Meet Melida

A Life Changed through Faithful Presence

Will you help us with our urgent monthly gap by the end of the year?

Melida is a mother of four who has spent all of her adult life working at the garbage dump, sorting through the trash for recyclables to earn money to feed her family. She worked long hours in the humidity, heat, smoke, and dangerous conditions. Sometimes, her children had to help her work because the family needed the additional income to survive.

What struck me about Melida wasn't simply how difficult her life was, it was her determination, her love for her children, and the faith that had begun growing in her.

You may not know Melida, but she prays for you.

Melida was a reserved woman that tended to blend into the background at our monthly Food Distribution, but when Melida's son Antony needed surgery for a broken arm, Recycled Lives had an opportunity to walk alongside her family during a difficult time. Our relationship didn't begin there, nor end when their immediate need was met.

Through continued presence, prayer, encouragement, and discipleship, we have watched Melida grow in her faith. Today, she works and serves alongside us, teaches children, and prays for all those who have helped change her circumstances, including you.

Her journey reminds us of God's promise in Phillippians 1:6:

"He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Melida's story is just one story that reminds us why faithful presence matters. Every month, Recycled Lives walks alongside approximately 200 families, creating opportunities for people to experience God's love through relationships, practical care, and discipleship.

Help us remain Faithfully Present.

Your monthly partnership helps sustain the relationships that make stories like Melida's possible. With the global rising costs we experienced this year, we need a total of $17,400 or $5,800 per month by the end of the year to close our current financial gap so that we are able to continue serving families, building relationships, giving hope, and walking alongside families.

Will you join us by becoming a monthly partner or help us with a one time gift to close this monthly gap?

For more than 12 years Recycled Lives has brought hope, love, help, dignity and the word of God to those suffering.

Recycled Lives is a nonprofit organization based in the communities of San Gabriel and Estrellas del Sur, Guatemala. These communities surround a garbage dump where families work sorting trash to find recyclable materials to sell. Earning less than four dollars a day, these families endure severe hardship.

Faithfully Present

Walk With us Alongside 200 Families in San Gabriel & Estrellas del Sur

Team Members