Costa Rica rural community support fund

They have a dream! They dream to work to provide for their families, they dream to have good drinking water. Many years ago before the foundation had any projects in the sleepy town of El Progreso, I was stranded there. The river in my way was impossible to cross, it was a rainy afternoon and I could see the people on the other side discussing their options… To risk it and try to cross it by foot, to wait for the water to subside… What to do? I could see preschoolers and their mothers turning back to undo the footsteps they had just covered. I could see students from highschool measuring the height of the river… “Don’t do it kid!” I wanted to tell them.

The Drake Bay river often stands in the path of visitors that drive or fly from San José to the tourist town of Drake Bay. I turned the car in search for food or shelter… maybe a toilet? Nothing! There wasn’t a single place where I could weather the storm. The Morpho Group has a dream and a fantastic idea: the people stranded on the Progreso side of the river need a place to eat and take a break. If they had the money they could open a restaurant! I couldn’t agree more!

The Morpho Women Group are 5 young women, with very few economical resources, that have had to cross this river thru their waist twice a day, leaving behind their children for their mothers to take care. This project will provide them with well-earned income and will prevent them from having to cross the river, leaving their town and walking 3 miles in search of work. The project also has a good market niche: hundreds of tourist and visitors that at one time or another have been caught on the wrong side of the river.

This project will be a reality, thanks to the donations generated thru Globalgiving. A couple of years ago, we had a donor who challenged us… She would donate $30,000 USD for community projects if we could raise $30,000 more. In the last two years we raised money thru Globalgiving $2600 USD and $3000 USD from fundraising efforts… The IAF doubled the money and this year $12,000 were distributed among local people.

El Progreso as many communities in rural Costa Rica has been neglected by the Costa Rican government: limited resources for education and health put these communities in great need, therefore we are supporting a group committed to build the water system for El Progreso. Another great problem! For years the people in El Progreso has had to build wells that provide insufficient amounts of water of questionable quality.

A group of local people of El Progreso, decided to stop waiting for the government to fix their problem, and has decided to take it in their hands and be part of the solution. 4 projects will receive $12,000 USD from the foundation to improve their quality of living and improving their capacity to generate income. We strive to relieve poverty in local communities in order to diminish their impact on their environment. The Corcovado Foundation does not charge a single dollar in order to administer this funding, furthermore every donation that you make is match 1 to 1 by the Interamerican Foundation. The communities are also motivated to put their part. They will need to pitch in to develop their project: their hard work and their sweat.