1ST QUARTER 2026
As we move through the first months of 2026, the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation continues its mission of creating a better quality of life for at-risk populations. This quarter has been defined by renewal—both of our physical spaces and the health of the communities in Costa Rica we serve.
Food Security & Support
Our food program remains a 365-day commitment, providing over 2,000 people with nutritious meals every week.
Through our food program we continue to provide healthy diets to 30+ families which lasts them up to a week. We are receiving requests for emergency assistance for several reasons and can provide at least the very basics to support people in becoming independent.
Auto Mercado continues to provide for our team and beneficiaries through their food program.
Housing & Infrastructure
With the rain receding, we have turned our focus toward long-term stability and maintenance.
- Renewing Our Spaces in La Carpio: After more than two decades of constant use, our centers are receiving much-needed care. We are thrilled to share that, thanks to Francisco’s efforts, we have secured a grant through the Swiss Embassy to renovate these vital community hubs.
- Río Torres Project: While the immediate urgency of flooding has lessened with the dry weather, the risk for the community remains. We are continuing our advocacy and fundraising for the relocation initiative. A special shout-out to volunteer Cat Carol, whose story about the Río Torres challenges was recently featured in The Guardian.
- Bunkbed Program: Thanks to the labor and financial support of visiting volunteers we were able to build and deliver 10 bunkbeds over the last few months. This included for the children of single mothers and grandparent guardians who foster their grandchildren.
Health & Health Education
This quarter, we welcomed medical professionals and students who assisted with general health checks for persons from Quitirrisi Indigenous Territory, La Carpio and neighboring communities.
- Vision Care: While most of our youth are healthy, our recent screenings identified vision health as a primary challenge. We were excited to welcome our friends from Amigos Eye Care this month to provide specialized exams. Through joint efforts we provided exams and care for over 500+ beneficiaries.
- General Health: Thanks to the visit of our friends from Valparaiso, we were also able to provide general health checks and dental care for 300+ beneficiaries in La Carpio.
- Mental Health: In our Youth English & Counseling classes, we’ve shifted focus to “the language of the heart”—helping students identify and manage emotions to build long-term confidence and empathy.
Education & Sports
- Montessori & Literacy: We have returned to our roots in indigenous and rural populations, emphasizing the importance of literature and reading comprehension. In La Carpio, our Montessori students celebrated their “First Day Back” by creating personalized pencil cases to claim ownership of their learning.
Our three centers in La Carpio continue to serve youth in a variety of activities including tutoring, arts, nutritional support and more.
We continue to share literacy programs with our indigenous friends including through “My Book is My Friend” program. This focuses on strengthening the public schhool programs through reading, critical thinking, creativity and arts. - Soccer Success: The Rescate soccer team is a mighty force this year! They recently debuted their cool new uniforms and are already showing great sportsmanship on the field. The U14 also won the championship, once again becoming top performers on a national level.
- English & Pizza: Our Sunday English program, sponsored by our chiropractic friends, remains a favorite. Combining learning with community building (and pizza!) has proven to be the perfect formula for engagement.
- Computer Lessons: We continue to strengthen our computer lab lessons in the Centro Modelo. Marisol has been leading this effort, showing youth the basics of Office Suite and comuter science. We also secured funding through the Swiss Embassy to open our second computer la building on the success and demand for the current program.
- Volunteer Support: Volunteers from across the globe are coming to support our work in education and sports. Groups from University of Connecticut,
- School Insertion Kits: With the beginning of classes, families face the challenge of purchasing all the scholastic materials the public system requires. We support these families by creating school instertion kits and easing the financial weight this time of year brings for single mother heads of house holds, foster parents and other vulnerable populations. We also did our yearly spring cleaning and organized our centers, cleaning out any old materials and refreshing the space to prepare for the new cohort of youth.
- National Theatre visit: A group of youth from our center were sponsored to visit the national theatre to watch a play. As part of our support in arts, we welcomed the invitation and the kids were very excited to go on this field trip.
SME’s and Capacity Building
- SME’s: There have been several families and single women with children coming to our center looking for support. We assess the situation and address the most urgent needs first, including food, clothing and shelter. We simultaneously work to find economic opportunities including in women’s beauty and care, baking and other simple abnd profitable entrepreneurships. We continue toi support the beneficiaries through the process until they become fully independent and no longer rely on the CRHF services. Lately this includes many Venezuelan returnees and the constant flow of Nicaraguans.
- Capacity building: We continue to work with our beneficiaries in improving capacitates including in teaching skills, basic education, computer skills among others to ensure they have the tools to integrate into a competitive labor market.
Volunteers & Right Action
Volunteers remain the heartbeat of the CRHF. This quarter, we’ve seen a wonderful exchange of friendship and service:
- Team Tuesday Spotlight: We recently highlighted Harold, a collaborator of nearly ten years. His journey from painting a single wall to becoming a leader in our building projects embodies the spirit of our Model of Development.
- Indigenous Groups Support: We continue to support our Huetar friends from the Quitirrisi indigenous territory. Through cultural visits and medical care, we continue to support the strengthening and enrichment of indigenous culture among local and international visitors. We also provided our longtime partner in the Cabecar Bajo Chirripó region with urgent healthcare due to a medical crisis he had recently. Flagler College was one of the groups who visited this quarter to learn from our Quitirrisi friends.
- Spring Break Groups: This March, we welcomed groups like Ohio U. OUZ Social Work, who visited to learn about our spiral model of development while providing hands-on support in La Carpio. We also formed part of a panel on Study Abroad and volunteering at the Universidad Hispanoamericana for a group of Students from UNLV.
We also hosted students from the Private School Blake from Minnesota who learned about the community model of development and did house visits to learn about the challenges and opportunities for the people of La Carpio.
Allen-Stevenson School returned and provided the community of La Libertad support and days full of fun and educational activities for the youth.
Numerous other organization and universities visited to provide essential services from health to education and housing infrastructure during the spring break season.
We would like to send a heartfelt thank you for those of you who chose to support underserved communities during the spring break volunteer season. - Casa Quetzal: We continue to develop Casa Quetzal as a space to share experiences and knowledge on peace building and indigenous traditional knowledge. We also provide it as a space away from all the hustle and bustle to decompress and reflect on our work and impact in the world.
- Walking to La Carpio: Our chiropractic friends from Minnesota, Dr. Joe and family came up with a fun activity for the youth of their congregation. Walking the distance from Minnesota to La Carpio accumulated between the group of youth over several days. They have been learning about our beloved community and what a thoughtful gesture and way of continuing to support us after their time in CR.
- Success Stories: We celebrate Alcides, a beloved collaborator who is currently learning to read at age 45 while fostering eight children. His determination is an inspiration to us all.
- Boys Fishing Trip: Thanks to the thoughtful support of our donors, the boys who work all year-round hauling food boxes upstairs and so much more, were gifted a fishing boat trip which was well deserved after a very busy end of year.
- Dr. Pat and Wife Ericka Water Project: Chiropractor Dr. Pat has become increasingly involved in support our community in La Carpio. He is working on installing a clean water system so the the community of La Libertad and Rio Torres will have access to continuous safe drinking water. This in addition to his continued support through his chiropractor services.
- Dr. Joe, Nicole and Familia: Dr. Joe who also started providing chiropractor care for our community, and his wife Nicole working with youth, has become more involved over the opast year. Son Xander worked to save up to spend four months with us providing support to our beneficiaries and building bunkbeds.
- Carla and Paul Niosi: Carla and Paul have been visiting once monthly to work with our collaborators to improve their physical health through craniolsacral therapy and other techniques. Carla has been working with youth on different creative activities.
- Irene and Frederick: Visiting from Europe, Irene from Spain and Frederick from Germany spent a month of their free time in Costa Rica. Between La Carpio and indigenous communities, they provided vital support in improving our buildings and translating for medical volunteers, among other activities.
- Cooper: Individual volunteer Cooper from Washington has been a great support over the past few months, focusing on youth development and remaining flexible and adaptable to the challenges of the day.
- Jake: We bid farewell to Jake from Chicago who has been with us for an entire year! He was great support in different areas from interpreter to helping organize medical data. We tried to support him in his professional path, as he spent some of the time here applying for medical school successfully. We hope Jake great success in his future and know that he will be a great contribution to society.
- Masitas: We received a generous donation of Masitas Playdough for our centers which we have always enjoyed working with. Thanks to this SME for giving back in form of CSR – Right Action.
- La Carpio Clean-Up: CRHF was present during an activity organized by Greenwolf which consisted of cleaning the “Terminal” sector of La Carpio by the landfill. This was in collaboration with several other non-profits that work in the area including Casa Ilori, ASOCODECA and SIFIAIS, the Municipality of San Jose and the company that manages the landfill, EBI.
Looking Ahead
We spent a good part of this early year cleaning out closets and discarding boxes of receipts. It was a walk down memory lane looking at the 10’s of thousands of receipts for moneys spent on countless Right Action. We can’t help but be immensely grateful for all the hearts and souls who have come through the Foundation over the 30+ years of operation with the goal of making the world a better place.
Towards the end of the 1st quarter, we received notice that Francisco had successfully applied for a grant through the Swiss which will help improve our infrastructure, build collaborator morale and strengthen our programs in La Carpio into the foreseeable future.
We also published our 2025 Year End Report which can be found on our website. It’s always rewarding to look back at the year’s work and use it to plan into the future.
As we look toward the rest of 2026, we remain committed to our Model of Poverty Reduction. Whether it’s through the upcoming renovations in La Carpio or expanding our educational reach to indigenous and in coastal communities like Uvita, your support makes this work possible.
How You Can Help:
- Donate: Your contributions provide bunk beds, school materials, and food security.
- Partner: We welcome local and international companies to join our CSR initiatives.
- Volunteer: Come experience “Right Action” firsthand.
Thank you for sharing our dream!