2018-Jan-2
Did you know? You can share this story using the social media icons on the upper left. Use the hashtag #WeAreCisco. You can also rate or comment on the story below.
A Year of Breakfast
BY LUCAS OLOCCO · MANAGING DIRECTOR GLOBAL SERVICE PROVIDER · MEXICO
I have been living in Mexico for the last 10 years. I love this country and I am passionately involved in ensuring that children in Mexico can all have the same opportunities.
Last year, talking with the Banco de Alimentos foundation, they shared information on a program that they run where they offer food to families in Mexico to improve malnutrition.
Undernutrition can lead to permanent physical and cognitive damage that can impact a child’s performance in school. I suggested creating an assistance program specifically for schools, to provide a nutritious meal before every school day for school children from an underprivileged background. So we created “Desayunos para Niños” (Breakfast for Kids), a program that would deliver a daily breakfast to these children to improve the children’s ability to learn.
The foundation undertook an analysis of local school children to define which schools had the most children that needed our help and support.
We identified first Miguel Hidalgo school in Estado de Mexico, a particularly poor area of Mexico where over 200 children attended the school. Over 40 percent of the children were malnourished, however this program has enabled us to reduce this to almost zero. These children now have the opportunity to learn and grow—having the same chances as those children from more wealthy families.
Part of the program is the campaign to find godparents, which I lead. The godparents donate a “Year of Breakfast” to a child in the school. Many of the godparents are Cisco employees who sponsor two or three children. And what’s more, Cisco matches their donations.
It is a sad fact that some children do not have the opportunity to learn at 100 percent of their capability, impacting their future opportunity, simply because they are undernourished. Being a godparent is helping change the life of over 350 children across the two schools, by simply providing a nutritious breakfast. These children didn’t choose to be from a poverty-stricken background, but this simple act now provides them with the opportunity to better themselves.
We are also teaching the parents about nutrition.We’re helping them to be more conscious of the importance of healthy food and how it impacts not just the health of their children, but also the chances they will have in the future.
On top of this, once a month we visit the schools to help them with other needs. This includes “Programa Escuelas”, which is an after-school program and donations to the school of computer equipment such as PCs. We have now extended the program to a second school adding an additional 200 children to the program.
Being a leader is not just about doing what is right, we all need to get involved and drive others to join initiatives that make a huge difference in the local community. This is a team effort of like-minded people, that are making the effort to change the reality of 350 children in Mexico. Today we are only able to help two schools But our dream, with the help of Cisco, is to be able to extend this to many schools across Mexico in the coming years.
One of the most important parts of the program is that we have the capability to measure the impact of the 350 children that we support. When the program started, the children undertook blood analysis, and we found that 60 percent of them were undernourished. At the end of the school year, this percentage had dropped to zero. This means that all these children can now study with the same capabilities and potential.
When you are part of a program like this, you receive much more than you give The love we receive each time we visit the school is overwhelming. And the engagement from mothers and teachers in the program who have spent hours learning and driving the program is amazing.
For me personally, the opportunity to lead this program and encourage others to get involved was an incredible starting point for me. It was my way of repaying the local community for all of the wonderful things my family and I received in our early days of living in Mexico.
We can all get involved in helping others change their lives. And often it’s something really simple that has a huge impact!
Related Links
Connect everything. Innovate everywhere. Benefit everyone.
Share your thoughts!
Log in to rate and commentShare your thoughts on the story here!