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In 2016, the Rotary Club of Buffalo wrote an international grant to address maternal and child health for 18 communities in Guatemala. The grant targets the “1000-day window” -- a critical time period from the mother’s pregnancy through the child’s first 2-3 years of age because it’s critical that both the mother and child stay healthy to ensure normal development.
This grant focuses on the mother’s and child’s health/nutrition, disease prevention, and education about these priorities in order to have the best possible outcomes. Children need to grow normally both on the inside (brain development) and outside to have the best success in school and in life. This grant’s long-term goals are to help children grow into productive citizens, create sustained change that reduces poverty, and improve health in some of the poorest areas of Guatemala.
Buffalo members have gone to Guatemala to build the infrastructure that supports the grant at one of the pilot villages. We partnered with clubs from Blaine-Ham Lake, St. Michael-Albertville and Minnetonka, and clubs from Missouri and North Carolina to have boots on the ground. Additional clubs/districts contributed money to support the grant’s success.