National Day of Service and Remembrance
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U.S. Mission employees in Guatemala collaborate with a food drive organized in honor of the National Day of Service and Remembrance. Basilia López and Cheryl Neely help out with logistics. |
U.S. Mission Employees Celebrate National Day of Service and Remembrance with Food Drive
Guatemala, September 11, 2009
In April 2009, President Barack Obama declared a National Day of Service and Remembrance to be held in commemoration of September 11 in the United States. Later, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton encouraged the employees of all U.S. diplomatic missions abroad to expand this initiative outside the U.S. She called on us to establish service projects in the countries in which we serve, according to the needs of each country, with the aim of communicating a message of unity, cooperation, and mutual interest.
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On September 11, Ingeniero Francisco Saravia Castillo, Vice President of the Castillo Córdova Foundation and Juan Monge Castillo, member of its Board of Directors, visited the Embassy to receive from Deputy Chief of Mission Todd Robinson, the food collected by our community of employees. |
In the name of the community of employees and their families, the United States Mission to Guatemala, along with the American Society of Guatemala, initiated a food drive to support a community in Jalapa that is suffering from extreme poverty and malnutrition, due in part to the recent drought in Guatemala. With recommendations from a medical doctor in the Jalapa region, we sought to collect food items that formed part of the basic diet of the people there, and which would also be nutritious. We collected 28 boxes of food, 1300 pounds of Incaparina (a nutritional supplement), and four boxes of clothing.
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U.S. Mission employees Oscar Piche, Otilio González, Carlos Christian Sica y Josué Cruz help load the boxes with food collected by all the employee community. |
We joined with the Castillo Cordova Foundation, a highly regarded humanitarian organization, to manage the distribution of our donation. On September 11, Francisco Saravia Castillo, Vice President of the Foundation, and Juan Monge Castillo, a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, visited the Embassy to personally receive the U.S. Mission’s donation from Deputy Chief of Mission Todd Robinson. We all hope that our contribution is of help to families who are suffering. Mission’s donation from Deputy Chief of Mission Todd Robinson. We hope that our donation is of help to the families in Jalapa who are suffering.
• Visit the Castillo Córdova Foundation