“Church Helps Feed Hungry Argentine Children,” Ensign, Oct. 2002, 78–79
Church Helps Feed Hungry Argentine Children
Joining in an effort to help those affected by political and economic crisis in Argentina, the Church recently donated food to feed 4,300 children for five months.
The food went to 31 nongovernment institutions that provide food for needy children, 16 of them in Buenos Aires and 15 in the interior of Argentina.
The number of people living in poverty in Argentina has risen dramatically this year as a result of changes in economic conditions. The Church was among a number of institutions donating to help alleviate the crisis.
Church leaders, including Elder Carlos E. Agüero, Area Authority Seventy, met with Juan Pablo Cafiero, vice chair of the national cabinet, who suggested the institutions to receive the Church’s donations. The donated food was purchased locally, and local Church leaders helped with some of the deliveries.
Mr. Cafiero thanked Church leaders on behalf of the government and the people of Argentina for the Church’s donations, which he called “a very important act of caring that we appreciate and esteem highly.”
Perhaps the strongest expression of thanks for the donations came from Susana Gomez of the Pantalon Cortito children’s home, who told those delivering the Church’s donation: “What you have given us is of first quality. To feed these children we have to do much pleading, and generally what we receive is that which is left over. You have given us the best and made me feel that I am important to someone.”