 Formed in 1998 with the mission to help the poor children who were living in and around the city dump, Children of the Dump’s main focus is on education. With the proper education, the children will have the skills necessary to lift themselves and their families up from poverty. Our goal was then, and still is to get them to school, keep them in school and help them learn so that they will have the opportunity for a better job and a better life.
Ten years after our beginning, we are still dedicated to helping these children realize the promise of a better life through education.
Today there are no families living in the dump. There are no children working in the dump. We feed more than 1,800 children daily in the primary and kinder schools around the dump and additional 1,500 children each week with our hot meals program. We operate 9 day care centers for 150 children from 3 ½ months to 3 ½ years of age. Most importantly, we operate an after school program for 300 children in grades 3 through 7 in our School of Champions where we teach them math, English and computer skills.
In May 2009, because of the serious downturn in the economy of Puerto Vallarta, we added a new feeding program called "Fire Fly". Hundreds workers in the local tourist industry have been laid off, many are the only breadwinners in the family. This has had a devastating impact on the families living around the dump. In order to feed them, we send our trucks and volunteers into these communities each night to distribute pan dulce, tacos, fortified juice and fortified milk to over 600 people, most of them children. Without this snack and importantly the fortified milk, they would go to bed hungry."
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