Salt & Light Servants

Salt and light servants is a non profit founded in 2019. Dr. Noonan created Salt & Light Servants after much prayer and seeking God’s word. Our mission is to show the light of Christ through helping people in need to develop Potrero Carillo, a primarily agricultural community located in the mountains of Jalapa, Guatemala. Inspired by Matthew 5: 13-16, our goal is to take a medical team and a construction team on each mission trip. Our upcoming mission trip will take place from June 30th through July 4th, and we hope you can help us serve more people! 

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” 15 “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” 16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  

 Matthew 5: 13-16

Potrero Carrillo

The total mountainous region has at least 10 villages with total population of 38,000 people. Potrero Carrillo has a population of 4,500 people with approximately 500 families. The primary trade is agriculture in the form of large plantations owned by a few. Approximately 20%of the people have regular consistent work while the remaining 80% go early in the morning to farms to see if work is available that day. They make an average of 7$ a day.

The percentage of practicing Christians is very low. We began working with Pastor Fernando Raxon Garza and his wife Yoly, who have been  pastors of a local church for 11. They are native Guatemalans that have dedicated their lives to sharing the gospel and helping the poor. Our mission is to show the love of Christ by serving through the local church. We serve everybody regardless of their belief. 

Supporting the Community

We began with setting up medical clinics to care for all people of the community and some surrounding villages. We see approximately 1,500 patients during each mission trip. The people walk long distances to come to our clinic. We provide a wide variety of medicines (short term supply) depending on the condition including vitamins. Our goal is to have a permanent clinic in Potrero since there is no medical care within 2 hours by bus. 

When we first began the clinics, it was apparent that there was a food shortage. There were stories of some teenagers dying due to malnutrition. We provide bags of food to each family that comes to the clinics, and we also provide some food bags monthly to the most needy through Pastor Garza. Each bag provides food for a family of 5 for one week.

In 2021, we began building houses which consist of 10x20ft wood house with a tin roof. We built 24 houses yearly for the past 3 years. These provide shelter to the families in most need. As people came to our clinics, we also noticed many of the people had lung and eye problems due to cooking in there homes without ventilation. Thus, we provide wood burning stove with ventilation in every house. The houses including stoves cost $1,400 each. The people are thrilled with the stove and extremely thankful for this house. 

In 2022, we drilled 2 water wells and installed 2 community water filtration systems to provide clean water in the local school. The local primary school has 660 children, but there are still many that work in the fields instead of going to school. Although parents are not required to put children in school to get fresh water, we feel that providing clean water will not only improve people’s health but also encourage families to put their children in school. We drilled 2 more wells with solar powered purification systems in 2023. 

As mentioned, food insecurity is a major problem in rural Guatemala, and we believe it is important to help alleviate the problem but equally important to teach people how to sustain themselves. We have developed a chicken program to produce fresh eggs for people in each village, and we have also provided fertilizer and seed for approximately 75 families for the past planting seasons. This year, we began construction trade classes. The students built their first house for a woman in need of shelter in the community. Our hopes and prayer is that these programs will firstly demonstrate the love of Christ. Secondly, enable people to learn a sustainable improved current life style. Lastly, provide a generational change for the people of this impoverished area.