For 39 years, Feed the Hungry’s mission has been to support the nutritional needs of children in and around San Miguel de Allende. When our scope expanded to address the dire circumstances affecting our community during the COVID-19 pandemic, we became even more familiar with the hardships many of our rural citizens face every day. In response, we developed the Extended Alimentation Program, which aims to eradicate malnutrition within entire families by providing bags of food to households that present extreme cases of impoverishment and malnutrition.
Along with food provisions and education, every mother and child enrolled in the program is weighed and measured once a month. Our chefs and nutritionists use this information to make adjustments to the food ingredients and tailor information for the workshops.
Currently, there are 45 families in 5 communities benefiting from the program, which also includes home visits where we can observe living conditions. Most houses are poorly built, with wood for cooking, and many without refrigeration or clean water.
Recent workshops offered in these communities covered basic rules of hygiene to avoid the transmission of microorganisms
from person to person; food groups that should be included in meals and how to make adaptations for culture and traditions; and baby-led weaning to make mothers aware of the importance of introducing all food groups from six months of age for the future health of the child and the acceptance of foods from a varied diet.
from person to person; food groups that should be included in meals and how to make adaptations for culture and traditions; and baby-led weaning to make mothers aware of the importance of introducing all food groups from six months of age for the future health of the child and the acceptance of foods from a varied diet.
Some of the mothers proudly send photos of the meals they have prepared with the food delivered by Feed the Hungry. The children can be seen enjoying their very creative preparations.
The Extended Alimentation Program is managed by nutritionist Ana Laura Rojas Juárez, who, as a child, benefited from school meals served in the Feed the Hungry kitchen in her community.