Many of our local farmworkers come here from an impoverished village of San Jose Monteverde, in the State of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.  This village of about 200 households and 1000 residents has very inadequate clean water.  In addition, the men and women have lost their livelihoods due to pandemic shut down of the local markets where they usually sell their wares.

The parishes of St. Ambrose and St. Peter’s have adopted San Jose Monteverde to help meet their most urgent needs.  With the support of the Vergennes and International Rotaries and Healing Waters, a  Christian not-for-profit engineering organization, we anticipate being able to provide this community with an adequate clean water supply before year end.

The women of San Jose Monteverde support their families by weaving baskets and selling to tourists.   Since the pandemic shut down travel and closed markets, the women have had no ability to sell their products.  As a result, we have offered to help our adopted town women and obtained a variety of handwoven baskets, made of washable recycled plastic, to sell on their behalf.  All proceeds go directly back to the weavers, to provide them with money for food, clothing, education costs for their children and 10 percent for the upkeep of their church.