Horizon Home: A Bridge to a Brighter Future

The Horizon Home is a place of support, growth, and opportunity for the young people who have aged out of Love and Hope Children’s Home. For some, the Horizon Home serves as a stepping stone from childhood to adulthood—a stable, nurturing environment where they can continue their education and start building their careers. For others, it provides a long-term home when they are unable to live independently due to cognitive disabilities or mental illness. No matter the path, the Horizon Home is a place where these young people can find support, stability, and the tools they need to thrive.

As we approach our upcoming Love. Hope. Dine. fundraiser on March 15th, we wanted to take this opportunity to update all of our incredible supporters about the young adults who call the Horizon Home their safe haven. Your unwavering support makes all the difference in their lives, and we are so grateful for the role you play in their journey.

Chamba’s Journey with Inclusive Vision

Chamba has been attending a program called Inclusive Vision three days a week. This program helps him develop essential life skills as he navigates life with a disability. It has been an incredible resource for him, and we are so proud of his commitment to personal growth. We look forward to seeing all that he will continue to achieve with the support of programs like this.

Moises: A Dedicated Student and Convenient Driver!

Moises is now in his second year of studying Computer Engineering. Along with his studies, he has taken on an important role at the Horizon Home—he has become the unofficial “driver” of the group! Moises regularly helps us with transportation, whether it’s taking kids and staff to doctor appointments, running errands, or driving Chamba to his Inclusive Vision program. His kindness and dependability are a true blessing to everyone here at Love & Hope.

Herberth: A Rising Star in Business

Herberth is currently in his first semester at the American College, studying Business Administration. We are so proud of his dedication to his education and the hard work he’s putting in to build a successful future. Herberth will also be joining us at our Love. Hope. Dine. fundraiser, where he will share his story and the impact Love & Hope has had on his life. We can’t wait for you to hear from him on March 15th!

Linda: A Remarkable Accomplishment

Linda moved back to the Horizon Home in November, and we couldn’t be more excited to have her back. In addition to being an integral part of our home, Linda recently graduated with an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education. She has worked incredibly hard to get to this point, and we are praying for a door to open for her in this field so she can continue pursuing her dreams. Her long-term goal is to earn her bachelor’s degree, and we are confident that with her perseverance, she will make it happen.

Irene’s New Chapter: Welcoming Baby Noely

In June, Irene gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Noely. When Irene became pregnant she was living with her mother which had become an unsafe environment both for her and her baby, which prompted Love & Hope to seek a safe and supportive environment for her during her pregnancy. We are so grateful to a Catholic charity called Mater Filius that opened their doors and hearts to Irene. The program provides opportunities for young women to live at their center and participate in different programs such as baking and cosmetology. Once the baby arrives, resident moms are given 8 months to stay at the center while they bond with their baby, learn important skills for motherhood, and take time to make decisions about their next steps in life.

Now, after much prayer and consideration, we are excited to share that Irene and Noely will be joining us back at the Horizon Home at the end of this month. Although this is not perhaps the path we would have chosen for Irene, we believe it is vital to support Irene as she learns how to care for Noely and give her a loving, stable home while she navigates this new chapter of life. We don’t know what the future holds, but we trust that God holds Noely and Irene’s future and we are honored to be a part of their journey.

How You Can Help

As Irene prepares to transition back to the Horizon Home, we have created an Amazon Wishlist (click here) to help provide the items she will need when she arrives at the end of February. Any gifts purchased will be shipped directly to El Salvador.

Your ongoing prayers and support mean the world to us and to all of the young lives that have been touched by Love & Hope. We are excited about what the future holds for the residents of the Horizon Home, and we are so thankful for your partnership in helping to make their dreams a reality.

Don’t Forget!

We look forward to seeing you at the Love. Hope. Dine. fundraiser on March 15th. Together, we can continue to make a difference in the lives of these amazing young adults.

Fiestas Patronales de San Salvador (capital city of El Salvador) also known as Fiestas Agostinas are celebrated in honor of “Divino Salvador del Mundo”. They are named “Agostinas” as they take place in the month of August. These celebrations had a catholic beginning but with time they have become more of an embracement of each city’s culture. 

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For the Catholic church these celebration’s main event takes place on August 5^th, when a procession occurs from the Sagrado Corazon de Jesus Church and ends in the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador. The following day a mass takes place celebrating the transfiguration of Jesus. This main event takes place in the city of San Salvador and everyone is invited. 

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For people who do not practice Catholicism, they celebrate these days by going to the fair, spending time with their family and attending festivals organized by the cities’ mayors. Some cities host folklore events where traditional food is served and traditional dancing can be seen. This celebration is considered a national holiday where schools are closed and people do not have to work.

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Although this celebration started as a Catholic tradition, now it has become a celebration that shows who Salvadorans are. It’s a celebration that inspires people to appreciate their culture and embrace family time. This celebration calls for people to take  a break from daily life and celebrate Jesus transfiguration and enjoy time with each other.

At this year’s Love. Hope. Dine. we celebrated all the ways Love & Hope has grown over the last 20 years, and also talked about how Love & Hope is branching out to support other ministries that align with our vision and goals. We touched on two things we’re focusing on to start: expanding access to education and supporting early childhood development.

We have always believed that education is one of the best assets we can give a child. It is why we spent so much time and effort placing the children in quality private schools that matched their educational needs and abilities. We have seen the transformational power of education in the children who grew up at Love & Hope. As a result, the kids who grew up at Love & Hope have access to a wealth of opportunities and a leg up in the competitive Salvadoran job market.

Over the years we have also supported a number of youth that did not live at Love & Hope. These were either children that the government sent home to live with their biological families, siblings who were not placed in Love & Hope, or local kids with a lot of promise. We’ve seen these educational investments pay off, and have decided to formalize and expand our scholarship program. I think there is no better way to underscore the impact this will have then to let you hear from our current scholarship students directly.

(Make sure to turn on subtitles if they don’t show up automatically! Look for the “CC” button.)

The early days of Love & Hope were filled with the sights and sounds (and energy!) of 28 kids playing soccer, building Legos, dressing up, making crafts, riding bikes, catching bugs, and eating mangos. Providing a safe, loving, and stimulating environment for young children is so important. It is critical for healthy development, and the impact lasts a lifetime. We want to continue to invest in those initial years of development, and not just for kids who live in children’s homes. Mi Lugar Seguro (My Safe Place) is a daycare and child care center in Zaragoza, El Salvador that provides a safe, healthy, and educational environment for kids. Sometimes families just need a little extra help, and having a safe place for kids to learn and play while parents are at work creates better and brighter futures for everyone. Take a look at the impact Mi Lugar Seguro is having!

As you heard Karina say, they are bursting at the seams! As part of Love. Hope. Dine. we raised $5,000 to help them expand their facilities!

I hope you are as inspired by these stories as I am, and I hope that you will continue to partner with us as we invest in the lives and futures of the children of El Salvador.

Dear Friends,

I am so proud to present to you our 2022 Annual Report. We hope you’ll take a few minutes to look it over and celebrate with us all that God accomplished through Love and Hope this past year. You’ll learn more about the programs we run, some highlights from 2022 and read an update on each of the young people you support. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out by email at contact@ame-intl.org or by phone or text to 216-548-1888. 

God continues to work in powerful ways and we are so grateful for your support that makes it all possible!

With Love and Hope,

Rachel Sanson

Today, Love and Hope turns 18 years old. 18 years marks the beginning of the transition from child to adult for many people. For our kids, it’s the age they move out of our “children’s home” and into our “transition house”. This means they take on more responsibilities – like cooking their own meals, figuring out their own transportation (goodbye driver, hello busses!), and learning to coordinate their own schedules. We work hard in the years leading up to this moment to prepare them for self sufficiency. By the end of the year, the majority of our children will be in our transition house.

And like our kids, Love and Hope is also going through a transition. Gone are the days of soccer in the yard, playing dress up, and pajama parties in the cafeteria. These days we’re focussed on graduations, finding part-time jobs, and navigating the challenges of young adulthood. The work has changed over 18 years, but the mission hasn’t: to show the love of Jesus to our children, to raise them like a family, and to help them break the cycles of poverty and abuse that circulate through this country.

The journey has not always been easy, but it’s been a privilege to share in the lives of these children and watch them grow. None of it would have been possible without your support. So whether you’ve been with us since the beginning, or just recently became involved with Love and Hope: Thank You!

Jocelyn is everyone’s big sister. She knows very well the weight of being looked up to by all the kids at Love and Hope. And she’s been quite a role model.

Jocelyn never loved school and it did not come easy for her, but she worked hard and graduated from Luz de Israel in 2014. This year Jocelyn will become the first college graduate from Love and Hope Children’s Home with a degree in Interpretation and Translation! But college is not all Jocelyn has been up to for the past few years.

In 2016, Jocelyn began a two-year internship program at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Salvador. She would often go straight from her university classes to training at the hotel. Saturdays were usually filled with events at the hotel, leaving her little time for social activities. But she stuck with it and completed the program in 2018. At that point she was able to apply for a job cleaning rooms at the hotel.

It was not her dream job, but she believed that there was a future for her at the hotel. One day she came across a posting for a position in “Instant Service” where she would be booking hotel reservations. When she saw it she said in her mind, “This position is mine!” She applied and sure enough, she was given the job. Jocelyn has now been working for the hotel for over two years. She’s finishing up her last year of university and is living on her own. She was even featured in the Central American periodical El Economista with the owners of the hotel!

We are so proud of the young woman Jocelyn has worked so hard to become. She continues to be an example and a role model for all of her younger “siblings” at Love and Hope.

But Jocelyn’s story could have looked very different. Once, when asked about how she believes Love and Hope has influenced her life, she said “If it weren’t for Love and Hope, I probably wouldn’t have finished high school and by now, I’d probably already be a mom.”

At Love and Hope it is our mission to equip the kids in our care with the necessary tools and opportunities for success. One of the greatest tools we can give them is an education. We have seen time and time again how education can completely transform someone’s life. The public schools in El Salvador are underfunded and dangerous due to gang activity. As a result, all the children at Love and Hope attend private schools that are geared to their individual needs and talents. This is a huge investment, but we firmly believe it is worth every penny we spend. Jocelyn is evidence of that!

We are currently in the middle of a huge education fundraiser with an amazing matching gift. Every dollar we raise for education between now and the end of the year will be matched up to $15,000. This means that with your help, we’ll be able to raise a grand total of $30,000 for education! Please join us in investing in the lives of the youth at Love and Hope in El Salvador.

Today, Love and Hope celebrates 17 years of ministry.

Thank you for being part of this adventure and for watching our young people reach their full potential!

We are so grateful for the overwhelming response we received to support Love and Hope’s disaster relief efforts and we want to let you know how your donation was used! 

During the storms we were able to provide some immediate relief through meals and food baskets. The support reached over 150 families to start, and is still helping to support about 70 families. 

Our second phase of assistance was to help with rebuilding in the homes that suffered the worst damage due to the tropical storms. We provided block, cement, gravel, sand, wood, rebar and roofing materials. The community worked together to help one another in the rebuilding process. 

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Lastly we provided some of the larger household items that were lost in the storm. We asked each family what their greatest need was. Some requested a bed or a bunkbed. Others asked for stove tops. 

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The people of the communities that we were able to assist were so grateful for the support. As a thank you gift they gave us handmade masks for everyone at Love and Hope. 

In addition we have been able to continue to support all of our kids’ families throughout the quarantine with twice the amount of food we normally provide and we were able to give a special bonus to our workers who continue to work so hard during this difficult time. 

Thank you so much for being the hands and feet of Jesus to so many people in El Salvador! During this season we have been reminded of Matthew 25:35-40: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Two weeks ago we started sharing about the tremendous need forming in El Salvador. The combination of COVID-19 and Tropical Storm Amanda were creating a desperate situation for many people. Food was scare, and storms were washing away entire communities. Many of you responded to the call and helped us raise over $4000 to provide much needed relief and assistance. With the help of many other organizations we have been able to distribute food, clothing, and other donated goods to several communities in need.

In coordination with the Union Church and Hope Chapel, we’ve been able to deliver food baskets to the Mascota Community.

States Diner helped us deliver a hot meal to folks in El Tanque who had lost their homes and were sheltering in a local church.

Now that the water has subsided, it’s easier to see the extent of the damage in many homes. As you can see, people tried to get their belongings as high off the ground as possible, but sometimes the water was just too high.

We’re continuing to provide food baskets to both the Mascota and El Tanque community, as well as assist the families of our children. Additionally, we’ll be working with the local leadership in each community the help with other recovery efforts like home repairs.

Thank you so much to each and everyone of you who gave over the last few weeks. Your support has made it possible for us to respond quickly to the needs of many families who are suffering under the twin tragedies of COVID-19 and Tropical Storm Amanda.

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