Happy New Year everyone and welcome to the beginning of a brand new decade! We are so excited for 2020 and we plan to make this year a milestone year for Hearing the Little Heartbeats. Just like everyone else we will be upholding the tradition of making New Year’s resolutions. Our theme for this year is Growth and we plan to achieve this through three resolutions. Growth in outreach, community, and impact.
1.
Growth in Our Outreach
It can be very easy to view Guatemala as a somewhat distant and out of reach country when sitting at home in North America. This can make it hard to remember that our cause is simply about people, people that are just like us, with families and aspirations and struggles. So we aim to bridge the geographical divide through interactions, experiences, and stories.
As you journey with us through our blog, social media and events this year, prepare to be deeply connected to people you may not otherwise get to interact with, and to the importance of fighting the drug shortage for the sake of those affected by it. We will share the stories of our team members who have gone to Guatemala and have worked on ground with Impact Ministries or various other medical outreach programs. We will also dive into some of the specific health issues and conditions that Guatemalan children face and provide information on how these issues arise, progress, and how they are impacted by the poor availability of medications in Guatemala.
2.
Growth in Our Community
A quote by Howard Zinn states that “small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world” , and here at HLH we believe that our small acts here in North America, when multiplied by a community of dedicated individuals can transform the devastation being caused by the drug shortage, family by family. During our first annual soccer tournament in Brooks, Alberta, we experienced first hand the power of such community.
We witnessed individuals from both near and far donate their time, resources, money, and encouragement towards a small non-profit organization trying to make a big impact. This year we want to expand our community and connect more to those already in our community, outside of our community, and those looking for a community. Through events such as the soccer tournament, bottle drive, and our clothing drive we want to build a community that will join us in our fight against the Guatemalan drug shortage and to better the health of Guatemalan children.
3.
Growth in Our Impact
In August of 2019, we reached a milestone of 50,000 multivitamins donated by us to our partners, Impact Ministries. This is approximately 180 children that were provided with a vitamin a day for the entire school year. This year we want to double that number!
We hope to impact the lives of more Guatemalans and expand the number of children that will receive a vitamin a day for the entire school year. Through our partnership with Impact Ministries we hope to reduce the consequences of chronic malnutrition and stunting in Guatemalan children caused by the country’s drug shortage. Multivitamins contain essential nutrients that may be lacking in the regular diets of these children and our donations make a significant difference. We also hope to expand our capacity to include medications and medical supplies in our shipments to our partners in Guatemala.
We are so excited for this new year and we are even more pumped to continue this journey with you and all those that are part of the HLH family!
Together we can make an impact on the health of the nations and the generations to come.
The mission of WHEF is to increase accessibility to medications and supplies for healthcare facilities in Guatemala and Grenada. If you are interested in hearing more about the work we are doing, or in connecting with us, you can visit our website, check out our instagram or facebook, or sign up to receive our newletters. If you would like to support us in our work, please donate here.
The mission of WHEF is to increase accessibility to medications and supplies for healthcare facilities in Guatemala and Grenada. If you are interested in hearing more about the work we are doing, or in connecting with us, you can visit our website, check out our instagram or facebook, or sign up to receive our newletters. If you would like to support us in our work, please donate here.
World Healthcare Equity Foundation 
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