First Lady delivers the Niño Jesus Nutrition Center

First Lady delivers the Niño Jesus Nutrition Center
Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, 06/17/2011

The Office of the First Lady works nationally with nutrition specialists to train mothers on how to feed their families according to their budgets

During the ceremony, Dr. Cedeño de Fernández said that the center will provide families in the community with direction in terms of food and nutrition.

La Victoria, North Santo Domingo .- Today First lady Margarita Cedeño de Fernandez handed over the Niño Jesus Nutrition Center at the Secular Institute Shoenstatt Sisters of Mary, where assistance in the area of nutrition will be provided to thousands of malnourished children in the community who are brought in by their mothers in search of help.

The Niño Jesus Nutrition Center was built at a cost of RD $ 19.6 million, in an area of 780 square meters.

During the ceremony, Dr. Cedeño de Fernández said that the center will provide families in the community with direction in terms of food and nutrition. “For the government and for us, the First Lady and the Ambassador Extraordinary of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food security is vital because it is the most important thing that a country and a nation must ensure,” she said.

She added that a well-nourished body is a mind that is ready to receive nourishment from knowledge and that with this new building the sisters not only will be able to further develop the feeding program they have been running, but they will also be able to expand its coverage to provide education for the whole family.

She recommended that mothers breast-feed their infants because breast milk supplies all the nutrients and defenses a baby’s body needs.

For her part, Sister Maria Miguelina Galil, the center’s director, thanked God for having used the First Lady as a tool to make this dream a beautiful reality, while Reyita Mieses, on behalf of the mothers in the community who will benefit from the services, also thanked the First Lady for building the center.

As part of the opening ceremony, the president of the Sala Capitular of the City Hall at the La Victoria Municipality, Francis Sanchez, recognized the First Lady and named her Guest of Honor. Furthermore, a committee of aldermen, led by the assistant municipal trustee, Candida Mieses, presented the First Lady the keys to the Municipality.

Details of the new facility

The new center has the following areas: administrative, nurses, medical, kitchen, laundry, restrooms for children and adults, storage and carport, a multipurpose room for meetings and gatherings, four school rooms according to the children’s ages, a dining room for small children and another for the employees, and a playground furnished specifically for boys and girls, where they can have fun during their recesses and free time.

Dr. Margarita Cedeño de Fernandez received with great interest the request made by the Mother Superior of the Secular Institute of Shoenstatt Sisters of Mary, Sister Maria Miguelina Galil, due to the social work they do on behalf of the families with limited economic resources of this community and its environment.

The building where the nutrition center had been operating for 21 years did not meet the conditions necessary to serve the high number of families requesting to be seen each day.

With this new building the number of disadvantaged children who receive benefits will increase and it is expected that the new facility will significantly improve the lives of the mothers, through the educational work being provided by the sisters.

From the Office of the First Lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernandez runs programs aimed at helping Dominican families to learn how to nourish themselves properly with foods that can be easily obtained according to their budgets. To this end, a number of national workshops take place where nutritionists teach mothers how to combine foods according to their nutritional value in order to keep their families, especially the children, from becoming malnourished due to lack of knowledge.

The First Lady and the Extraordinary Ambassador of FAO, spent long days promoting food security, through projects that encourage food production, such as the development of home vegetable gardens, micro enterprises, education, nutrition, health, the establishment of dietary guidelines, and the right of everyone to feed properly.