Fiesta 4 Hope

There’s not much good to be said for a worldwide pandemic, but it certainly reinforces how connected we are and how human-created borders don’t exist for viruses, or for helping others.

Catherine Bagin and Rianna Lehane didn’t need to learn this from COVID. They got the message when they participated in a school service trip to Puerto Rico. It helped them realize how interconnected we are as people and as a planet. They couldn’t simply return to their lives and forget about what they’d experienced. They’d seen people who needed basics, and they knew they could help. So they started a non-profit called Fiesta4Hope to support vulnerable communities affected by natural disasters. They looked for solutions focusing on sustainability.

They did the smart thing and found a local partner. Centro PASO is a non-profit community center in Aibonito, Puerto Rico that provides counseling, emergency food and medical supplies, educational workshops for children and adults, and much more. Since connecting with PASO, they managed to get full funding for a solar panel system that will provide some energy stability, enabling them to continue their work uninterrupted by blackouts common to the area.

Right now Centro PASO wants to improve the quality and food capacity of Aibonito with an agricultural project led by community volunteers and an agronomist from the Agricultural Extension service. This project will provide different options for sowing, depending on the capacity & space each respective family has for cultivation. It’ll be sustainable, eco-friendly, and the produce will help people eat better and live healthier.

Our AWB grant will go toward that project, and you can see what else they’re cooking up here.

We salute the awesomeness of everyone who has looked beyond the borders of their own lives this year! That makes YOU “Awesome Without Borders,” too.