facts about La Milagrosa:
- Ages served: 5 – 18 years
- Education: School-aged children attend local public schools, where core academic subjects are taught.
- Academic year: Typically begins in February and ends in early December. Students enjoy summer break from mid-December to early February and a short winter break in July.
- Outreach: The coordinator at La Milagrosa makes occasional visits to the more than 400 shacks that comprise the town, assessing the needs of each child and family. Children receive monthly food baskets, and the center provides mothers with emotional and psychological support. The center also hosts holiday celebrations for the children to attend.
- Basic needs: As with all of our affiliated sites, our volunteer coordinators determine the individual needs of each sponsored child, and those basic needs are provided to them on a regular basis. Items include but are not limited to clothing, shoes, food, bedding for the home, hygiene items, medications, eyeglasses, school supplies — all which help them overcome the barriers they face coming from impoverished households.
Situated in the Central American Isthmus, Costa Rica is a land rich in natural beauty including tropical rainforest, volcanoes and lakes. It shares borders with Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Despite its status as one of the most stable, prosperous and progressive nations in Latin America — and one of the most ecofriendly in the world — Costa Rica struggles beneath a threatened economy and low paying jobs.
These issues are most pronounced in impoverished neighborhoods such as Tejarcillos, located just beyond the outskirts of the Costa Rican capital, San Jose, where employment is scarce and locals struggle to make a living to provide for their children. For this reason, the La Milagrosa welfare center serves as a beacon of hope and a safe haven for the impoverished families of this community. La Milagrosa provides area children with much-needed support and guidance, meeting their immediate needs while giving them the tools to rise above the difficult socioeconomic circumstances from which they come.
Facts about costa rica:
- Population: 4.5 million (2021)
- Languages Spoken: Spanish (official), English
- Unemployment Rate: 21.9% (2021)
- Poverty Rate: 20% (2021)
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