ADRA Delivers School Supplies to Children in El Salvador
SILVER SPRING, Md. – As the new school year got underway across El Salvador recently, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) delivered school supplies to 150 vulnerable children in various schools across the country.
The project, funded by ADRA’s popular Really Useful Gift Catalog, benefited students of low-income families who are attending grades one through six in 10 select schools. Working in coordination with the principals of each institution, ADRA delivered the supply kits between January 15 and February 1. Each school kit included notebooks, color pencils, glue, scissors, pens, pencils, a pencil sharpener and a ruler.
“God will pay you. Thanks so much,” some parents said in response to the school kits distribution, reported Rut Gonzalez, an ADRA El Salvador officer who helped implement the project.
Working with volunteers, ADRA conducted the distribution in the communities of Cojutepeque, Santa Cruz Michapa, El Carmen, El Zarzal, Iscaquilío, Usulután Redención, Jocoro, Playas Negras, Citalá, and Chalatenango.
“At each place, [the distribution] was an exciting experience since the poor children showed their happiness and gratitude for the gift they had received,” stated Gonzalez.
For a $50 contribution to the 2011 Really Useful Catalog, a schoolchild in El Salvador will receive a backpack, writing paper, pens, pencils, coloring pencils, a notebook, a ruler, and a pair of shoes. Click here to give to this project.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), economic growth in El Salvador has not resulted in economic wellbeing amongst the population. At least 4 out of every 10 persons live in conditions of poverty, and about half of all children and adolescents are poor. In addition, despite increases in spending for public education, spending levels remain insufficient to meet the goal of universal public education. Today, only about 75 percent of children who enter first grade actually finish fifth grade, says the UN’s Millenium Development Goals Second Country Report for El Salvador.
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