The cafe was opened in March 2007 to raise funds and awareness of the plight of the women and children in the Sacred Valley. Currently, we are working with 5 villages in the Sacred Valley: Huaran, Arin, Canchacancha, Rumira in Ollantaytamabo, and Sacaca in Pisaq. Sonia Newhouse, the founder of the cafe, lived in the Huaran for 2 years and works closely with a group of the women from this community. All the profits of Hearts Cafe go to projects in these areas as well as anonymous donations collected at the café. In August 2007, funding for the projects was boosted by the formation of the NGO, Living Heart. More detailed information about the projects can be found on the Living Heart web page.
Living Heart is involved in a number of education, health, and conservation projects that have been in operation since July 2007, details of which are below. However, there is still so much more that can be done to improve the lives and living conditions of the people here.
Rumira, Ollantaytambo
Rumira is a village located close to the town of Ollantaytambo. Recently Living Heart sent a team of doctors to examine the children of the school. Every child was deemed to be suffering from malnutrition. Living Heart has set up a breakfast program at the school, providing children with a nutritious breakfast of hot cereal and milk. As part of the educational support, Living Heart donated a large number of art supplies to the school.  Volunteer art teachers have since been brought in to teach classes, and overall this has been an extremely positive experience. To educate the children on conservation and recycling, an organic food and medicinal herb garden has been set up in the school grounds. Living Heart has donated the plants, seeds and alcohol necessary for the preparation of tinctures and liniments, the land was donated by the village and the families provide fertilizer, enabling the whole village to benefit from the production of healthy, organic vegetables.
Canchacancha, Huaran
This community sits at 4,200 meters above sea level and is one of the poorest communities in the Sacred Valley.
 Living Heart currently works with members of the community on a number of projects. These include; clothing donations, doctor visits, sexual health care for women, medical clinics for all and very recently a new enterprise selling the textiles (made with natural dyes) that the women in the community have woven. We are currently looking for outlets to sell these through.
Huaran (2,800m)
Currently Living Hearts works with a pre-school in Huaran, providing valuable educational equipment, activities and supplies along with breakfast for up to 20 children a day.
Arin
The junior school in Arin is another school that Living Heart supports, providing education to over 100 children aged between 6-15 years old.
 As well as providing a nutritious breakfast every day, Living Heart donated educational materials and art materials that assists the children in their learning. This school is particularly interested in conservation, so Living Heart has donated a number of fruit trees at their request. The parents within this community are very keen to teach their children how to cultivate and look after these trees.
Sacaca, Pisac (32km north- east of Cusco)
This community is the final one that Living Heart currently works with and is the poorest and most deprived within the valley. There is evidence of malnutrition and poor health amongst some of the children here. Currently Living Heart has provided educational materials as well as breakfasts for the children.
Contingency Fund
As well as working with all of the above projects, Living Heart has a general fund that is used when there is an emergency. Examples in the past where money from this fund has been beneficial to members of the community include the fixing of a wheelchair for a 15 year old girl who was severely disabled. Her wheelchair had been broken for over a year, as the family did not have the money to fix it. With money from this fund, Living Heart was able to repair the chair for her.
After the Pisco earthquake in May 2007, Living Heart was able to donate food, milk and water to the relief effort from this fund.
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