PROGRAMS
Sharing Abundance:
Implementing a Food Rescue Model in Mexico and
Latin America:
"Wings of Love"
Launch: August 8, 2023 at the
Memory & Tolerance Museum
Our UAM graduate student team presented a feasibility study along with expert speakers on food security and the White Pony Express in California!
Project Background
Trained by our partners at the White Pony Express on their "circle of giving" model, WFI's student teams in Mexico are implementing a food rescue program, beginning in Veracruz, one of the most underserved regions in the country. The program is called "Wings of Love," and will be replicable through Mexico and in other countries of Latin America and beyond.
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Women and girls are the most vulnerable demographic worldwide to food insecurity. Statistics show that at least twenty to thirty million or more people experience food insecurity in Mexico. Currently, a diverse group of civil society organizations work to address this problem. Despite these efforts, the efficiency, collaboration, and impact of Mexico’s food rescue programs can be significantly improved through a robust, volunteer-based community program that incorporates and coordinates public and private partnerships.
Women Forward International (WFI) is expanding its collaboration with White Pony Express (WPE), a pioneering volunteer-powered nonprofit organization with a mission to eliminate hunger and poverty by delivering the abundance all around us to those in need—with love.
In addition, a conglomeration of Mexican businesses, including COPARMEX, the Consejo Coordinador de Mujeres Empresarias, and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico are exploring how they can support the project through in kind, financial, and volunteer contributions.
Through the sponsorship of TC Energia and other partners, WFI is curating vital research from leading universities in Mexico to launch a far-reaching food security program in Mexico called "Wings of Love." WFI's student team at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) has published a feasibility study and implementation plan designed for Veracruz and states across Mexico. The University of Veracruz Wings of Love Student Coordinator is building a sustainable program with the community of Veracruz and establishing the foundation to replicate the program throughout the country and Latin America.
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Objective
To bring together beneficial organizations in Latin America, the United States, and Canada to address a gap area in food security by enhancing existing channels, including food banks, and providing a volunteer-powered organizational model that is sustainable to directly and efficiently serve the needs of those most vulnerable, especially women and girls, throughout the region.
Deliverables
In Phase I of our program, we partnered with the White Pony Express to undertake a feasibility and needs assessment, identifythe priority region and city, and created an action plan to bring an efficient and effective new food rescue model to Mexico based on the notion that we are “one human family.”
In Phases II and III, WFI and the university teams are continuing to develop the program through direct implementation and strategy for making the program sustainable in Veracruz and other states in Mexico and Latin America. The team’s deliverables will include the identification and outreach to the most appropriate partners in terms of restaurants, supermarkets, other types of businesses, transportation and storage resources, and volunteer networks required to address the needs of those who experience food insecurity, especially women and girls.
Impact
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By partnering action oriented university student research teams alongside organizations that bring about economic and social transformation for the common good, Wings of Love can have dramatic impact both on the next generation of leaders and the beneficiaries with whom they are working to bring about a new world based on the principle of shared abundance.
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Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
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This programs contributes to ten out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and have the capacity to uplift tens of thousands of impoverished women and men and their families in the country.
· 2: Zero Hunger
· 3: Good Health and Well-Being
· 5: Gender Equality
· 6: Clean Water & Sanitation
· 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth
· 9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
· 12: Responsible Consumption & Production
· 13: Climate Action
· 14: Life Below Water
· 15: Life on Land
Background on White Pony Express
Based in the California Bay Area, WPE serves 120,000 people each year by partnering with more than 80 non-profit agencies who have strong ties to the community. The rescue program at WPE has expanded this model by subjecting all collected food to a meticulous culling process and promising that it is obtained, sorted, and redistributed within a twenty-four-hour time period—seven days a week. They have won numerous awards in California for their unique template and volunteer-based model, are currently spreading the model in three other U.S. cities, and have participated with a white paper in President Biden’s White House Summit on Food Security in September 2022.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ofelia Angulo Guerrero, Secretary of Education, Science, Technology and Education of Mexico City
Watch a Four-Minute Overview of Wings of Love
Watch a Two-Minute Testimonial from our UAM Student Team
See Highlights of our Event
Additional Press:
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El Universal
UMA Students Promote Food Rescue
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Imagen de Veracruz
Women Forward International and TC Energía present a food rescue program for Veracruz
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Energy Today
WFI and TC Energía present food rescue program for Veracruz
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Global Energy
Join us in Veracruz the last Friday of every month! ​Wings of Love brings together community leaders, volunteers, donors, and beneficiaries for a day of celebration and action to serve 50 -70 women and their families on a monthly basis!
X (Twitter): AlasdeAmormx
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Tik tok: AlasdeAmormx
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Facebook: Alas de Amor Mx
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Instagram: alasdeamor19 (Alas de Amor)
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Email: alasdeamormx@gmail.com
Corporate Partnerships
WFI welcomes any company that wishes to participate in this beneficial program to further the principle of shared abundance, especially for women and girls, to contribute matching financial support, in kind donations of food, supplies, and space, and to encourage their employees to volunteer. The program enables company volunteers to reach the most vulnerable communities, and unites Mexicans from diverse social strata promoting equity and equality and community resilience. It demonstrates measurable impact in the near term.
For more information, contact kent@womenforwardinternational.org
See
Corporate and Foundational Sponsorship Executive Summary in English
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Women Forward International (WFI) ofrece a las compañías la oportunidad de cumplir con sus propósitos sostenibles, de diversidad, equidad e inclusión. Corporaciones líderes están participando con WFI para rescatar alimentos y compartir abundancia; empoderar a mujeres artesanas; y entrenar mujeres emprendedoras en México en tres formas: apoyo económico, contribuciones en especie y voluntariado de empleados.
WFI ha coordinado exitosos programas de alto impacto en México y alrededor del mundo y permite a los estudiantes de posgrado de las principales instituciones académicas de México hacer que su investigación deje huella.
Además de servir a miles de Mexicanos que viven por debajo del umbral de pobreza, sus compañías se benefician con la posibilidad de reclutar a nuestros talentosos equipos de estudiantes, y sus empleados se involucran en significativas experiencias de voluntariado, basadas en el entendimiento de que todos nosotros somos una sola familia humana.
Para mayor información, favor de hacer contacto con la Fundadora y Presidenta de WFI,
Dra. Kent Davis-Packard: kent@womenforwardinternational.org.