NSMN Food Project Report

Feed the Hungry and Food Staple Store

Our cry for help
Around the middle of October 2010, we informed many people through emails and blogs about the food crisis our community was hit with, and the response was unbelievable. You can see the video here: We were able to help people of our community for six weeks, donating food staples until the workers were able to re-enter the San Antonio Sugar Cane Plantation. Your generous donations were able to feed families for that final month of winter, until they had work again to provide for themselves, and we thank each of you for that.

The answer
God answered the call through many of you, and over $3,500.00 came in to support our “Food for the Hungry Project.” We want to also let you know how this project has grown and become a real blessing to our community and our mission. We told the Nicaraguans that we would be helping them in this desperate time of need with free food, but we also told them that when the first paychecks started in late November, we would no longer be offering free food, as to keep from hurting people with our help in a welfare system. We told them we would still stock provision that they could buy for cheap.

The stats
By the first week of December, we had provided $1,800.00 worth of provision: rice, beans, oil, sugar, and salt. Based on a help of $10.00 per family per week, your donations provided 30 families food for 6 weeks! Now we wanted to continue blessing the community, with a project that would last, and not see what was raised for the project be gone in just a 2 month time. We bought some big plastic barrels and built some shelves in our church bodega to create more space. Then we bought 200 pounds of rice and 200 pounds of beans, along with (3) 5-gallon buckets of vegetable oil.

Our daytime guard, Julio Rodriguez, said he was fine to weigh and receive payment for people coming to purchase from the pulperia, and when the supply was low he would let the mission know, so that a new supply could be bought with the money that was made in sales. We buy in bulk to get the best price we can on rice, beans, and oil of mid quality; we then offer it on our property for the same price we bought it at in small quantities only adding transportation to the cost. This allows the community to receive products at an affordable price, but the project itself doesn’t lose money. Julio receives rice, beans, and oil weekly for running the store, and other widows and families in real need are still blessed from time to time.

It took people a little while to begin shopping with us, we were stocking 3 times a month in December and January, but now in February and March we are stocking 6 times a month. In other words, we have around 200 pounds of rice, 200 pounds of beans, and 15 gallons of oil come in and out every 5 days!

How the community is still able to provide
For those of you thinking this sounds like nothing more than a Wal-Mart that came to town and offers the lowest prices, and the small corner stores in the area are now without sales, allow us to elaborate. Our mission knows about times when helping is actually hurting, and we have learned from our mistakes and others’ mistakes. Locals started asking us when would start offering ketchup and other sauces in our store; others wanted to know when we would sale soap, shampoo, and other hygiene products. If things are working well with rice, beans, and oil why not add more. We want to provide the essentials and nothing more. Our little store is a ministry and in it you can buy the food staples. We do not want to expand. We also will not allow any buying on credit. The other little stores offer credit, and then high interest, we will not do it! If someone cannot buy from us, they are able to go buy on credit and help the other little stores around us. If they want a higher grade rice, bean, or oil they can also go to the other local stores. For their needs more than rice, beans, and oil we also encourage them to shop with their neighbors because we not want to take in all the business. We want to offer the best price there is through buying in bulk and charging no gain more than the transportation.

What’s even better?
The first 2000 pounds of rice was grown by the garden workers on our property in Candelaria, and the next 4000 pounds of rice (which we are currently selling) is from the other 2 church properties within our mission in Santa Matilde and La Isla. So those workers are selling their products to the local community, through our mission.

What’s even more?
The sales are out of the bodega attached to our church building, on our mission’s largest piece of property. So every person that comes to buy is seeing our dance team, baseball team, softball team, clinic, and other life happening all around them as they place and receive their food order.

The project is very simple, and we hope to keep it that way. We are humbled by the donations you all made to the project, and overjoyed seeing people come on to our property and having their needs met, through food and spirit. The project has run the last four weeks, turning the same sales into another bulk buy and resale; thanks for your interest and answering the call. Stay alert for the update of our new mission truck coming soon!