FAMILIES is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, you will be entitled to an income tax deduction for the full current market value of your gift, to the extent allowed by law. Here is an example: Ms. I. Am Amazing purchased 100 shares of XYZ stock three years ago at $50 per share, or $5,000. This stock is now worth $100 per share, or $10,000. If Ms. Amazing sells the stock, she will pay capital gains taxes on the $5,000 of appreciation. If Ms. Amazing donates the stock to MAYAN FAMILIES, she is entitled to a charitable deduction of $10,000 from her taxes and pays no capital gains tax. You can also deduct stock donations equal to an amount of up to 30 percent of your adjusted gross income, and any excess deductible amount can be carried over for as long as five years to offset income or capital gains taxes. *How to protect Impoverished Children, Women, Families, Orphans, the Elderly—and Your Investment Portfolio:* Another option for using your "long-term" appreciated stock to fight poverty is to donate the stock to MAYAN FAMILIES and either repurchase the shares on the market or diversify your assets by purchasing securities of an equal value in different sectors and industries. Not only will you be able to claim a charitable deduction for the fair market value of your gift, you will also minimize any capital gains tax when you eventually sell the replacement shares. Here is an example: Ms. I. Am. Amazing purchased 1,000 shares of GGG stock three years ago for $3,000. The stock has a current value of $44,000. She donates the 1,000 shares to MAYAN FAMILIES and is thereby able to claim a charitable deduction for the fair market value of $44,000 while avoiding capital gains taxes on the profit of $41,000. Ms. Amazing then buys 1,000 shares of GGG stock for $44,000. If, after holding the replacement shares for more than one year, Ms. Amazing decides to sell out and the shares are then worth $50,000, she will pay capital gains taxes on only the $6,000 of profit garnered by the replacement shares, rather than the $47,000 of profit that she has made overall on the GGG stock. The other $41,000 of profit is never taxed. *How to Turn a Stock Market Loss Into a Win:* If you took a loss in the stock market, you can still help MAYAN FAMILIES campaigns against poverty! By selling stock at a loss and then making a donation to MAYAN FAMILIES of the same amount of money that the stock was sold for, you can do the following: You can claim a charitable deduction for the gift. You can deduct the stock's decrease in value from your other income, thereby reducing the taxes you pay. You can deduct up to $3,000 ($1,500 if you are married filing separately), but any amount of loss above that can be carried over to future years until completely deducted. Here's an example: Ms. I. Am Amazing purchased 100 shares of ABC stock three years ago at $50 per share or $5,000, but it's now worth only $20 per share, or $2,000. Ms. Amazing doesn't expect the value of the stock to go up anytime soon. If Ms. Amazing were to donate the depreciated stock to MAYAN FAMILIES, she could claim a $2,000 deduction. But if Ms. Amazing sells the stock and donates the $2,000 value to MAYAN FAMILIES, she can also claim a $3,000 capital loss deduction ($30 loss per share times 100 shares). Assuming that she has no capital gains, she would be able to deduct the $3,000 from her income ($1,500 if she is married and filing separately, and carry over the remaining $1,500 capital loss to deduct from income or capital gains in future years). *For More Information:* As always, we suggest that you consult with your independent financial, tax, and legal advisor for specific help with your particular situation, as the above is intended as an introductory outline only and MAYAN FAMILIES does not provide financial, tax, or legal advice. But if you would like more information about the various ways in which your stock holdings can be used before year’s end to benefit impoverished children and families in rural Guatemala—and yourself—please email us at dwight@mayanfamilies.org or call us at 619-550-2608.
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