The mezcaleros and mezcaleras in the Oaxacan community of San Baltazar Chichicapam are beloved all over the world for making delicious agave spirits. Maybe you’ve tried Del Maguey’s Chichicapa? Or Pierde Almas' Tequilana Weber? Or any of the Berta Vasquez expressions released by Rezpiral? Or … maybe you found yourself there on a past trip to Oaxaca, visiting the palenques of Fortunato or Angelica.

Well, we agave enthusiasts are not the only ones who recognize how special the mezcaleros and mezcaleras of Chichicapam are. They are pillars of the community and have often served as a safety net of sorts for their neighbors who are less fortunate. In times of need, the people of Chichicapam turn to the mezcaler@s for help. Unfortunately, with this amazingly prolonged pandemic, resources have run dry.

Chichicapam needs food.

Can you help us help the mezcaler@s of Chichicapam to feed the community? Your contribution of US$12 will help feed a family of four for about two weeks. Your gift will allow us to deliver to a mezcaler@ two bags each of beans, rice, and lentils, as well as a liter of shelf-stable milk, a liter of cooking oil, a kilo of sugar, two kilos of flour, 500g of salt, 400g of pasta, a bar of soap, a tube of toothpaste, and four rolls of toilet paper. The mezcaler@s, in turn, will share these packages with their neighbors.

Any help you can give will help this community that has come to mean so much to us. Thank you and happy holidays.

How it works

One hundred percent of the money that arrives in our account for this project is sent down to Oaxaca. (There are fees that PayPal takes from donations, but SACRED does not keep anything for overhead — that is paid by members of SACRED’s Board of Directors — and SACRED does not have any paid employees.) The money is sent to Randall Stockton of Mezcal Educational Excursions of Oaxaca, the man who is organizing this project.

Randall and his wife, Donya Stockton, use the money to purchase the items that go into the packs and they assemble the packs. Then they drop the packs with mezcaler@s in Chichicapam. The mezcaler@s sign a letter of receipt for the packs, and they distribute the packs to their neighbors in need. The final recipients of the packs do not need to sign for them and do not need to pay for them — they have no obligations as a result of receiving a pack.

Since we launched this program in December 2020, you’ve enabled us to feed over 500 families. Thank you!

As with all donations made to SACRED, your gift is 100% tax deductible. You’ll receive within a week of making your gift a letter of acknowledgement that serves as your evidence of the donation for the IRS.