What Drives Us

Our Story

One Way Community began as a youth led project founded by Bilsan Ramirez in Chimaltenango, Guatemala in 2017. Initially, Bilsan and a group of friends delivered food to people in nearby parks and dumps.

Shortly after, One Way Community was established as a formal project. Volunteers worked on the weekends delivering meals to children in at the El Tejar dump in Chimaltenango. In April 2017, Bilsan resigned from his teaching job to devote himself full time to serving families working at the dump. As the ministry grew, volunteers began visiting the families throughout the week and collecting resources to distribute on the weekends.

In August 2017, One Way Community and Bilsan were recognized in Guatemalan Illustrious, XII edition. This honor was awarded by Seguros Universales, highlighting social work, sports, business, and artistic work done by Guatemalans.

In November 2017 One Way Community narrowed their focus to the community of San Lorenzo El Tejar, Pastores, Sacatepéquez as this is where most of the families working in the dump live. The community soccer field became the home base for running all activities. By the end of 2017, One Way Community had delivered 20,000 meals and held the first Christmas dinner for 1,500 people.

In 2018, One Way Community created a program for daily tutoring, with classes in math, reading, English and language arts as well as a recreation program. Breakfast was served for 200 children on Saturdays. New programs were developed including improvement to housing, and the creation of a soccer academy. Soon after, a women’s ministry was started. By the end of 2018, 250 children were enrolled and 75,000 meals were delivered. The team installed 15 water filters and 10 eco stoves. The year closed with the second annual Christmas dinner.

In 2019, the tutoring and sports programs were expanded. Home visits were established to serve the personal needs of each family. The ministry was organized around 5 areas of service including:

• Nutrition
• Health
• Education
• Recreation
• Housing and lifestyle improvement

In June of 2019, One Way Community became a formal Guatemalan NGO, titled One Way Community ONG. This legal status enabled further development of humanitarian programs. Lunches were added Monday through Friday at the soccer field. At the close of 2019, 150,000 meals had been provided and more than 400 children were ministered to, including delivery of school supplies, food, eco stoves, and water filters. Homes were improved by constructing bathrooms and kitchens. Several new homes were built.

In 2020, One Way Community developed an emergency pandemic response in addition to the original 5 areas of service. More than 160,000 pounds of food have been delivered since the beginning of the pandemic, including over 4,000 bags of food, hygiene products and protective gear.

The education program was adapted to deliver individualized, in-home tutoring. During the pandemic, relief efforts were expanded to serve multiple communities surrounding San Lorenzo. Teams have made humanitarian relief trips to rural communities in the Peten and San Marcos departments to deliver food and vital supplies. This allowed One Way Community to rapidly respond with aid to Peten and Izabal during hurricanes Iota and Eta.