The bakery cooperative had a twofold purpose: one was to provide work for women so they could better support their families and the second was to raise funds for the Water Project to be able to buy more materials like cement, sand and PVC pipes.
Three women approached CliniCASA and asked for a loan to begin a bakery. They received a $500 loan from CliniCASA to buy flour, baking tins and another $600 was donated by Mrs. Maria Fuentes to build an oven. This small loan got them started on a project which lasted for approximately 3 years with the women earning $4000 to $5000 dollars monthly and selling good quality bread and pastries to 10,000 people in 5 different towns including Loma Larga, El Llano de los Patos, Las Tunas, El Jaguey, Playas Negras, and El Tamarindo. And the Water Project in Loma Larga received 20% of the earnings.
But unfortunately, after 3 years, personality conflicts developed which forced some bakers leave and others traveled to the US. There was just one family remaining to run the bakery and they could not keep up with the demand. Other bakeries from other towns came in pickups, motorcycles and bicycles selling bread of lower quality but less expensive. At this point the cooperative was more like a family business and so CliniCASA decided it could not support that anymore.
