Current Be A HERO Project: Reconstruction of housing destroyed by mudslides in El Salvador, in partnership with We Are The Children. Cost for materials is $4,000.00 per house.

We are the Children: Overview

We Are The Children (WATCH) is a non-government Canadian organization created by Daniel Germain to promote all projects and activities launched by the Club des Petits Déjeuners outside the Province of Quebec.

Owing to the support of an increasing number of private and public partners, the Club des Petits Déjeuners has been able to open its food facilities in 195 primary and secondary schools since 1994.

In 2005, the Club des Petits Déjeuners became a partner of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). Daniel Germain shared with the World Food Program his expertise and the Club’s experience in high-standard services. He also became responsible for Walk the World in Canada, a world walk against hunger.

The Quebec Breakfast Club was founded 10 years ago out of the desire to improve the living conditions of children and to offer them a better chance of success in school. Over 14,250 children are members from across 195 schools in the province begin their day with a complete and nutritious breakfast.

Founder – Daniel Germain

In 1990, when he was organizing humanitarian trips to help children in Haiti and Mexico, Daniel Germain’s greatest wish was to make the world a better place for children. But the magnitude of the need he witnessed in those countries led him to question where best to start. And so, Daniel Germain came back to his home in Quebec, determined to improve the future of children there in order to one day improve that of children elsewhere. He found out that even in Quebec, children come to school hungry, and as such deprived of a key ingredient for learning: a healthy breakfast.

Because today’s children are tomorrow’s adults, providing for them now means building the foundation for their future.

In the 1990s, Judith Barry took part in the humanitarian trips organized by Daniel Germain. Her deep desire to help others had already given her, at the age of 20, experience in community work. Won over by Germain’s dream, she agreed to help him found the Quebec Breakfast Club.

In 1994, thanks to financial support from the Pratt & Whitney Employee Charitable Fund, Daniel Germain and Judith Barry inaugurated the Breakfast Club at the Lionel-Groulx elementary school, located in an underprivileged neighborhood of Longueuil

Background to the project

Hurricane Stan, which made landfall south of Vera Cruz, Mexico, on Oct. 4, 2005, during the region’s rainy season, brought severe flooding and landslides to several Central American countries and southern Mexico. El Salvador and Guatemala were particularly hard hit as they were not only struggling with the flooding and landslides but with recent volcanic activity and earthquakes also. El Salvador – The combined emergencies of the eruption of the Santa Ana (Ilamatepe) volcano on Oct. 1 and flooding caused by Hurricane Stan resulted in 72 deaths and the sheltering of 26,000 people, according to the Government of El Salvador. As of Nov. 15, the alert level within a three-mile radius of the Santa Ana volcano’s central crater remained at "Red," the highest level. According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the number of people in shelters as a result of the volcanic eruption and flooding or landslides caused by Hurricane Stan remained at a stable 12,000, as of Nov. 11. A spokesman for the Salvadoran Red Cross said that "the emergency is bigger than the rescue capacity, we have floods everywhere, bridges about to collapse, landslides and dozens of roads blocked by mudslides".
Guatemala – Hurricane Stan caused 669 deaths, directly affected more than 470,000 other lives, damaged or destroyed almost 35,000 homes and partially or completely wiped out the sanitation and water systems of entire villages. According to preliminary figures from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, damages and losses from Hurricane Stan are valued at about $983 million. The damage to agriculture, according to Guatemala’s Ministry of Agriculture, is valued at around $46 million, with those who depended on terracing particularly affected. On Nov. 11, WFP warned that those affected by Hurricane Stan may face a severe hunger crisis as early as this Christmas. There is concern that, as the cold weather intensifies; people will need to increase their caloric intake. Without sufficient nourishment and with many sanitation and water systems damaged, people will become susceptible to disease. The country’s “State of National Calamity” declaration was extended so that emergency assistance may continue to be provided. Reconstruction and water system rehabilitation activities are underway.

Be A HERO Reconstruction Project in El Salvador

During the first week of October 2005, Central America was hit by Hurricane Stan with torrential rains which did     devastating damage to several regions of Guatemala, El Salvador, certain parts of Mexico and Nicaragua.

Working with We Are the Children (WATCH), and CECI (Centre Canadien d’etude et de Cooperation Internationale), housing and farms destroyed by Hurricane Stan will be rebuilt, and food security will be restored.  In this area of abject poverty, there is no government assistance to those families who were devastated by the storm. The hurricane wiped out the harvest, and severely damaged the farms. Without the harvest, the farmers have no income.

The villagers own the land, and will rebuild their own homes. CECI is contributing $625,000.00 to restore the agriculture, and Be A HERO will raise $50,000.00 for building materials for the homes. CECI will provide a project manager to oversee the project.

These simple concrete homes will have two bedrooms (one for the adults, and one for the children),  2.5 m x 2.8 m; and a living area, 5 m x 2.3 m; two doors, and two windows. Each home will be 25.5 sq meters (5 m x 5.1 m), strengthened to an anti-earthquake standard.  The cost for materials is $4,000.00 per home.

Details:

• Standard Size House: 25.5 square meters of construction per house, including the front living area

• Bedrooms - 5 meters long by 5.10 meters wide
  Two separate rooms (adults and children), 2.5m x 2.8m
• Concrete construction, strengthened anti-earthquake
• The living area is 5 m x 2.30 m
• The floor is made of concrete

• Material cost only, per house : $4,000.00 USD
• Cost for qualified workers (mason, etc.) per house:  $ 2,000.00 USD 
    
  

Timeline:

• The project will continue until March 31, 2007

Can you Be A HERO to a family who has lost everything including their means of livelihood?

100% of all funds donated for this project will be applied directly to the project. Be A HERO does not keep anything for administration. Be A HERO is able to do this because the Hero Partnership and Pillar Program participants designate their donations specifically for administration. If you would like to invest in this project, we accept donations by cheque or by credit card.  Click here to donate.

You will be sent a receipt for income tax purposes early in the following year.