The Center for Global Justice has received generous donations of $5500 USD from anonymous donors who visited the rural community of Peñon de los Baños on one of the Center’s weekend trips. The donation was made to the Community Development Fund, which provides seed money for community projects, earmarked for Peñon, an ejidal community northeast of San Miguel.
Peñon de los Baños
A small part of the donation will be used to cover attorney’s fees to constitute a legal organization (cooperative or Rural Production Society) that will officially receive the money in Peñon. The donors expressed their wish for the remainder to go toward building a greenhouse for tomato production like those managed by the Integradora in Hidalgo, recipient of the Center’s first two Community Development Fund loans. The cost of the smallest greenhouse, however, runs about $15,000 USD, so additional donations are needed in order to realize that project.
The people of Peñon hope that projects such as this will help eliminate the need for family members to migrate north to work. Several representatives are planning to go with the Center delegation to Hidalgo on March 31 to see the greenhouses there, and it is expected that as a result, some of the Hidalgo cooperative members will come to Peñon to help them set up their project.
For more information about this project and/or to make a tax-deductible donation to the Community Development Fund, please contact the Center for Global Justice, info@globaljusticecenter.org, tel 150-0025 (weekdays between 9-1 PM).
