There are lots of organizations in Los Cabos that work to improve the situation of the poorest children in the colonias of the area.  One of the most interesting is Feeding Los Cabos Kids.  Donna Brnjic went to the United States from Eastern European as a 19-year-old bride.  Arriving in St Louis, life was not easy for someone who did not speak much if any English in the 1960s.  Donna will be 78 soon and has done a lot to make a difference to the children of Los Cabos.  When Donna was a nanny for Jenny Craig (of weight loss fame) in Los Angeles, she won a trip to Los Cabos in 2002.  She had never been here before but found her way out to one of the local colonias where, seeing the situation, she fed some children.  A year later, she packed up and moved to Los Cabos.  With the $100 she had, she made ham sandwiches and started feed local children.  When people in the local church she was attending found out what she was doing, they wanted to help – donations and volunteering started.  Over the next seven years, Donna helped to build kitchens in the poorest areas of Los Cabos.  She was doing everything under the radar and found the need to have a charitable entity with which to partner to become a legal non-profit – enter Cabo Church with a US 501 c(3) status which made it possible to receive donations.

Feeding Los Cabo Kids is operated totally on donations and with volunteers.  There is only one paid employee).  The organization currently has 14 kitchens in different colonia throughout theLos Cabos region.  Most kitchens have accommodation for the Pastor and his or her spouse, who operate the kitchen to live and manage the program.  Locals from the colonia volunteer to cook and serve the meals, clean the kitchens, and help maintain the property.  These volunteers are rewarded for their contribution with monthly despensas – bags that contain 1-kg bag of each: flour, sugar, rice, beans, and a 1-liter bottle of oil.  When they visit the office to pick up their allocation, they are also allowed to take fish that has been donated by a number of charter captains, and other household items that have been donated by people cleaning or moving house.  The bigger items are sold at thrift stores to help support the program.  The couple that run each kitchen are provided with a pre-paid Soriana card that is reload each month by Feeding Los Cabos Kids to allow them to buy the food, staples and other items that are needed to operate their kitchen.

As the whole program is run by donations from individuals, Feeding Los Cabos Kids had to get creative in the way to raise those funds.  When Ken Riggs, who had previously managed the 600+ Love Truck Stops across the United States started to help out the organization by delivering food to the San Jose del Cabo office and picking up things from the fishermen and Cabo Bakery, he moved into a more important role in helping to manage the whole program – his forte.  But he started to do more public fundraising events.  He staged the first concert at Cocina and Bar by Cabo Bakery with 350 attendees.  Concerts have continued at venues like Latitude 22 The Roadhouse.  Through a relationship with Cabo Yacht Charters owned by Dan Mason, the owner of six charter boats, with the help of Paul and Carla Shouse, he has staged several fundraising events on the water.  The most recent was a Murder Mystery dinner on July 20^th.  Feeding Los Cabos Kids also has regular Christmas fundraising dinners.

One of the most consistent fund and friend-raising components of their program are Excursions.  Visitors, who are interested in learning more about life in the colonias and the role of Feeding Los Cabos Kids can sign up to visit one of the kitchens.  On the way, they stop at a grocery store and the member of the Excursion buy all of the food necessary for a meal at the kitchen.  When they arrive, they cook and serve the meal to the kids at the kitchen.  For those who are nervous about buying at the store, they can serve the meal and join in on a variety of activities with the children and the kitchen – and then hopefully make a donation.  Lots of the visitors have so much fun that they sign up every time that they visit Los Cabos.  In the high season, Feeding Los Cabos Kids can serve over 20,000 meals in a month – all paid for, served and provided by volunteers, both expats and locals.

In their small office on Manuel Hidalgo, adjacent Cabo Church in Cabo San Lucas, Feeding Cabo Kids also stockpiles can goods, other foods and blankets for the hurricane season, in case of emergencies.  For the start of school, they have more than 500 backpacks and other school supplies to help the children associated with their kitchens.  If they are needed in a particular season, the put on bigger Christmas feasts at their kitchens.