It has been a very busy 2025. Halfway through the year already, and we have a lot to tell! We would like to start by dedicating this newsletter to our supporters who continue to provide us with the resources to carry out our programs. During these very challenging times for everyone, your unfettered moral, financial, and volunteer support shows that you are the brave souls who rise above and provide a safety net during difficult moments. Thank you.
We’ve had a busy summer volunteer program!
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🌱 Annual Fundraiser Update
At the end of our 2025 1st quarter newsletter, we announced our annual fundraiser. Unfortunately, due to a number of factors, we canceled the event. We refunded ticket fees to those who purchased them, and we are grateful to the Marriott Hotel for waiving charges.
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📚 Youth Development & Education
We continued our work in youth development, providing tutoring and supplemental support that aligns with the public school curriculum, including English, math, science, history, art, and theater.
We were very excited to finally receive the computers for our computer lab! Donated by our dear friend Julio, we can now offer introductory classes in Word, Excel, and typing to our beneficiaries. This program, led by Marisol, is helping us expand our capacity-building operations. The computer lab is housed in the Centro Modelo building next to the police station.
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🎨 Volunteer Support & Improvements
Spring break brought a group of kind and caring volunteers to our centers in La Carpio. They helped with various tasks, including painting the Centro Modelo and the police station.
The Centro Modelo and all our centers received much care during this time. Spring cleaning brought a fresh look for our beneficiaries and volunteers to enjoy. We cleared out two storage closets, creating better spaces for Drs. Joe and Patrick and friends to carry out their chiropractic work.
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👵 Abuelas & Community Theatre
The abuelas continue to put on new and creative plays sharing their stories. These performances inspire and provide emotional support to the senior population of La Carpio.
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📲 Social Media Initiatives
Last year we featured Success Stories from the Field, highlighting how our work creates sustainable solutions. This year, we’ve launched a new series on Early Childhood Development, aiming to create a more educational and inspiring social media space. Don’t forget to like, share, and tag us!
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🛏 Bunk Bed Program
We continue to provide bunk beds through one of our critical needs programs. While demand is not what it was when we started 20+ years ago, we still find urgent situations in La Carpio and with new arrivals that require improved sleeping conditions. Thanks to all the volunteers who participate—a simple act can change a life.
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🫱 Volunteer Education & Partnerships
As part of our secondary mission, we work with volunteers to show them the realities we live every day and foster greater sensitivity to our beneficiary populations. We demonstrate our model of development and discuss the challenges faced by La Carpio, Costa Rica, and beyond.
We were excited to welcome for our summer volunteer program:
• Franz and Elizabeth, who brought us several volunteer groups this year that have greatly contributed to youth development. Their ongoing support has been vital in enriching the educational experiences of our children.
• A wonderful group of middle school volunteers from the European School. We thank them for their fundraising efforts, donations, and the work they did painting the computer lab and police station, as well as supporting youth development.
• Jacob, a pre-med individual volunteer, is sorting through years of medical records from our former clinic. His work helps preserve our legacy while gaining valuable insight for his medical career.
• Friends from Central Connecticut State University, who contributed to painting efforts and learned about our community.
• Texas Tech honors students, who shadowed our collaborators across food, shelter, health, education, and sports programs. They also gave a professional presentation to their fellow scholars about our main pillars of food, shelter, and health.
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💛 Health, Wellness, & Relief
Our health education program has been a key focus this quarter. Led by Gail and Steven, these sessions provide preventative healthcare education, teaching about:
• body systems and organ function
• healthy nutrition, including using smoothies for better health
• the benefits of honey and other nutritious foods
• hormones related to menopause and other health concerns
Steven creates helpful visuals, and together they answer participants’ questions to promote better health awareness.
Our visiting doctors program returned, and alongside it we distributed hygiene kits to reinforce the importance of self-care and prevention.
Our partnership with Visit.org resulted in the donation of 50 teddy bears, which have already been distributed to our regular students, and the hygiene kits that complemented our health outreach efforts.
Our elderly population especially benefited from the interaction with the yoga teachers from Lakshmi Rising, who helped them gently stretch dormant muscles, bringing comfort and vitality.
Our chiropractor friends Joe, Patrick and their spouses Nicolle and Ericka, have been a delight to host as part of our family volunteer program. They have supported youth development and the bunk bed program.
🪶 Casa Quetzal
We have some very exciting news coming for Casa Quetzal. We have been a bit quiet on this, but we continue to open our doors to the world from our Casa Quetzal Conference and Retreat Center.
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💬 A Final Word
Overall, we had a productive and inspiring spring 2025. We are deeply grateful for everyone who visited and supported us during these challenging times. We always aim to make visits mutually beneficial—enriching both visitors and our community.
Our programs support over 500 youth in La Carpio through education and sports, and we provide fresh fruits, vegetables and meats, home improvements, emergency medical care, seed money for small business enterprises, and emergency relief to over 500 people a week.
👉 Please consider supporting our work this year—whether through a donation or volunteering. Your help ensures we can continue addressing food security, safe housing, stronger health, quality education, sports, and emergency relief.
📧 Contact us at fundacionhumanitariacr@gmail.com to learn how you can help.
We offer tax-exempt donation options in both Costa Rica and the United States.
Thank you for your continued generosity and for shining your light when it’s needed most!