Iris Violeta Foundation. Giving a hand to many who need it.

By Eddie Galdamez  |  Jan 16th, 2022
Iris Violeta Foundation
Kids with chronic kidney disease and their families. Photo by Otilia Fuentes

Iris Violeta Foundation is a not for profit organization that helps adults and kids at the Rosales Hospital and the Benjamin Bloom children’s hospital in San Salvador. The founder is Otilia Sorto Fuentes, a Salvadoran from Corinto in Morazan who currently lives in Oklahoma City, USA.

My first interaction with Otilia was on Twitter, we started talking via text messages and built a friendship. I learned about what she does for Salvadorans with kidney disease at both hospitals Rosales, and Bloom. I had the pleasure of creating her website for her foundation, you can view it here at www.FundacionIrisVioleta.com.

About Iris Violeta Foundation.

The foundation is based in the city of Oklahoma in the USA. They help families in the city of Oklahoma and In El Salvador.

For example, In Oklahoma, they help 1st to 3rd graders who are behind on their reading skills. Also, they provide food assistance to families with low resources. Additionally, they help pregnant women who need support.

In El Salvador, they help patients with kidney disease at both Hospital Rosales and Bloom. They do many things for these patients, such as providing vitamins and other types of assistance.

You can view more on what they do by clicking here and visiting the foundation’s website.

How can we help?

We can help this foundation by either making a donation or sharing this article about the foundation or sharing the foundation’s website.

Obviously, there are many other ways to help the foundation; you can get in touch with the foundation or Otilia directly by clicking here.

Iris Violeta Foundation.

Otilia and her foundation are an organization that in my point of view, we need to help grow.

They have done a lot thus far and will do way more; so, let us give them a hand so they can help others.

Who is Otilia Sorto Fuentes?

New Ideas Deputies
New Ideas Deputies and Otilia Santos. Photo by Otilia

Otilia Sorto Fuentes is a Salvadoran living in the US whose life mission is to help children with kidney failure at the Benjamin Bloom Hospital in San Salvador.

Otilia was born in the small town of Corinto in the department of Morazan, El Salvador and now resides in Oklahoma City, USA.

In life, many of us get to meet remarkable individuals who spend much of their time helping others. In my opinion, Otilia Sorto Fuentes, of Iris Violeta Foundation, is one of those persons.

I met Otilia on twitter; I am not exactly sure how we end up messaging each other, but we did. That day our online friendship began.

Since then, I have gotten to know more about her, and as of right now, I consider her a friend with whom I hope to have a cup of coffee someday.

Over the short amount of time that I know her, I have learned about the sacrifices she makes to help kids at the Bloom hospital.

For example, during the pandemic, she would stay up all night, making sure all the kids had transportation to receive their treatments.

As we all probably know, because of the pandemic, public transportation came to a halt in El Salvador. Many parents use public transportation to get their kids to the Bloom Children’s Hospital and receive treatment.

Obviously, this was a stressful time for the parents of these kids that now needed to find private transportation to get to the hospital.

During these difficult times, Otilia was there, sometimes all night, helping as much as she could to make sure all of the kids had the transport they desperately needed.

This is one of the many things she has done this year. She also has giving vitamines on a monthly bases to these kids. Furthermore, she was able to get new wheelchairs for many kids who need it.

She has been able to do all this, thanks to the donations made to her foundation. You can learn more about the foundation by visiting their official site. www.FundacionIrisVioleta.org

Today at Bloom Hospital delivering the vitamins to: Brittany, Juan Pablo, Emely and Keetlyn, Thank you very much to all who make it possible for these vitamins to reach children,” Otilia's twitter.

Helping others is a way of life for some people.

I have tremendous respect for those individuals, like Otilia, who think of others as much as they do for themselves.

Helping others is nothing new for Otilia; she has been doing it since she was a teenager.

Santiago Leiva, a renowned Salvadoran reporter, wrote the following about Otilia in 2019.

Otilia has a dedication to service and kindness, but she lacks resources. This Salvadoran resident of Oklahoma, United States, returns to the country every year to deliver Christmas baskets and serve low-income families.” Santiago Leiva

You can read Santiago Leiva’s article by clicking here; the report is in Spanish.

Caring for others, especially children with kidney disease, is something that Otilia has been doing for years. This takes its toll emotionally as sometimes these children lose the battle.

Even though I have never met Otilia in Person, I can sense that when things don’t work out as planned, she feels the pain.

This past week, one of these children lost the battle. Evelyn was a kid that Otilia was involved with. I know for a fact that she feels the pain of not having her with us anymore.

Giving thanks to Otilia for what she does.

I am writing about Otilia as a way of saying thanks for everything that she has done and will continue to do. I can only imagine that it is not easy doing what she does. Life in El Salvador is hard, especially for those facing health challenges, like the kid’s Iris Foundation helps.

If you want to help me give thanks to Otilia, please share this article so more people know about her, her foundation, and what she does.

You can also visit her twitter or Facebook profile and leave her a short message, Facebook, @Sotiliafuentes, or @fundacion_iris.

Also, you can visit the foundation’s website, www.FundacionIrisVioleta.org, and learn more about her and what she does.