Kind Footprint · Food Aid Program
Feed the Barrios, Food Program against Covid-19
Completed Program · 2020–2022 · Not being reactivated
Feed the Barrios was Kind Footprint’s emergency food aid program that delivered 350,000+ meals to vulnerable families in Medellín during the COVID 19 pandemic. When lockdowns hit Medellín’s informal workers overnight, we built a distribution network from scratch reaching families with no income, no safety net, and no access to government aid. Every donated dollar went directly to food.
350K+
Meals
97.6%
Direct to Food
$6.80 = 4
Days of Food
0%
Admin Fees
The Story Behind the Program
One Person in Medellín. A Network Built in Days.
In March 2020, COVID 19 lockdowns hit Medellín. For the city’s formal sector workers, it was disruptive. For the 47% of Medellín’s working population who survive on informal labor, street vendors, day laborers, domestic workers, it was a crisis without a floor.
No work meant no income. No income meant no food. And in the invasion zones on the city’s hillsides, there was no government safety net to catch them.
Mees Liedekerken, Kind Footprint’s CFO and operations lead in Colombia, had been based in Medellín since 2019.
He knew these communities. He knew their leaders. And he knew that no external organization however well-funded could reach them faster or more efficiently than the network already embedded in the barrios.
In the days following the lockdown, Mees built a distribution system through local social leaders and community foundations already operating in Medellín’s most vulnerable areas. No expensive logistics infrastructure. No intermediaries. Food packages, directly to the families who needed them most.
What followed was 350,000 meals delivered across Medellín over two years with 97.6% of every donated dollar reaching food directly, and not a single cent of donor money spent on administration.
The Crisis
When Lockdown Hit, Medellín's Informal Workers Had Nothing Within 48 Hours
Nearly half of Medellín’s working population survives on daily informal labor. No contract, no employer, no savings, no government safety net.
When the lockdown decree hit on March 25, 2020, these families went from working every day to having nothing in 48 hours. Banks were closed. Markets were closing. And in Medellín’s invasion zones informal hillside settlements not recognized by the government official emergency aid didn’t reach.
Feed the Barrios was the response.
47%: Of Medellín’s working population in strata 1–2 are informally employed (Colombia DANE labor statistics)
$0: Government emergency food aid
available to most informal workers
in invasion zones during COVID-19
48hrs: Time it took for lockdown to cut
off income for informal families
How We Did It
A Model Built on Efficiency Not Infrastructure
Feed the Barrios didn’t build a logistics company. It used the human infrastructure already embedded in Medellín’s communities.
Wholesale, not retail
Food packages were purchased directly from Colombian wholesalers, eliminating retail markups and maximizing every donation.
Local leaders, not outsiders
Trusted community leaders identified families in need and coordinated direct food distribution across Medellín.
Zero overhead to donors
Administrative and logistics costs were covered separately, allowing 97.6% of donations to go directly to food.
Every purchase documented
All purchases and deliveries were tracked and publicly documented to ensure full transparency.
The Data Behind 350,000 Meals
Where every donated dollar went
Medellín's working poor the crisis context
350,000+ meals distribution by year
Gallery Feed The Barrios
Our impact on communities
From Emergency Launch to 350,000 Meals
The work done to create awareness for the vulnerable people in Medellín is heartwarming. Thanks to this collaboration, people in the most difficult situations receive efficient aid which makes a real impact.
Partner OrganizationWhat This Program Built
Feed the Barrios Is Over. Its Legacy Isn't.
The 350,000 meals were the output. But the lasting impact of Feed the Barrios wasn’t just food it was infrastructure.
The network of social leaders, local foundations, and community relationships that Mees built during the pandemic became the operational backbone of everything Kind Footprint does today. The transparency standards established in Feed the Barrios invoice-level documentation, public financial records, and direct beneficiary tracking are now applied to every program the organization runs.
Feed the Barrios proved something important: that a small, embedded team with community trust and the right logistics model can deliver humanitarian impact at a fraction of the cost of larger organizations. That proof of concept is now being applied to save lives through emergency medical response with Emergencias Apolo.
Community network
The social leader and foundation network built during Feed the Barrios remains active and available for future programs.
Transparency standard
Invoice-level documentation and public financial records established during this program are now the default for all Kind Footprint operations.
Operational proof
The efficiency model of Feed the Barrios directly informed the design of the Emergencias Apolo medical program Kind Footprint's primary active operation today.
Feed the Barrios Is Complete. The Mission Continues.
Kind Footprint is no longer running a food program. But the communities Feed the Barrios served still need support. Today, Kind Footprint’s active programs focus on emergency medical response and education two interventions with longer-term, measurable impact on the same vulnerable communities.
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Emergencias Apolo is made possible thanks to the collaboration of all our donors and volunteers committed to the health and well-being of low-income people in Medellín.
We found Kind Footprint through a team member working remotely in Medellín. We saw right away how the team transparently and passionately deploys funds to buy food for starving people and we knew right away we wanted to be monthly supporters.
Monthly Donor United States