Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our March trip to Bolivia with 13 travelers from Minnesota was canceled; this trip would have left the US one month ago today and arrived in Bolivia on March 14th. Our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Internacional, which manages the Recovered Resources program there, had made plans to honor the indispensable work of our Volunteer Warehouse Manager Ray Wiedmeyer and Karen Abraham in support of this program – both in St. Paul, Minnesota and Bolivia. A major distribution of supplies to 29 hospitals, clinics, and other facilities had been scheduled to take place during the trip. Mano a Mano Internacional prepared plaques for Ray and Karen to be awarded during the distribution ceremony by a representative of the Bolivian Health Ministry. ManComunidad, a collaborative of 8 municipalities located in southern Cochabamba and northern Potosi, decided to also award plaques and flower leis to Ray and Karen during the distribution ceremony. Given the developing social distancing recommendations in place at the time, the distribution took place outdoors without a formal ceremony. Two Minnesota volunteers who were in Bolivia at the time, Andrea and Matt, accepted the awards.



Thanks Ray and Karen!
Thanks Ray and Karen for your tremendous efforts in support of Mano a Mano! We are extremely grateful to have volunteers like you. Without our volunteers, Mano a Mano’s work would not be possible.

Here are just a few posts featuring Ray and Karen’s volunteer efforts with Mano a Mano from recent years (the list could be much longer!):
- Congrats to Ray and Karen, Mano a Mano 2015 Volunteers of the Year!
- Distributing Mobility Equipment in the Twin Cities – February 2020
- A Story of Home Coming
- Helping Martha Walk Again
- Volunteer Spotlight – Ray Wiedmeyer
- Distributing Supplies to People & Organizations in the US, Honduras, Uganda, and Elsewhere – January 2020
- Post From Ray – Distributing Supplies in Bolivia (November 2016)


Videos with Ray and Karen on TPT
Mano a Mano partnered with TPT in 2019 to make a number of videos highlighting our volunteers in the Twin Cities that make our work possible. Check out 5 Mano a Mano videos on the TPT website here, and below are 2 of the videos featuring videos with Ray and Karen: