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Fundación Resplandece Una Luz
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Children and families together at Una Luz in Cartagena

Cartagena, Colombia

Giving children a place to eat, a place to learn and people who love them.

We want each child to know they’re loved, that God loves them and that their life matters. We have the team, we have the place and we have the need. The one part we need help with is bringing in more financial resources to increase our impact.

DonateWhat we’re working toward

Our vision

The school and community kitchen we hope to build

238 children are waiting for a place in our program, and about 500 vulnerable community members are waiting for a meal. Our next goal is to welcome 100 children by 2027, up from the 32 who spend their afternoons with us today. Right now our kitchen serves about 100 neighbors a day, and we want to feed more of them.

children by 2027: our next goal
100
children: our long-term school goal
~390
lunches a day: our long-term kitchen goal
500

How your gift helps

Join us each month

When you give each month, our cooks can buy the food, our teachers get their stipend and the rent is paid. Your contributions help us bring more kids in from the waiting list and feed more families. That’s how you drive the impact in our community. We’re looking for 100 people like you.

Give monthly

New School Fund

Help us build our new school

Our team in Cartagena has the place and an architect’s plan for the new school: seven classrooms and a bigger kitchen, so more of the 238 kids on our waiting list get a spot. Looking ahead to next year, we’re raising $25,000 for the New School Fund to rehab and build it out.

Gifts to the New School Fund are held by Una Luz Foundation in the US and used only for the new school.

Give to the New School FundRead about the plan
Drawing of the planned three-story school: two classrooms and an office on the first floor, five classrooms on the second, and a kitchen and rooftop terrace on the third
Based on the architect’s plans, October 2026. Final design may change.

Una Luz today

children, ages 5 to 8, in our afternoon program
32
neighbors served by our community kitchen each day
~100
Children waiting for their turn to join the classroom.
238

Our kids

What an afternoon can mean

Some of the children who come to Una Luz used to spend their afternoons on the street looking for food or money. Some have grown up without a parent they could count on.

Here, they have lunch, learn with their teachers, practice everyday habits like brushing their teeth and hear about God’s love. They spend the afternoon with people who love them just as they are, and head home with a snack.

During our visit, parents told us again and again how much it meant to know their children would have lunch when they couldn’t afford it themselves.

We’re not just giving them something. We’re teaching them, so one day they can help us help others. You’re what makes that possible.

Meet our kids

Our community kitchen

A good lunch matters to the whole family.

Families and children sharing a meal at Una Luz
Neighbors and children together at the community kitchen
Children eating together
Volunteers sorting fresh produce

Marylan and Doris work alongside three other volunteers to prepare lunch for the children and meals for around 100 neighbors each day.

Food is our biggest cost, and it grows every time a new child or neighbor sits down.

When you give monthly, Marylan and Doris know the groceries are covered, and we can set more plates.

Donate

Our team

Our team in Cartagena

Cooks, teachers and volunteers who, out of love for the children and love for God, have made this work their own. Get to know them.

Maricel Marmolejo Salinas

Maricel Marmolejo Salinas

Director

Yesenia Vargas Altamar

Yesenia Vargas Altamar

Early Childhood Teacher

Cruz Maria Gómez

Cruz Maria Gómez

Early Childhood Teacher

Berta Luz Revolledo

Berta Luz Revolledo

Early Childhood Teacher

Angélica Barrios Buelvas

Angélica Barrios Buelvas

Early Childhood Teacher

Doris Mendez Zapatero

Doris Mendez Zapatero

Cook

Marylan Periñan Camargo

Marylan Periñan Camargo

Cook

David Rodríguez Marmolejo

David Rodríguez Marmolejo

Social Communicator

Leyber Alberto Torres

Leyber Alberto Torres

Administration

Mar y Luna Rodríguez

Mar y Luna Rodríguez

Team Member

Meet our team

Our story

A note from Alejandro & Mariela

We got married in Cartagena in December 2021, after COVID changed our wedding plans in Argentina. Before the wedding, a local church helped us take our guests to bring food and small gifts to hundreds of children. That’s how we met Maricel and the teachers.

We asked them what happened to those children the other 364 days of the year. They’d started a foundation in 2019, but the pandemic had interrupted their work. We offered to help.

Today, we have a little classroom and a community kitchen, and it’s the best thing we do. In August 2026, we went back with our two daughters. The children called Alejandro “Padrino.” It’s hard to put into words what it means to be welcomed that way.

There are 32 children with us today and 238 waiting for a place. Our next goal is 100 children by 2027. Further ahead, we want a permanent school for about 390 children and a kitchen serving 500 lunches a day.

When you give, you keep lunch on the table and our teachers there for the children. It isn’t easy, but it gives so much to us and to everyone who joins in. We’re grateful for anyone who wants to be part of it.

We thank God for putting this team and the people who support Una Luz in our lives.

Alejandro & Mariela

Alejandro, Mariela and their daughters with the women of our team in Cartagena

“Seeing hundreds of children come together to share a Christmas meal and express so much gratitude after such a small gift was life changing, and we hope you get to experience it, too.”

Alejandro

Our news

News from Cartagena

See all updates
Help us build our new school: a drawing of the planned three-story school for Una Luz in Cartagena, with seven classrooms, a bigger kitchen and a rooftop terrace
3 min read

Our Plan for the New School

Seven classrooms and a bigger kitchen in Cartagena, so more of the 238 kids on our waiting list get a spot. Looking ahead to next year, we're raising $25,000.