Costa Rica rural community support fund

On June 24, thanks to your generous donation the little town of Rancho Quemado, became the first town its size to light up its sport field, in the Osa Peninsula.   The local people had expected this moment with anxiety and excitement. Other local communities doubted that it was going to happen! But it did! At 5:45 p.m. when the sun finally sets behind the mountains, the whole town awaited the great occurrence: The Costarrican Institute of Electricity (ICE) finally turned on the switch and voilá “there was light”. The whole soccer field (or “futbol” as it is called in my home country) lit up and the crowd cheered with joy. The children ran through the field, as it was the first time that they had seen the field. In a way it was, isnt it funny how lighting makes everything look different?  It was a dream come true. But like every good thing in life, in order to make it happen, the people in Rancho Quemado, first dreamed about it and then worked hard to get it done.

When this community first approached the Corcovado Foundation’s FACOSA fund their enthusiasm was contagious and we believed in their dream also. As you know, the goal of the Osa Community Support Fund (FACOSA) is to provide small funding to local communities in order to help them improve their quality of life and answer some of their most basic needs such as clean water access and providing a minimum income for local families.

The Sport Association of Rancho Quemado received $3000 USD from FACOSA and then raised $9,000 USD more from different sources. They dreamed of lighting up their football field in order to have a healthy entertainment for young people and a way of fundraising by selling food during sporting events. It was an ingenious way to provide more income for local families, promote sports and also discouraging young people from getting into trouble (men in these communities often engage in illegal hunting after work as a pastime).

In the words of some of the local leaders in Rancho Quemado:

Oscar Urena, Chairman ofthe Sports Committee said: “This is asmall town, butvery organized.People arevery motivated, and there are sevenor eight associations in town. Along with the ICE, the municipality, the Corcovado Foundation, the local Development Association, we have managedto installthe light for this field.  It is the only illuminatedcourt in the Osa Peninsula.

The football teams  couldn’t come  during the day since they were working, but they can come in the evening to play football. It has created more opportunity to participate in sports.It is especially good for young people because they see that elders are helping them by providing these facilities,and thus improves the relationship between youth and adults.It offers something nice and positive to do in the evenings, instead of nothing to do.Youth groups are more proud of their town and more aware of the environment, andare contributing to the issue of conservation, by recycling and have placed garbage collection sites throughout the community.  

Many people come here and are astonished,they cannot believe what we have achieved. We told them that this is because the community is very united and work together to improve the lives of all.

Mr Fredd yRodriguez, Member of the Sports Committee of Rancho Quemado stated that “We were able to take advantage of illumination at night to organize more soccer events, in order to raise more money for the association and the community.We are not finished, we would like to add a mesh around the goal, with the money we hope to raise. Since it is new, we have not yet calculated how much we will need for utilities,but it looks that we can generate enough income from the night activities.

We give a heartfelt thanks to theCorcovado Foundation and other organizations for helping make this dream come true.

Maria Eugenia Siles, Member of the Association of Women, said “we like to cooperate with the football activities, our association prepares the food that is sold at the events.The events benefit everyone and the community gets more involved in sports.There are more activities for young people and the town is more united.It is very positive and it looks very nice”.

This town is more united by its success and enjoys more of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, they are generating more income to improve other services and they feel confident in their accomplishments. All of this, thanks to your generous donation.  Keep donations coming, no matter how small, this will make other communities dreams come true.

Did you know that your donation became 10 times its worth? It is like a philanthropic stock market, that brings good things to the communities. I know this sounds like crazy math! I am sure that you never received a math class in which the teacher said 1=10. But once I show you how your dollar was multiplied by 10, you will understand.

As you know, the goal of the Osa Community Support Fund (FACOSA) is to provide small funding to local communities in order to help them improve their quality of living and answer some of their most basic needs such as clean water access and providing a minimum income for local families.  

Every dollar that the Corcovado Foundation raises for FACOSA (Osa Community Fund), the Interamerican Foundation matches 1 to 1. The communities that receive the funding also need to make a matching contribution in kind.

In June 2013, for the second time the Corcovado Foundation, through FACOSA disbursed around $12,000 USD to 5 different projects in 2 different communities.   Here is a good example of our “awesome math”: The Developing Association of Rancho Quemado (ADI), one of the beneficiaries of The Osa Community Fund, received $3,000 in order to light up the sports field in their home town. In a community where the only recreational activities are hunting or drinking alcohol, exercise is not only good for their bodies, but for their families and surrounding ecosystems.  

The project cost around $20,000 USD ($10,000 USD in materials and $10,000 USD in labor).   You and people like you donated $1500 and the Interamerican Foundation (IAF) matched your donation. With $3,000 USD in hand, they went to the Municipality of Osa, which donated $6,000 dollars more. The community now only needed $1,000 USD to complete the $10,000 usd needed for materials, so they had a festival and raised the rest of the money. The community from Rancho Quemado took your donation, now worth five times its initial value and presented it to the Costarrican Institute of Electricity who committed to do all the labor, since the community had raised the rest of the money for materials.   Your $1 donation became $10 USD. Your dollar empowered them to knock on doors and raise money. Your dollar was the spark that started the great fire of development.

According to Jessica Roldan, one of the members of the ADI “The donation received from the Osa Community Fund, also helped us to leave a legacy of hope to our children and community, who are growing up with the vision of creating opportunities in hand with the conservation of the environment that surrounds them"

The electrification of the field will take place in May and the community is planning a big celebration!  It is amazing how a little bit of support will push communities forward.   Pushing forward and having small successes empowers new leaders, strengthens communities and make people believe in themselves and their neighbors.  Thank you for your donation!