Mastate Charitable Foundation

Here are the first greenhouse plantings at the new project Finca La Isla in Mastatal that MCF provided a grant for to increase organic vegetable production in our community! This will be a game changer for our town, providing increased access to fresh food for our local residents and visitors.

Marlon and Carol have been working tirelessly to get the new greenhouses and growing spaces up and running. Mastatal and the surrounding communities are so fortunate to have them as part of our community.

MCF helped sponsor 2 more spay and neuter clinics in the region over the past few months. Almost 100 cats and dogs were fixed with the hopes of keeping at bay the population of unwanted pets in our towns.

Large numbers of unclaimed domesticated canines and felines is a difficult challenge to deal with in rural, low-income communities such as those in our district.

Urging all pet owners to sterilize their furry friends is one way that we can stem the growth of abandoned animals.

Thanks so all of you that contributed to this worthy cause, and also to the wonderful veterinary crew that offered locals an accessible rate for these operations.

MCF has helped to maintain our town's field for over a decade now. It's one of the most important places in town, offering a safe space for the region's populace to play soccer or volleyball, run laps, or ride bikes.

On most dry afternoons, and many wet ones too, the "plaza" will be buzzing with activity.

In a town of just over 100 people, areas like this provide a critical outlet for kids and adults who might otherwise dabble in less desirable activities.

Don Dimo has been diligently cutting the grass here for many years, and we thank him as well as all of the supporters of MCF for making this important part of our community a reality.

We helped to finance the launch of a new, small, family-run vegetable and perennial staple crop farm in our region. This will help create a new model in our region for producing food responsibly for local residents while drawing carbon from the atmosphere.

As farmers in our region sell their farms due to changing social structures and competition with cheaper imported staples, Costa Rica will need to come up with strategies to maintain food security while boosting it’s agricultural sector in more regenerative ways.

The monies provided are going towards the building of a greenhouse for annual vegetable production as well as the planting of a medium sized perennial food forest of avocados, plantains, mangos, jackfruit and citrus.

We're so excited for this new initiative.

Mastate Charitable Foundation made an important donation this weekend so that 20 local families had the means to spay or castrate their pets.

A veterinarian from the Quepos region spent much of the day yesterday helping the community try to control it's dog and animal populations and to provide basic vet care to our furry friends.

Non-neutered animals result in an explosion of puppy and kitten births in our rural area, oftentimes leading to abandonment, hunger and sickness for these creatures.

Over the year MCF has done its part of help to finance these clinics as a way to encourage the humane treatment of our beloved pets.

Thanks so Gaby Garcia for organizing the clinic, Wendy from Quepos who helped with logistics, and the vet team for providing this incredibly valuable service to our community.

For 20 years now, MCF has funded a wide array of community improvement projects throughout our region. These include help with renovating the town’s community center and secondary school, the installation of new roofs on houses lived in by low-income residents, the ongoing maintenance of the town’s soccer field, the building of a community library, funding for a tree nursery and seed capital for new agricultural endeavors.

MCF has also sponsored educational scholarships and opportunities for local youth and adults, facilitated debt reduction efforts for the town government, paid for funeral expenses for disadvantaged families, hosted yearly community medical clinics, promoted local sports and public safety, and so much more.

We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and thank you so much for your support.

If you’re looking for a worthy cause to contribute to as the year comes to an end, please consider helping out the people of Mastatal by making a donation to MCF at, https://www.marioninstitute.org/mastate-charitable-foundation-donation-page/.

A few nights ago we had an evening discussion about circular economies. It involved some stimulating debate and a rich exchange of ideas, opinions and feelings.

How can a small, rural community like ours expect to survive in today’s globalized economy, with an increasing number of inputs coming from outside of our region and a restricted market reach?
One way is to leverage the amazing resource base that we have in Mastatal, make this a destination for compassionate people and create a reality that allows local entrepreneurs to make a living without trashing the environment.

I sometimes use the following example to illustrate the power and impact that our choices can have. You can buy a chocolate bar from a local, organic, family run operation or a chocolate product from the local “pulperia” that comes to this town on a truck from far away.

100% of the money that you pay for the Iguana bar stays in this community, and little to no trash is produced. This is a choice that enriches our town.

The latter choice results in the vast majority of your money getting exported out of town and plastic trash that gets left behind. This impoverishes our community.

It’s of course more complex than this, but it may help explain what a circular economy can look like as these trendy terms at times can feel a bit esoteric.

I like to think of it as my dollar getting recirculated through our regional economy as many times as possible, without destroying the social or environmental fabric of our community, before it finds its way elsewhere.

One of the most common contributions that MCF makes to this community is helping to provide low income families access to health care in our region.

Even though health care is affordable in Costa Rica, oftentimes families require additional support for transportation, medications, or visits to private facilities.

For almost 2 decades now MCF has been able to contribute in times of need for families that otherwise would not be able to access health care.

Thank you to all of our supporters for their efforts in supporting those in need in our community.

MCF recently financed the purchase of a high-quality foosball table for the local high school after the director expressed his deep concern that students where spending too much time on their phones during their free periods.

The new addition has been a smashing success as students now gather around the table whenever possible to engage in healthy face-to-face competition that is open to all ages and genders.

The teachers have equally embraced the new recreational outlet with teams of teachers and students pitting against one another in weekly tournaments.

The principal, Don Ivan, has reported over the past few months a vast reduction in students spending time scrolling their phones and says that it has been one of the greatest improvements at the high school in a long time.

The school runs on an extremely restricted budget that would never allow for a purchase such as this.
Thank you to all of our donors for continuing to improve the lives of the youth in our region.

Our new COOKBOOK is available for purchase! 😍🙌🍽️🌿

It's been a long and exciting process, and we are excited to announce that we are done with this beautiful cookbook.

This book is not just a recipe book, but a piece of art, filled with stories, drawings, and history of our food systems and goals.

Many hands and minds put work into this project. Big thanks to Kara Anderson and Dani Felgenhauer for their dedication to this piece.

If you're interested in an ebook or hard copy, you can purchase both through our website.

Link below for more info 👇

https://ranchomastatal.com/cookbook

MCF recently helped the local high school buy materials to add an extension onto their main building for students to have more protected space to recreate and hang out. This is especially important during the rainiest months of our year. Since April 1, Mastatal has received 5 feet of rain, and the rainiest months are still to come!! The labor for this project was all done via volunteers and students and your donations made the purchase of the materials, which have gotten extremely expensive lately, possible. Here are some pictures of the ongoing work. Thanks to all that have supported our work over the years. For those of you looking to help a locally focused, small non-profit doing important work in rural Costa Rica, please check us out at https://www.marioninstitute.org/greenhouse-initiatives/the-mastate-charitable-foundation/.

Pokey internet makes posting a little challenging but here are some pictures of a recent donation that MCF made to the local kindergarten. Nine chairs from locally sourced wood made by a local furniture maker. We'll try to get you up to speed soon on all of the other projects that we've been engaged in this year. Lots to report!