Prior to her Trickle Up grant Consuela Rodríguez worked as a housekeeper and sold fruit to support her three children, all of whom attend school. The 43-year-old single mother used her first check from Trickle Up to buy a mini travel fridge, a table, and some food to start her own business selling food. She set up shop outside of a local health clinic, where she sells food from eight a.m. to noon, six days a week. Currently she uses a wheelbarrow to transport her goods between shop and home, but she plans to buy a metal booth outside the clinic where she can safely leave her products overnight.

With the profits from her business, and with additional help from the Sociedad Amigo de los Niños, a local humanitarian organization, Rodríguez rented a house for her family. Her home is in Nuevo Paraíso, a village designed for single-mother families.

Now she can even afford to buy the occasional treat to celebrate her children’s birthdays. Recently Trickle Up staff caught up with her on her way home from work. She proudly pointed to a birthday cake in her wheelbarrow, which sat beside her other products. “I could not afford to buy my son a birthday cake if I were not doing well on my business,” she said, “or if I did not have my business at all.”