YEAR END REPORT 2013

Year Report 2013

2013 Year-End Report
FUNDACION HUMANITARIA COSTARRICENSE
CEDULA JURIDICA: 3-006-204046.
Gail D. Nystrom, MA Ed.
Executive Director
Apartado: 458 Santa Ana Centro,
San José, Costa Rica
Telefono: (506) 8390-4192
Fax: (506) 2282-7629
E-mail: gnystrom@racsa.co.cr

This year was another active and dynamic one for our Foundation. We worked very hard to consolidate our programs and to provide quality experiences for all our volunteers.  As last year, we worked with hundreds of volunteers to fill our misión of supporting at risk populations as they continue to improve the quality of their lives.  We also continued to present our education seminars dealing with the eradication of poverty.

La Carpio low income community

Our three schools attended a total of more than 200 children combined. The children in the Model Education center graduated their first preschool experience with a happy ceremony atended by their proud parents. These four years olds are now prepared for their first year of public school, full of dreams, academic knowledge and social skills. 

The Libertad students continued to study and work hard to be top students in their class and to be on target with their academic skills.

Our Montesori school continues to provide high quality care for all the children whose parents were able to go to work.

The new grandmothers program flourished and grew during the yar. These grannies are active, and proud in their management of our thrift shop and our library. They are now beginning to do outreach work and home visits for even older people who are living in extreme poverty in homes that are more shacks than homes.

In keeping with our Carpio Clean, Green, Healthy and Happy, we continue with the trash clean up and house painting Project. We have now painted over 1500 houses in the community. In addition, we have been giving out bottle gardens all year.

Luz para mi Pueblo program is installing alternative light systems in windowless houses.  This program involves placing bottle lights in the roofs of houses and providing small solar panels that can light a lamp in the home and provide a way to recharge cell phones and computers.

We have worked more closely than ever with local community committees in planning our activities of infrastructure improvement in áreas that need assistance.

Our sports program continues to actively support more than 50 youth in their path toward healthy life styles.  We financed the transportation to games, and payment for referee fees as well as donating cleats and uniforms and having awards luncheons for these young people.

We have accompanied countless numbers of people as they go through life’s difficult moments.  Angie, our Little friend, passed away this year and we were with her family in those difficult times.  Many women were supported by our listening and supprtive team of women.  We provided food and food baskets to over 30- families per week.  

Finca

~Our finca continues to be a source of refuge for many different people. Nela and Jonathan have managed to keep the finca in good condition and have planted and harvested several rounds of vegetables.  They do a good job hosting sports teams, grandmothers, women and children for camps.  This year we were able to construct  a thatched roof indigenous temple on the side of the river.  The cabins on the property are ready to receive overnight visitors.

Indigenous

Our Indigenous program continues to flourish as the women are now hosting volunteers on their own.   The crafts Project has provided crafts in two different shops.  We look forward to bringing science and technology to these communities in the near future. We have expanded to work in two new indigenous communities in the southern zone of Costa Rica.

Small business initiatives

We have provided funding for several small business enterprises including small shops, sale of tamales and other informal inititiatives by women. Our Café Britt collaboration continues to grow, with the women making a good income from the production of products sold in the Britt stores around the world.  

Our angel doll production is steady and strong and four women are now earning from the sales of thes one of a kind hand made dolls.

The Pizza Boyz Project has been nearly completely constructed and we are looking forward to continuing this Project during the coming year.

We were able to distribute computers to ten different individuals in undersserved áreas along with training on responsible computer use.

Rural Communities

In rural ccommunities, we continued to build libraries and homes for very low income families. Our previously constructed Libraries flourish, providing space for Reading and cultural Exchange in many different communities.

Volunteers

Our Voilunteer program thrives with solid homestay programs, orientations and seminars about the eradication of poverty. Our hope is that we are inspiring youth visitors to look for opportunities for  activisim in their home communities.

Volunteers have the opporutnity to visit an indignous sacred site and a coffee plantation.

Administrative

We were approved for tax exmpt goods donations by the Costa Rican government. This occurred after an extensive oversight study by the Tax department .

We have acquired and learned to use a Smart phone

We have developed a new set of categories for our financial reporting which will simplify our reports to donors and the governemnt.  

 We are now able to recxeive donations through Paypal after going through the process of opening a new bank account with the Banco Nacional de Costa Rica.

Our Board has met on a regular basis and is actively involved in the development of the Foundation

Our Web page has been improved and is in constant revisión. The Facebook page continues to be active and informative.

We have signed on to use Gmail .

We are registered with epsy for future sales of our crafts.

Once again it is hard to find words to express the gratitude we have to all the donors, volunteers, well wishers and other helpers who accompanied us and believed in our visión and misión during the year of 2013.  Combatting poverty and breaking paradigms that people are stuck in requires an exponential amount of energy, time and resources and we are enormously proud of what we have been able to accomplish.  None of this would be posible without the good wishes, prayers and physical work of so many people.  

We look forward to continuing our work in 2014 as we expand to work more in the Southern zone.  

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