Por Cristo's mission is to improve the health and well-being of poor children and their families in Ecuador. There are many ways we work toward accomplishing this mission. Most importantly, in 1996, we opened the Por Cristo Nutrition and Health Center in Isla Trinitaria, a poor neighborhood in the city of Guayaquil, to offer year-round, primary health care.

Staffed by local medical professionals, our clinic offers prenatal and pediatric care, as well as primary medicine, gynecology, vaccinations, dentistry, counseling, nutrition and respiratory therapy.  Our community outreach in wellness and disease prevention is an equally important part of our community health program. This includes work with local daycare centers; a dental hygiene program for 2500 children in 11 schools; community health fairs, and home visits to at-risk pregnant women and families.  Our Girls Self-Esteem program encourages young girls to make positive life choices, strengthen their self-confidence and formulate life goals. All of this enables people to become more informed about their health and thus able to make healthy choices for themselves and their families. 

Elsewhere in Ecuador, we have been proud to partner with the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, offering advice and financial support for their Saint Hildegard Clinic in Jaime Roldos, on the outskirts of the capital, Quito. Their St. Boniface School Lunch Program provides over 125 school lunches daily to at-risk school children each year. The St. Jude Soup Kitchen for the Elderly serves over 50 senior citizens each day. Additionally, our Pediatric Cardiac Team has been working side by side with our Ecuadorian counterparts in Quito for many years on annual visits to improve pediatric cardiac care.

Over the past 35 years we have seen real improvements in the quality of life and economic opportunities in the area we serve. We are proud to do our part, working together with our friends and neighbors in Ecuador, to improve their health and well-being.

Por Cristo Board Member Ray Dunn

We at Por Cristo were deeply saddened by the death of longtime Board of Trustees member, Ray Dunn. Ray's impact on Por Cristo, through his many years of involvement dating back to 2004, cannot be overstated. He was an active, interested, informed member of the Board who always had the organization's best interests in mind. Ray brought a tremendous sense of caring along with wisdom and strategic thinking developed over his lifetime to every subject we discussed. He was always a leading financial supporter of our work. For the past three years, Ray has served as Vice Chair of the Board. As with all our Board members, Ray's sole objective was working to carry out the mission of Por Cristo in improving the health and well-being of poor children and their families. We offer our prayers and condolences to Ray's wife, Kelly, and all his family, along with our never-ending gratitude. Following is the obituary which appeared in the March 9, 2018 edition of the Boston Globe: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=raymond-j-dunn&pid=188400340&fhid=15213.

To make contributions to Por Cristo in Ray's memory, please click here. Those making gifts, please enter Ray's name under "special instructions to the seller" on our donation page or email info@porcristo.org letting us know that this gift is made in Ray's memory. Thank you.

 

"Why I Give" by Diane Kaneb

“Health education and community outreach is so important.”

Diane Kaneb,  her husband Gary, and their four children visited Por Cristo's work in Ecuador a few years ago.  They are long-term supporters of our work.  Diane recently shared a personal story of her family's trip, as seen through the eyes of her son, Luke. Learn more.

 

 

 

 

Since 1979, Por Cristo, a non-profit charitable medical service organization, has been involved in health care work for at-risk women and children in Latin America (primarily serving Ecuador.)

Por Cristo carries out its mission in four distinct ways: