One Neighbor Makes a Big Difference in Nicaragua

Published in November, 2020.

Since April, 2020, David Sanchez has been supplying food and hygiene supplies to humble people in La Concepcion, Masaya, Nicaragua. Here are David's own words about how he has been working with CommonGoods Network, amidst emergent circumstances - a global pandemic and multiple natural disasters - to support families in his area.

With the help of many friends who donated, we have fed 13 families for 5 months after the pandemic caused their work to disappear and made access to feeding themselves much more difficult.

There  was nothing better to see the kids smiling when their parents received the food supplies.

With a small volunteer team, we started in April, fundraising and got ready to deliver food supplies to some families in La Concepción. CommonGoods Network helped us to  collect the donations to provide some food for these in needs.

In September, there were some friends wanting to continue supporting our food program in La Concepcion , Masaya, and I was very happy to continue helping my community. CommonGoods Network helped me to set up a new fundraiser campaign on Facebook to receive the donations, and a lot of support came to us for the community.

On Nov. 3, strong gusts of wind whipped my town of La Concepcion. We knew the internet could be cut, so I assured my friends I was okay and praying hard! The next day, media reported that victims of Hurricane Eta  were starving and asking for supplies from the Nicaraguan government because they had been 2 days without food. The Nicaraguan government reported that there were 30,000 people at the hurricane shelters, two deaths reported from a landslide, and floods expected toaffect the northeast of Nicaragua. I was worried, and also thinking about what I could do to help, as a new hurricane was now on its way to Nicaragua and Honduras. We prayed this storm would not make too much damage.

Climate change is becoming more notorious in Central America.
We had two hurricanes in 8 days.

I did find beauty in the middle of the storm.

When we woke up without communications with the East Coast on Nov. 17, we could only hope our brothers and sisters were okay. Now more than before I knew we needed to support our neighbors, even in other towns.

We decided to deliver food and hygiene supplies to 3 communities in Tola, Rivas. Working with volunteers and my church, thanks to all the support and CommonGoods Network, we shared 100 packages!

Managua and many cities all around the country have been affected by flooding due to the recent hurricanes. In the cities like Matagalpa and Jinotega, Eta and now Iota destroyed the crops of Beans, rice and vegetable. CommonGoods Network again helped us to  collect donations to provide some food for these in needs. After Hurricane Iota, almost 80% of crops were gone. I knew in Nicaragua we would be in need of beans, rice and vegetables.

We are very glad to continue supporting these families in need. To see the smile of our brothers and sisters is priceless.

We hoped to reach the most affected villages. We had the opportunity to share supplies with our brothers and sisters from Las Salinas, in Tola. Thanks to all of you for your collaboration. I thank everyone for trusting us and for having love for Nicaraguans. We still are hoping to reach more communities in the Caribbean region.

You still can contribute to support this purpose! Thanks to all of you for your sweet contributions. Some families still are in need and your contributions will give us the opportunity to share the food supplies that they need it.

We are grateful to be in a position to help people in Nicaragua and throughout Latin America.
Thank you to David for continually reaching out to cultivate trust and facilitate resource-sharing to build a better world!