Written by Israel Estrada, OTB Mexico Country Director on March 26, 2020
The global spread of the COVID-19 virus has now made its impact on Mexico. As you know, each country’s government is taking measures to contain the virus from spreading further and ensure the well-being of its citizens; Mexico is not the exception.
On March 18, local authorities declared phase 2 of the contingency. This meant, among other things, that school attendance would be canceled, as well as other gatherings of over 10 people. They encouraged businesses and companies that if able to, should work from home; they closed most public places, and of course, advised that people stay home in quarantine for the next 30 days.
For the OTB MEXICO family, this meant an immediate and abrupt stop on operations as the great majority of our meals are distributed to schools and ministries each day. We went from cooking over 40,000 meals each day to just a few hundred. That is nearly 40,000 kids that stopped receiving a hearty, nutritious meal! Most of these kids are from low-income feeding programs at schools. Having their daily meal at school, represented a huge support to their families and a solid contribution to maintaining their physical health.
This turn of a cooking dynamic also left us with a high inventory and a large staff to care for. After the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were announced in the state of Baja California, our teams finished up the week, taking care of some deep cleaning within the kitchens, as well as some basic repairs and maintenance that were much needed. The following week, we decided to give the staff some downtime, a much-needed pause to rest, as they had been keeping an intense workload for several months. They were appreciative. However, the next 15 days will be critical for us. We don’t want to let our staff go, but at the same time, it's difficult to keep up with our expenses, payroll being the highest it has ever been, due to the demand for meals that we had been producing.
We decided to continue to help our team and ministry partners by putting together food packs with our remaining inventory and by purchasing other basic food goods at bulk pricing. We’ve reached out to our ministry partners, and they are very thankful to hear this news since they also did not want to stop being a blessing to their communities. The reality is, that beyond the continuous ministry that is carried over communities in Mexicali and Tijuana, the need for aid is greater than ever in our border state. Many families have been left without income as one or both providers have lost their jobs. Others are being forced to renounce their job to stay home with their children, who are not currently attending school. Some have been left to earn minimum wage ($186 pesos or $10 USD a day in Mexico), which leaves them limited to provide for their families. In addition, there are food supply shortages and quickly rising prices of basic goods in the market, all due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Although the government of Mexico is taking measures to contain the virus, they have been slow to respond to the economic effect the period of quarantine has brought upon our cities, most essentially the impoverished communities.
Our plan is to have a basic food pack that contains enough food to sustain a family of 4 for at least 2 weeks. Food packs will go to the most vulnerable groups: the elderly and the single-parent households. As you know, the COVID-19 is especially dangerous to people whose age is over 50, and the general instruction from our government authorities is for people in this age group to stay home. So we believe that by doing this, not only are we blessing the community but also we are helping reduce the risk of exposure to the virus among those more vulnerable.
Our kitchens are also being used as food banks. We are working with the government and local vendors so they can send us their surplus, or any other donations they want to send our way, with the purpose of producing these food packs. Our desire is to be able to offer a well-balanced food pack with non-perishables but also fresh produce. We have already received over 6 tons of oranges that we quickly distributed to some of our ministry partners.
We strongly believe that this is not the time to close doors and “wait it out”. It's an opportunity to work alongside the church and community to help spread the hope, faith, and love of Jesus, which is the rock that sustains us in the midst of this crisis. We can’t cook for them now, but we will most gladly go to the market for them. Thus far, we’ve been able to distribute tons of help (literally) and we know that we can do a lot more.
Each food pack costs us around $13 USD. It contains beans, rice, lentils, oatmeal, oil, pasta, and 10 pounds of fresh assorted fruits and vegetables. In addition to this, and because it is in the heart of OTB, we are also putting together a recipe book to help them get the most out of their food pack, with recipes that can help boost their immune system.
Thank you for your continuous support. Please keep us in your prayers, just as we pray for all of you who are part of the OTB GLOBAL family.
Israel Estrada
OTB Mexico Country Director
Visit this page if you would like to donate $13 for a family meal pack today!
