Past Projects

Over the past years, ASALCA has participated in various initiatives to support vulnerable communities in El Salvador, helping them to build resilience by supporting their community and leadership development, and historic memory initiatives. Some of these initiatives are:

• Scholarship Project for elementary students in Guadalupe, San Vicente. In Guadalupe, San Vicente ASALCA provided scholarships to primary school students from 2005 to 2010. These scholarships were granted every year to fifteen students, selected by a community board, whose school supplies, uniforms, and school tuition were covered by the association. The program ended in 2010 when this cost was absorbed by the Ministry of Education of El Salvador.
• ASALCA contributed to the fundraising campaign to support the EsArtes Project in Suchitoto, El Salvador. EsArtes was a program that offered opportunities to young people through performance and theatre education. Our fundraising was done through the Festival Maize organized every summer in Toronto and was presented at the annual Suchitoto Fiesta-Cabaret in Stratford.
• Health Brigades – The Salvadoran Canadian Association (ASALCA) and STIMA organized five joint health brigades to El Salvador beginning in 2007 and ending in 2013. Arcatao, Nueva Trinidad, Nombre de Jesus, Suchitoto and San Esteban Catarina were the municipalities where a group of professionals volunteered their time and experience with specific emphasis in the delivery of health-related services. Those services included medical care for children, adults and elderly, workshops, and medical exams. In addition, the brigades counted on the collaboration of cultural interpreters from the Salvadoran Diaspora and the National University of El Salvador.
• Over the years, ASALCA in conjunction with SALVAIDE have also launched appeals to help raise money to assist communities in El Salvador with the consequences of floods and earthquakes. In January and February 2001 earthquakes hit the communities in and around San Salvador, the Capital of this tiny, densely populated country. As many as 3,000 people were reported to be dead and many more were injured, mostly in the poorest areas of the country. The funds raised allowed us to assist families and support the recovery process in their communities.