Chimbote Sister Parish

 Chimbote is one of Peru’s poorest cities where 87% of the people are believed to be unemployed or severely underemployed.  The city holds more than 400,000 residents where many of them struggle through abject poverty and lack access to even the most basic necessities, such as sewer, water or electricity.  The Pan American Health Organization reports that at least 45 percent of Chimbote’s residents live in conditions of extreme poverty.  According to the international aid organization CARE, the average Chimbotano earns only around $300 each year making them unable to satisfy basic human needs.    

 
 
Through a variety of programs, our sister parish is trying to make a difference with:   
 Social programs – soup kitchens, battered women’s shelter, legal advocacy, wellness program, emergency assistance program
 Infrastructure – home building and repair, garden maintenance
 Health care – medical, nursing, and dental appointments, medical support services, hospice, hospital partnerships, tuberculosis program
 Economic development – Scholarships and business loans
 Education – learning support/tutoring program, libraries, kindergartens and daycare, adult learning program
 Legal assistance – Poverty and injustice are frequent partners—it is more difficult for the poor to fight for their rights when they cannot pay for legal representation.    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 The Chimbote Council of St. Mary and St. Michael has provided spiritual, financial and material support since 2005 and partners with Los Amigos del Padre Juan, a non-profit organization based in Fargo, ND.  It is a faith-based  organization dedicated to supporting programs that improve and transform the lives of the poor of Chimbote, Peru.  Los Amigos serves as the central coordinating body between organizations, parishes and individuals who help the people of Chimbote.      

 

 

 Mission Services
Our sister parish has a number of programs that support the needs of the poor in Chimbote.  The need is staggering, but the results are plentiful.  Your support of the mission in Chimbote helps our sister parish run seven soup kitchens providing essential nutrition to the poor, support 850 mentally ill people to purchase medication on an annual basis, educate 80 adult students who are enrolled in vocational programs to learn skills and trades to seek jobs to support their families and care for 100 babies and children in the daycare program who receive early childhood stimulation while their parents look for work.  The list goes on and on, but one person is all it takes to tell the story of the poor of Chimbote and begin to make a difference in their lives.      

  

 Chimbote Flyer_2012

Brochure

For more information on the mission in Chimbote, Peru, go to www.friendsofchimbote.org.  To become more involved in the Chimbote Council, contact Mark Pominville or Maria Reimer.