Artisan Crafted Handbags
At Mercado Global, we invest in people - our supporters like you, Indigenous artisans, and the communities that are at the heart of what we stand for. In just the first three months of the pandemic, we onboarded a hundred new artisans who are Indigenous women in rural Guatemala.
They’ve already produced 130,000 masks,
with 100,000 of these being donated.
Our masks have been shipped and distributed completely free of charge to epicenters of the virus throughout the U.S. and Latin America - to hospitals and retirement homes, postal workers, housing authority residents, at-risk communities in Mexico and Brazil, migrant farmworkers in California, migrant communities in Texas and New York City, Black Lives Matter in Brooklyn, and Indigenous communities in Guatemala - the home of Mercado Global artisans.
As cases continue to steeply rise in Guatemala, the situation there is dire and food shortage is only part of the problem. The U.S. has done little to support and the administration's deportation policies are continuing to make matters worse. And in the Indigenous communities we work in where tourism is the primary revenue source, more often than not, our programs are the only income. While factories in Guatemala remain closed or a high-risk for employees, our innovative home-based, high volume production model has ensured artisans can stay safe and self-quarantine.
Each Mercado Global mask is one-of-a-kind —they’re highly effective, washable, eco-friendly, designed for comfort, and provide critical income to Indigenous communities in rural Guatemala.
Mask purchases and donations have already provided thousands of masks to essential workers on the frontlines of the pandemic, but now with our Masks Where They’re Needed Most campaign, you can choose where your donated mask will end up in the hands of someone in need, at no cost to them. Masks are also available for wholesale and bulk purchases for corporate partners, which is a simple and affordable way for businesses to support women’s empowerment and social justice.
To help support our work during these critical times, we ask for those who can give to donate today.
