From Mayan Families, An NGO in Panajachel, Guatemala

Families Receiving Tamale Baskets

Thank you all for donating for families to receive Tamale Baskets! Families are filling the streets waiting to receive theirs, and it is a beautiful, joyful sight.

However, some families are coming around that have not had confirmation of receiving their donation. These families are crowding our gate, hoping to receive word.


Donate now to give the feeling of relief and gift of a Tamale Basket for Christmas. Just $35 will feed up to 10 people. To donate go to:

www.mayanfamilies.org/DonateOnline

Christmas Tamale Baskets- A Big Thank You to Everyone Who Contributed!

I'd like to give a big thank you to all my blogging friends who gave to the Christmas Tamale Basket Drive this year! The sun is just coming up and there is already a long line of lucky people lined up for their chicken to finish off their Tamale Basket for the Christmas celebration.

A Note from Mayan Families:

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to this year's Holiday Tamale Basket drive. With your support, we were able to give out a total of 1,581 baskets! We also gave out around 5,000 toys to children all around Lake Atitlán.


It was a big task to get the baskets ready and distributed, and all of the staff were hard at work. Each basket included beans, oil, sugar, rice, drinking chocolate, fortified cereal, a dozen large carrots, bread, Christmas cookies, a pineapple, and an entire chicken! Fortunately, we had a few volunteers on hand to help bag and organize the food. It took four days to get all of the baskets handed out, and many families traveled wide and far to get theirs.



The chickens are handed out.
Then its the long walk back up the mountain to their villages.

www.mayanfamilies.org

Distributing the Tamale Baskets & Toys, Panajachel, Guatemala

Staff at Mayan Families Wrote:

"These are some of the scenes from yesterday....giving out Tamale Baskets......so far we have distributed 1,525 baskets of food to needy families.
Thanks to the donations that have been received there are a lot of families who will be able to celebrate Christmas this year! "

Signing in for their basket.

"We still have a long line of people outside our door hoping to be able to receive a basket. It is not too late to send your donation of $35 US to feed a family of 10 people! "

Some of the happy children who were able to receive toys this year.

"Just go to our website, www.mayanfamilies.org and to the donate section. Feliz Navidad! "

Distributing Tamale Baskets & Toys, Panajachel, Guatemala

Mayan Family workers and volunteers have had busy days assembling the food for the Tamale Baskets to be distributed this week.

The finished baskets, all wrapped and ready. The last ingredient, a chicken, will be distributed separately closer to Christmas as almost no one has any access to refrigeration.

Long lines began forming early in the morning.

Numbers had previously been given out for people who had been designated for a gift by the donor. But many others waited for hours and days hoping there would be some extra ones with no designation.

Staff and volunteers sorting vegetables.

A young boy clutches the toy he was given as part of the celebration...donated by people in the US who send boxes of clothes and gifts several times during the year. It is also possible to donate money so that toys can be bought locally for children in need.

It is very cold in the mountains in the winter and this baby has a new blanket.

And this little girl found some warm slippers.

Christmas Tamale Baskets

Tamale Basket Packing Underway!

The Tamale Basket marathon got underway this morning at Mayan Families, an NGO in Panajachel, Guatemala, with both staff and volunteers arriving at 8am to get started on the holiday gifts that so many families are looking forward to. They will be working all day tomorrow and Monday to put together and pass out the baskets, which include the ingredients for the traditional Christmas meal of tamales and hot chocolate, as well as other staples.

The families of their sponsored students, as well as members of their Family Aid and Elderly Care programs, look forward to these baskets every year. Last year, they were able to give out about 1,600 baskets. Since each basket can feed 10 people, that means 16,000 people they able to participate in the Christmas tradition, not to mention have a filling meal, thanks to the generosity of our amazing donors!




Though they are getting down to the wire, they are still about 350 baskets short of the 1600 baskets they handed out last year. The 1250 baskets that they already have will do a world of good--that's 12,500 people who won't go hungry, and 1,250 impoverished families who might be able to forget about their need for at least one night.

But this year has been an exceptionally hard one in Panajachel and the surrounding towns--global economic downturn has taken its toll on Guatemala's economy, and an especially violent rainy season has destroyed crops, homes, and livelihoods. Many families that had been fighting to stay afloat before have now slipped into real poverty. Undoubtedly, for many, this will be the first Christmas where the traditional meal is out of reach, and the first time that hunger becomes an unwelcome guest at the holiday table. Please help them prevent this, for as many people as they possibly can.

To send a Tamale Basket ($35) to a family in need, go to Donate Now, and enter your gift in the "Community Aid" box. To designate a particular family to receive your basket, please enter either their family aid number or a the number of a sponsored student in the box marked "Extra Notes."

http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow