Behind the 'Adopt a family' project

As many of you are aware, we recently have launched a project called 'Adopt a family' to help support families in Bali who are struggling to get through this challenging time. 

If you have ever been to Bali you have probably experienced the generosity of the Balinese people's overflowing hearts.

Unfortunately, Bali has been hit hard by the ripple- effects of COVID-19 as its economy almost exclusively depends on tourism. 

As the weeks go on and the streets of Bali stay empty, many people have lost their jobs and many locals are starting to struggle to feed their families. 

In order to alleviate the situation, we are collecting donations to take care of the wellbeing of a family here in Bali.

We are allocating our team's working hours to prepare as many care packages as possible (contents listed below) to feed a family of 2 adults and 2 children.

The Ananda Soul team is using 100% of your donations to buy the contents of the care packages and distribute them amongst the families in their villages who are most in need.

Each package of $60 feeds a family for a month and buys the following:

25 kg rice
2 liters cooking oil
1kg onions / shallots 
Mix off tumeric, ginger, chilies, lemongrass, lime 
1/2 kg noodles
2 kg vegetables
30 pcs eggs
1 kg tempeh or tofu
2 kg fruit
1 kg sugar
500 gr salt
500 gr peanuts
Toothpaste
Soap
Detergent
Hand sanitizer - donated by Leaf Juice Skincare
Facemasks made by a single mom in need
Feminie hygiene products 

Just wanted to share a little update and the story behind our 'Adopt a family' project:

After setting up a structure of local suppliers (who have also been tremendously impacted since their usual customers are hotels and restaurants that are currently closed) and drivers, we have started distributing to the families most in need on this precious island. Our hearts are cracked wide open, by the beautiful families we are visiting with your donation packages and by your generosity (we now have funds to feed 0ver 180 families for 1 month and the donations keep coming in - we can't say THANK YOU enough).

The STORY. Before we started this project, I met with my team and asked: "Do you think this is needed and would it make a difference?" With their full "YES" I continued to ask: "Can we pull this off?" and they gave me an "Absolutely, have you seen what our team can do?" (I smiled because I *FRICKIN* love our team!).

Then I asked, "Who will receive these packages?" - a question resulting in my Balinese team members going through their villages and making lists of families with elderly, families with many children, people with disabilities, people who had lost their jobs, people who can not make it through this time without significant impacts to their wellbeing. The list of people in need was then screened to ensure that we weren’t doubling up efforts with other organizations and government support systems. The list keeps growing and I cry every time I read through the explanations our kindhearted general manager Ibu Yuni (we call her ibu = mother) gives as to why these particular families need help. It’s important for me to share with you  how we are going about this, with care and diligence, because the process and how we give is just as important and impactful as what we are giving.

I am and will continue to be a 'guest' on this island. I don't have words to express the gratitude for being able to call this magical island home. I will do my part to spread the word and tell YOU, the amazing people giving donations about what we are doing. The people running this on the ground with continued devotion are our team of 16 badass women, their husbands (who immediately stepped up to join) and our volunteers. 

With a solid system in place, we are looking forward to stepping into another week of buying a lot (I mean A LOT) of rice and eggs and produce and (the list is long).

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your donations, to our team, to our staff's husbands and to our volunteers. None of this would be possible without you.

With love from Bali,

Christina