Cecilia Becomes a Finance Wiz

Nerves have a way of fogging up your brain and making you forget things like your bank password. Cecilia, a loving mother of three, has figured out a strategy. She repeats her password, and that way, she always remembers.  

Before encountering Chalice and its sponsors, Cecilia never thought a bank card was in reach. 

“…I used to think that cards were for people with a lot of money,” Cecilia wrote from where she lives near our Chiclayo site in Peru. Receiving the card was a “beautiful experience”, she said, even though her hands shook on the way to get it. Later, she and her husband shared joyous laughter about the whole situation! 

Cecilia is the coordinator of her local family circle, where she’s a leader and supportive resource to her fellow parents and neighbors.  

When the Chiclayo site staff first visited her in 2018, she was awed at the idea of the sponsorship program. 

 “I never imagined that there was a project that helps families in the education, nutrition, and health of our children, that gives us the opportunity to have our own small business,” Cecilia writes. 

Her children Estefany, Darely, and Dannay now all have Chalice sponsors.  

Understanding and controlling your own finances is one of the biggest rewards from sponsorship. Cecilia began using her card to make purchases when money came into the account, and can now decide what to spend and what to save.  

Cecilia’s mother needs medicine, so Cecilia’s brothers transfer money to the account to pay for it. Cecilia uses the sponsorship funds to afford her children’s educations.  

“I go to bank agents or ATMs and I no longer feel ashamed,” Cecilia says. “I thank Chalice for giving us the opportunity to be better every day and to be able to support my family, I ask God with great force to help all the sponsors of the Chiclayo Project and bless them!”