Sweet Aid

Hello everyone, this is Ray and Gerson, we had a very educational experience meeting an incredible associate, Bernardo Pastiño Quezada. We learned about the impacts that development has on the community, even giving us the opportunity to meet one of the locals for our, “Community Action Project.” Bernardo spoke about his foundation, “Fundacion Alegria Inocente.” and his ability to make the community of Constanza better for not just the locals in need, but also the entire community as a whole.

Bernardo’s motives give life to the foundation, telling the glimpsers that helping a single person creates a ripple that influences the entire community. Acts of donation, such as clothing, hygienic products, and necessities, enable the locals to spend their earnings on school supplies for their children or on food and clean water. Bernardo also shares the efforts of reconstructing homes for the families in need, while continuing to uphold and bring the community together for days such as Christmas, Mother’s Day, and Mascotaso. Each of these days unified the people to celebrate and come together, which is one of the main goals of the foundation. Bernardo spoke of the funding that the foundation gets as being a non-profit organization, primarily from the pockets of team Alegria. The foundation also gets funding from soliciting around the community, country, and other continents! Each of these steps allows for the reconstruction progress of homes to flourish while leaving the locals content. Once the glimpsers learned about their task they got prepared and headed out for ice cream in the parlor of Bon!

And food for thought for those reading, “True development must be in harmony with the needs of the people and the rhythms of nature.” -Sulak Sivaraksa