MIKHUNA Food Bank, the First in Azuay!

Hearts of Gold has joined forces with the Social Pastorial of Turi and Equidar, a social service program that is part of the Azuay Province, to help open the first food bank in Azuay called MIKHUNA, which is the Quechua name for “food”. The MIKHUNA Food Bank aims to improve the level of nutrition and quality of life for families of the lowest economic sector of Azuay. The program will help increase the consumption of healthy and nutritious food, facilitate the diversification of family diets and reduce the amount of food going to waste.

Under the MIKHUNA Food Bank program, families and organizations like CETAP-Lucy, NOVA ,the Arenal Foundation, Equidar and the families of the Social Pastorial of Turi will have access to quality food products at a cost no higher than 20% of the market price. By reducing the cost of essential goods, the program promises to achieve the following results:

1. Improve the target population’s daily diet by 5%

2. Decrease the target population’s malnutrition in children under 6 by 0.1%

3. Improve the nutritional state of pregnant woman involved in the program by 0.1%

4. Increase the target population’s assistance to nutritional talks and medical checkups

5. Improve the food and personal hygiene standards of the target population

The products of the MIKHUNA Food Bank will be made available to each family and organization involved in the program once a week, according to the amount of product in stock. Each organization and family participating in the program must register a single recipient to receive food from the bank so that MIKHUNA can monitor the use and consumption of the foodstuffs with efficiency.