On World Philanthropy Day Programa Mano Amiga grants more than $226,000 in donations
Benefiting 24 non-profit entities in its fifteenth edition

San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 15, 2023 – The Programa Mano Amiga of the Plaza Las Américas and Plaza Del Caribe Foundations celebrated its fifteenth edition where 24 grants were presented to different non-profit entities in the metro and southern areas of the Island. In total, the social investment amounts to $226,000 that will impact the lives of over 52,000 people in the areas of art and culture, entrepreneurship, education and health.

“I am very pleased that today, World Philanthropy Day, we celebrate our fifteenth grant award from the Programa Mano Amiga. Over the years, I have always been pleased to announce and present this recognition and grant to organizations that play a crucial role in our community. Through this program, we unite and support those closest to the communities and those who best know their needs. We remain committed to working together and providing them with a helping hand to build a more supportive and hopeful future for all,” said Jaime Fonalledas Rubert, president of the Plaza Las Américas and Plaza Del Caribe Foundations.

The Plaza Del Caribe Foundation presented donations to 8 organizations which directly impact more than 800 people. The organizations selected in this edition were:

• The Rafael Hernández Colón Library Foundation, for its mentoring and leadership program for children and teens;

• Ponce Neighborhood Housing Service, Inc., to provide crafts, culinary arts and technology workshops to heads of household;

• Sociedad Americana Contra el Cáncer, to provide transportation services to patients in the south area, who receive services in the metro area in order to guarantee that each patient has the opportunity to receive the treatment they need in a timely manner;

• Program Música 100×35, Concerts for My Community, which offers music classes to low-income children and young people in the area of Ponce and Guayama in order to present concerts open to the community, where they can demonstrate and celebrate stage achievements. obtained musicals;

• Pediatric Diabetes Foundation, to support the Growing with Diabetes program, where children or teenagers, along with their family, are educated from the beginning of the diagnosis of diabetes;

• Música y País Foundation, to continue with the program Música para Todos en tu Escuela, serving 3 schools in the south as it has been doing since 2020

• Ferrán and Punta Diamante Service Center, to promote healthy lifestyles in vulnerable communities, educate children, young people, adults and the elderly about high blood pressure and its risks, through its Educating the Heart Project (EDUCOR);

• Madre Dominga Center, Casa Belén, to provide outpatient treatment to women with drug and/or alcohol use problems in the Ponce area.

On the other hand, the Plaza Las Américas Foundation presented grants to 16 organizations which will impact over 51,256 people. The recognized organizations were:

• The Nueva Escuela Institute, with the academic certification program in Montessori philosophy and methodology;

• La Fondita de Jesús Corporation, to support the Healthy Connection program, which brings Fondita services directly to vulnerable communities in a vehicle and thus impact the lives of homeless people and other populations in extreme poverty;

• Mauro, Inc., supporting the program Arte Educando para Todos (AEPT), which seeks to improve the knowledge of the arts of children and young people from vulnerable communities, using ballet and cinematography classes;

• Attention Attention Foundation, supporting the Attention Attention Academy Workshop, to create new teaching content in coding and basic programming;

• Iniciativa Comunitaria de Investigación, Center for Life, to provide HIV+ testing, controls and promotion of prevention educational materials for participants served from the clinic;

• Puerto Rican Kidney Foundation, Inc., for the Safe Health program; Take Care of Your Kidneys 2, which will offer educational workshops on the prevention of kidney disease and the importance of monitoring blood pressure in various scenarios;

• Innovative Technology for Education Foundation, for the Academia La Providencia Educational Resilience program, which is a requirement for Middle States reaccreditation and impacts students, teachers and administration;

• Alianza para un Puerto Rico sin Drogas, for the 2024 Community Calendar program, which helps stimulate the artistic talents and resilience of a group of students from the Nemesio R. Canales School through life and art skills workshops.

• Puerto Rican Epilepsy Society, through which assistance is offered to the community with epilepsy and helps meet some of their needs;

• Niños de Nueva Esperanza, Inc., for the academic support program under the “Compassion-Fund” model;

• Jóvenes de Puerto Rico en Riesgo, Inc., through the support of the Continuous Socio-Educational Services for Prevention project, which combines academic support services, coaching focused on academic goals and psychosocial services;

• G-8 Group of Eight Communities Surrounding Caño Martín Peña, Inc., by supporting the Caño Martín Peña educational project, to address academic lag;

• Milagros del Amor Corporation, with its self-management project for people in need, which will offer balloon decoration workshops; soap making; mosaics and preparation of hors d’oeuvres;

• Center for Puerto Rico, Sila M. Calderón Foundation, to support its Center for Transformation and Help for Survivors of Gender Violence (CE-TRANSFORMA);

• Association of United Communities Taking Solidarity Action (ACUTAS), for its interdisciplinary support program, providing supervised studies and workshops;

• Centro CRECE, for its project Portraits of Prosperity- A Puerto Rican Perspective, a photography contest that celebrates the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of Puerto Rican communities.

Since its creation in 2016, the Mano Amiga Program has contributed over $3 million in 275 donations, which have benefited 126 organizations and impacted nearly 370,000 people in Puerto Rico. The Programa Mano Amiga receives donation requests from organizations that meet the requirements twice a year, which are evaluated by a panel and the beneficiaries are subsequently announced. The next period in which entities will be able to submit their proposals for consideration of the program will be in March 2024. For more information about the program, you can access the corporate website of Empresas Fonalledas and its affiliated companies, www.empresasfonalledas.com.

###