LOS ANGELES, Feb 11, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Herbalife Family Foundation (HFF) announced the opening of a Casa Herbalife program in Ecuador's capital city of Quito. The initial grant will support the 2010 food budget for Fundación Sinsoluka.

Fundación Sinsoluka was founded over 15 years ago to help get homeless children and teens off the streets and out of a cycle of drug abuse and addiction. The organization's name expresses its mission - "sin" meaning without and "soluka," the name of the readily-available, highly-addictive glue that is sniffed by many homeless children in Quito.

Sinsoluka provides a variety of social services that include counseling, domestic violence prevention, substance abuse treatment, tutoring, job readiness training, and nutrition education to more than 300 participants - children, homeless teens/young adults, and their respective family members.

Aside from a paid staffer who prepares meals, the organization functions entirely with unpaid volunteers, including Founder Dr. Mario Alberto Piedra, and has been operating out of a house that it has outgrown in recent years. In an unplanned and emotionally-charged announcement at an Herbalife event last weekend in Quito, Piedra learned that Herbalife independent Distributors, with additional support from HFF, had raised enough money to purchase a new, larger home to house the organization, in addition to the HFF nutrition grant.

This is the 11th Casa Herbalife program in South America, and the 48th worldwide. Following the initial grant, local Herbalife independent distributors and employees will continue supporting the program through volunteerism and fundraising.