b'Faced with COVID-19 Pandemic, Ecuadors Working Class Keeps ECUADOR PedalingBy Jason Woods and Amanda GrandaPhotos by Isadora RomeroWHEN THE COVID-19 PANDEMICothers in need and created a solidarity REACHED QUITO, Ecuador, in Marchnetwork to coordinate donations through 2020, it hit the citys barrios populares, orsocial media and then distribute them.low-income communities, the hardest.We made weekly purchases to But in one barrio popular, a group ofput together food kits containing 11 resilient young entrepreneurs supportedproducts, and we delivered them to the by Heifer is doing the legwork necessaryLa Changa Cultural Center, Salcedo to distribute fresh, healthy food to theirsaid. In the case of older adults who, due community while earning an income. to health conditions, could not leave Karen Salcedo taught affordable ballettheir homes, we took their kits to them.classes to children and managed theAbout 90 families received food TOPcaf for La Changa Art Collective. Whenkits, but as the pandemic wore on, Karen Salcedo, a member ofthe coronavirus outbreak shut downthe program became unsustainable. La Changa,those opportunities, she found herselfAround that time, Heifer Ecuador distributes fresh produce towith an even more meager budget,contacted La Changa with an idea: to customers in theaccepting donations of food and money. earn money delivering fresh food from south of QuitoSalcedo and other members of Lafarms to doorsteps in the south of Quito every Thursday via bicycle. Changa shared those resources withvia bicycle.HEIFER.ORG |21'