OUR MISSION
MEXICO
Hearing the stories from children going to bed hungry at night inspired us to launch Dine 11 Mexico. Our mission is to partner with local restaurants to feed the most vulnerable population in Cuernavaca, Mexico, young children attending public schools and their families. The vast majority of these children have parents that are essential workers. Unlike in the United States, there are no government sponsored programs to assist families who have been severely impacted by the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, there are few, if any, non-profit organizations who are able to provide support to these children and their families.
Our purpose is two-fold. One, to utilize the donations we receive to support local restaurants currently struggling as a result of the pandemic. And two, to provide young children and their families with nutritious food. With your support, we can make a difference for the children, their families, and local restaurants of Cuernavaca.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the founders of Dine 11 Mexico, Constanza Iturbe and Kaitlyn Hartka, were worried about the wellbeing of young children in Cuernavaca. They saw first hand how these children and their families lived in poverty. The coronavirus pandemic only made matters worse. The families of these children lost their jobs which left them with no way to support their family. In other cases, parents would work, even when they did not feel safe or healthy, knowing it was the only way they could put food on the table. During the start of the pandemic, Constanza lived with her family in the U.S. While living there, she started volunteering at Dine11 Marin and she saw how much the program helped the community. She was inspired and desperately wanted to do the same in her own home town. Realizing that she couldn’t do this all by herself, she asked her cousin, Kaitlyn to help her achieve this great goal. The two girls saw how much they could change people’s lives and wanted to start immediately.
As soon as Constanza left the U.S., they started creating the Dine11 branch in Mexico. They received tremendous support from their family and friends which only made them want to help these vulnerable families even more. They are grateful to The March On Foundation team who became their non-profit fiscal sponsor which has allowed the two girls to provide much needed support to families and local businesses in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
