Ataco is a picturesque town tucked in the mountains and coffee plantations of El Salvador and is one of four Fountain Hills Sister Cities. Ataco residents and children have had some difficult times over the past three years. COVID, extreme flooding and hurricanes have closed most of the coffee plantations, which provide the jobs in that area of El Salvador.

On Jan. 15, a donation from Fountain Hills Sister Cities and a private donation from Elizabeth Matej-Horchem and Honorable Consul of the Diplomatic Corp of Arizona for Poland, Bogumil Horchem, were presented to Carlos Enrique Araujo of El Salvador to provide necessities for families to survive another winter in the pandemic.

The donations were accepted by Carlos Enrique Araujo and his wife, Claudia Umana Araujo. They were in Fountain Hills visiting his brother, Honorable Enrique Melendez, and his wife, Pamela, residents of Fountain Hills and the Honorary Consul Republic of El Salvador, Executive Director Diplomatic Corps of Arizona.

Carlos Enrique Araujo, on his return to Ataco, presented the donation checks to Ataco Mayor Oscar Gomez, who will use the funds to repair the water pump bringing water from the river. Over 200 villagers will now be able to have water for their families and the balance will be used for coffee farmers that have been out of work due to the pandemic.

Mayor Gómez and the City of Ataco expressed how greatly appreciative they were of their Sister City of Fountain Hills and its generosity, which help the underprivileged and children of the community.

Sister Cities International was created at President Eisenhower’s 1956 White House summit on citizen diplomacy, where he envisioned a network that would be a champion for peace and prosperity by fostering bonds between people from different communities around the world. President Eisenhower reasoned that people from different cultures could understand, appreciate and celebrate their differences while building partnerships that would lessen the chance of new conflicts.