Changing lives one stove at a time.

This winter, Onset resident Caroline Carton will devote her time, money and resources to help improve the quality of life for families living in the Guatemalan village of San Pedro de la Laguna by building masonry wood burning stoves.  Here are the details:

What may seem like a simple commodity in America is a necessary tool for survival in the remote lakeside village. Since the late 1980’s, hundreds of San Pedro residents, including many children, have suffered from severe respiratory illness caused by the way they cook with an indoor fire pit.  In fact, according to the World Health Organization, the problem is so severe it is the leading cause of death in Guatemalan children under the age of five.

My goal is to spend January in the village to build at least 20 new stoves. However, I cannot do it without raising the necessary funds.

$100 is all it takes to build one stove, but any donation, even $1, would help.

I don’t want to say the Mayan people are destitute or poor, because that is generally associated with money. You leave there and you think, ‘what is poor’? . These people have other things that money can’t buy, family, community, and love of the earth. What they don’t have is financial resources to make their quality of life healthier.

Donations can be sent to Caroline Carton directly at P.O. Box 1598, Onset, MA, 02558.

For a tax-deductible donation, checks can be made out to Xi Delta Nu, a national non-profit organization sponsoring me.

For more information contact me directly at  carcarton@gmail.com.