San Miguel Non-Profits Fight for Charity Dollars Ricardo Castillo - The News
go to original March 16, 2014

SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE – The spectacular growth of not-for-profit organizations in this city of 160,000 inhabitants underlines that well-intentioned persons are pouring in to help those living below the poverty line — officially 40 percent of Mexico’s population.

Yet the current existence of some 140 non-government organizations (NGOs) is creating a veritable bottleneck spurring amiable but tough competition for donations.

“We notice that over the last five years our donor base is shrinking because there’s so many people here in this small city and donors are stretched out,” says Carol Weiker, president of the local chapter of Feed The Hungry (FTH), an organization that has been in operation in SMA since 1984, and is supported mostly by U.S.-expat donors.

FTH currently operates 25 kitchens throughout the SMA municipality and during school year serves an average of 4,000 meals per day to as many school children. Many foreign retirees participate in the endeavor both as donors and as volunteers.

Weicker says that in order to sustain the huge facility and the kitchens they have to stay ahead of the competition, and with growing they have recently held seminars led by financial experts that help U.S. retirees “to invest” and make the most out of the retirement money, while still financially contributing to help feed hungry children.

Read the rest at The News

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