Giving Tuesday is a tradition of generosity, a day to give and share your blessings with others, recognizing the beginning of the Christmas season. We are grateful for you, our community of supporters who join together this time of year to spread hope and joy with families in Guatemala and Nicaragua and give gifts that will change a childs life trajectory. These gifts become the tools needed for a family to break the cycle of poverty.

Welcoming a new child home should be a joyous occasion. Every child should be welcomed with love into the arms of a mother and the safety and warmth of a home. Yet, for many pregnant women living in extreme poverty, the gift of a child can be scary. Often instead of joy and celebration comes great worry for the health and future of their child.

For women, mothers, and children in Guatemala, the problem of poverty and misery is all too familiar. Consider Maria Sulamita, a seventeen-year-old mother of two who delivered her second daughter in August. In the photo, you see her older daughter, Ana Ashly, at 11 months (now 17 months). Maria is so young and had minimal knowledge of how to properly care for herself, let alone give her two daughters the proper care and nutrition they so desperately needed to avoid malnutrition.

Throughout Nicaragua and Guatemala, as many as three out of every four children go hungry every day. Entire families are crowded into one-room shacks. They live on dirt floors, with woven mats for a bed, and their makeshift roof leaks when it rains. There is never enough food. Survival is all they know.

Yet, for Maria this pregnancy was different. This time, Maria had access to a solution. Maria had Healthy Start preparing her for another baby while also reducing her childs chronic malnutrition. These solutions are preparing moms for healthy deliveries with access to prenatal care, preventing hungry kids by providing regular nutritious meals, and ensuring safe homes that are free of hazards like dirt floors. Most importantly, families are receiving hope so that the arrival of a child can be the joyous occasion it should be.

Your gift wont just be a temporary fix. Your donation will truly transform lives. It gives mothers healthy pregnancies and safe deliveries, prevents hungry children, and provides entrepreneurial training to grow or establish a farming business to sustain their families prosperously.

Remember, when you give a gift participating in Giving Tuesday, it will be doubled due to the generous $30,000 match.