Why Ayudando Abrigando
For Annabella, Ayudando Abrigando isn’t just a charity we support; it’s where her commitment to helping others began. As a student at FDR, she was a member of the association and saw firsthand how a group of students could turn something as simple as a plastic bottle into warmth for a family in the Andes.
When she moved to Canada, she didn’t want to leave that work behind. She kept collaborating with the team in Lima, and Wako Ayudando became Ayudando Abrigando’s Canada chapter, a role now listed on their website.
We chose Ayudando Abrigando because we know exactly where our help goes. It’s a student-led organization we trust, with a proven record of delivering blankets, ponchos and socks to the families who need them most.
WHO THEY ARE
Ayudando Abrigando is a non-profit civil association in Peru, founded and run entirely by high school students at FDR, The American School of Lima, where our founder Annabella Alperstein went to elementary school. Their mission is simple: turn something we throw away into something that keeps a family warm.
HOW IT WORKS
It starts with plastic bottles. Volunteers collect them, and through a recycling process the plastic is turned into polyester fiber. That fiber is then woven into blankets, ponchos and socks: practical, durable items made for Peru’s coldest regions.
Their deliveries reach people who need them most. Ayudando Abrigando has brought warmth to families in remote Andean communities like Iquicha in Ayacucho, supported an elder care home, helped a family in Pamplona who lost their home in a fire, and reached schoolchildren across Lima and beyond.
THEIR IMPACT
Since they began, Ayudando Abrigando has recycled over 1,680 kilos of plastic bottles into more than 37,000 blankets, 7,900 ponchos and 4,600 pairs of socks for families in need.
HOW WAKO HELPS
Every Wako you buy, every workshop you attend and every donation you make helps fund their campaigns. It’s a partnership between two groups of high school students, one in Montreal and one in Lima, who believe young people can make a real difference. AYUDANDO ABRIGANDO