In the rural communities around Matagalpa, Nicaragua, most families still cook over open fires in small homes — the same way their mothers and grandmothers did. It works, but it comes at a real cost. Their homes fill with smoke that damages children's lungs and eyes, and women have to spend hours each week gathering firewood.

Children under five who grow up breathing smoke are far more likely to develop chronic respiratory illness. Mothers who cook for hours a day are, too. It's one of the quiet, everyday health risks that families face — not from a single crisis, but from cooking dinner.

There's an environmental cost as well. Open fires burn far more wood than they need to, which means more trees cut, more hours spent walking to gather firewood, and less time for children to be in school or for mothers to work.

An improved cookstove changes all of that. It vents smoke safely outside through a chimney instead of into the room. It uses roughly half the firewood of an open fire, easing pressure on the surrounding forest. It's compact, easy to maintain, and built to last. And because it needs less wood, it gives women back hours in their week — hours they'd rather spend with their kids, at the market, or growing the small businesses we help them start through our vocational and micro-credit programs.

Each stove costs $250 to build and install. This August, we're raising $10,000 to install 40 stoves for 40 families. Each stove costs $250 — and your gift, in any amount, gets us there.

$250 = one stove, one family, one healthier home.

Every dollar past our goal means another family doesn't have to wait for theirs.

40 Stoves 2026

Healthier homes. Stronger families. $250 gives one family in Matagalpa a safe, smoke-free stove. Help us fund 40.

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