Give efficient stoves to 100 Guatemalan families

Across rural Guatemala, families continue to face challenges from traditional open-fire cooking methods that consume excess wood and cause harmful indoor air pollution. Through your support, GuateBuena’s Efficient Stoves Project is improving the living conditions of vulnerable families by providing low-consumption, low-smoke stoves that promote health, sustainability, and dignity.

Recent progress:
To date, we have completed the delivery of 60% of the planned stoves, marking a significant milestone in the project’s implementation.

Quantifiable impact:

• 80 stoves distributed

• 80 families directly benefited

• 3 community workshops held, focused on environmental awareness and preventive health, especially reducing tree cutting and preventing respiratory and visual illnesses

Upcoming milestones:
According to the established schedule, the total delivery of 140 stoves is expected to be completed during the first week of December, thus completing the distribution cycle planned for this year.

We deeply appreciate the support of every donor who makes this daily transformation possible. Each stove delivered represents a healthier, more dignified, and more sustainable home.

Looking ahead:
As we complete this phase, GuateBuena remains committed to expanding environmental education and health promotion alongside the stove distributions. By pairing technology with training, we ensure that these stoves become catalysts for lasting behavioral change, protecting both families and forests for generations to come.

Thank you for helping us build cleaner, safer, and more resilient homes across Guatemala. Your donations are bringing us a step closer to our goal each day. 

Dear Donors,

Thank you for your ongoing support of GuateBuena’s Efficient Stoves Project. We are happy to share an update on how this initiative has progressed over the past several months and the exciting next steps we have planned.

This year brought some delays due to a temporary pause in fund transfers and a recovery period for our lead stove builder. Our stove builder is the expert technician and craftsman who designs and constructs the highefficiency stoves for families across the communities we serve. After a challenging health period, he is now on the mend, allowing the project to move forward.

In March, we conducted a survey with 85 families who received stoves in earlier phases of the project. Their feedback was overwhelmingly positive: families reported significant benefits for their health and household finances. They shared how using the stoves reduced their firewood consumption, saved money, and created a cleaner, safer cooking environment. The families also expressed a stronger commitment to environmental conservation and reducing deforestation in their communities.

With the fund transfer issues resolved in late May, our builder began making improvements to the stove design. These upgrades now include a chimney option, making the stoves adaptable for enclosed spaces. This June, our team started identifying new candidate families for the 2025 cycle.

Although our original target was to build 200 stoves, funding constraints have required an adjustment, and we are now focusing on reaching approximately 140 families this year. This is a roughly 30% reduction from the original goal. Despite this shift, GuateBuena's commitment to providing lifechanging stoves and spreading environmental education through handson ecological workshops remains as strong as ever.

Thank you for making this vital work possible. If you’d like to deepen your support or help us reach more families, we’d be deeply grateful.

Links:

• https://gracecares.org/project/guatebuena-association/
• https://gracecares.org/