An ingenious initiative to help vulnerable people in Peru in the face of the post-COVID-19 food crisis is the "Food Rescue - AYNI" project of the national chapter of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA Peru) in alliance with the World Food Program (WFP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The main feature of this project consists of the food rescue and zero waste operations.

This project began in February 2023, and during its development, several companies joined in by rescuing food and providing donations. With this work, ADRA Peru has implemented a mobile food transportation unit with a capacity of 4.5 tons. To date, 200 tons of food have been delivered, benefiting more than 13,700 people, in addition to training the ollas comunes (“common pots”) in nutrition, proper food handling, and good organizational management.

The ollas comunes are self-managed spaces by members of a community where food aid or assistance is provided to people in vulnerable situations who do not have the necessary economic resources to pay for daily food on an individual basis. Those interested in helping more ollas comunes in vulnerable sectors of the country can do so by contacting ADRA Peru: email—donaciones@adra.org.pe; Whatsapp—+51 994 628 864.

The Power of Adventist Volunteers

This project has a volunteer program that supports the food rescue system. According to information provided by ADRA Peru, there are more than 100 volunteers from the Seventh-day Adventist Church who gave their time and efforts to collaborate with the objective of the project; it was identified that 65 percent are women—volunteers committed to helping the most vulnerable.

The volunteers, under the leadership of the project specialists, went to various markets and supermarkets in search of donations, then transferred the supplies to various ollas comunes in areas of poverty within the districts of Villa María del Triunfo and Pachacámac, in Lima.

The South Peru Union (UPS) of Seventh-day Adventists highlights the effort and dedication of church members to help the needy through actions, just as Jesus taught His people, and prays for each volunteer, leader, and specialist involved in this noble cause.

The original version of this story was posted on the South American Division Spanish-language news site.