Aracely Mendoza

Aracely with her mother and niece in her corner store.

Aracely Mendoza is known throughout her neighborhood in El Sauce for her savory, honey-drizzled buñuelos (pastries) she sells from the front porch of her home where she lives with her 11-year-old daughter, Josmari. She learned to make the traditional pastry from watching her mother make them as a little girl, and also still uses her mother's recipes to create and sell other candies and sweets using bananas, sugar, milk, and abundant local ingredients.

Although she has owned and operated her corner storefront for five years selling these sweets, hot snacks, household essentials, and vegetables, she looked to Enlace Project's Microloan Program as a new opportunity to grow her business. Aracely says her favorite part of the training she received with the program was learning about how to make a savings plan.

Using the profits from the sale of buñuelos she prepared using a portion of her loan, Aracely has been able to reinvest in more merchandise for her store, as well as begin a personal savings fund for the first time in her life. She hopes to use the savings to rebuild a wall in the bedroom she shares with her daughter to make it more structurally sound and to better protect the home from the elements during the rainy season. Replacing the adobe wall with brick will also better the health conditions of the home by protecting the family from a possible chagas bug infestation.
Aracely says the extra income has been especially helpful in covering day-to-day school needs of her daughter, Josmari, who studies hard and is a top student in her class. Josmari also likes to draw and dance in traditional folkloric dance groups, and she participates in community and school shows whenever possible.

--Originally Written in November 2012