Our Mission
We are here to build a repeatable path out of poverty — with the people, not just for them.
We’re raising $50,000 USD to build 10 permanent homes for families currently living in La Carpio — one of Costa Rica’s most at-risk communities, where families live in self built shacks beside a polluted river.
We work in partnership with:
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Local leader Emilio Peña, who lives in the community
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The families themselves, who help build their own homes
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Companies who are aligned to our mission.
Each home is security for these families — and we back it with adult financial literacy education to help families create long-term change.
Beyond providing safe housing, we're purchasing land large enough to keep all 10 families together as a community. These families have supported each other through years of hardship, and maintaining those bonds is crucial to their long-term success. We're not just relocating families—we're preserving the community that gives them strength.
Get to know the families we are working with and Gail, founder of the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation in the videos below.
All Videos
Our Story
Friends of Río Torres began with a question:
"What can I take on, something bigger than me, a contribution to this world? What would it look like to to build a repeatable path out of poverty — with the people, not just for them?"
In late 2024, Alejandro Patterson — born in Costa Rica and now living in Australia — looking to reconnect with his homeland and find a project where he can make an impact, reached out to Gail, founder of the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation. Through her, he met Emilio Peña, a local leader living at the edge of the Río Torres ravine in La Carpio — one of the country’s most marginalised communities.
Families there live in makeshift homes on unstable land, exposed to floods, contaminated water, and landslides. Despite this, what Alejandro found was not despair — but strength, humour, and hope.
So he got to work. Partnering with Emilio and the Foundation, Friends of Río Torres was born — a grassroots effort to raise funds for safe, permanent homes.
Not just houses, but a foundation for dignity, opportunity, and community.
This isn’t charity. It’s a collaboration — with families contributing to the design and build, and adults supported through financial literacy education to help break the cycle of poverty for good.
We have started small. But with your help, this will grow into something extraordinary.
Meet The Team
Our Supporters
