This past Friday, Rachel was presented with the GABRIEL Award for Female Social Humanitarian of the Year during a ceremony at La Universidad Dr. Jose Matias Delgado. All the kids and staff were in attendance to see her honored and share in her recognition. This award is one of the many great ways the home has recently been recognized here in El Salvador.
Additional coverage of the award in La Prensa Grafica (spanish).
This past week, Seth helped the older boys make their own bows and arrows. First they went out into the woods to find the perfect sticks for the bows, and then cut and shaped them with machetes and pocket knives until they were ready for stringing. Next, they went on the hunt for small straight sticks to use as arrows. After some quick safety instructions and shooting tips, we let the boys loose on the target.
We are looking to fill out our staff with two more full time positions. These are needs we’ve seen develop over the past few months. Bringing on two full-time staff members is a big financial commitment. We ask for your continued prayer and support on how we can best fill these roles.
Psychologist
Many of our kids come from difficult backgrounds and our desire is to help them work through whatever issues lie in their past as best we can. We’ve always had a psychologist on staff, but only on a part time basis. We feel very strongly that we need to make that position full time. In addition to the kids, we’re also hoping to have our psychologist work with our caregivers to guide them in how to best care for the children. We estimate the monthly cost of staffing this position to be $1500 including benefits.
Administrative Director
Keeping the business end of Love & Hope running is a full time job. From payroll to pension to driving passes, there is never a day without paperwork, forms and phone calls. Over the past several months we’ve worked hard to organize and document the paperwork and procedures that keep the wheels of Love & Hope turning and now we’re looking to bring in an Administrative Director, trained in exactly this kind of work, to make sure it continues to run smoothly. We estimate the monthly cost of staffing this position to be $1200 including benefits.
Thank you for your continued love and support of this ministry.
Last night we had a cookout with the kids in our new fire pit. We went through over fifty hotdogs and then we had roasted marshmallows and smores. The kids really loved it, and I think we’ll do it again soon.
One of the many places the kids can get together to work on homework or play.
One of the rooms for the boys.
One of the rooms for the girls.
The spacious terrace.
View from the Terrace.
The new house has lots of great spaces for the kids to hang out.
The back of the house is just as beautiful and opens into a lovely courtyard.
The courtyard even has fruit trees.
Through the courtyard is a separate building perfect housing teams and long term volunteers.
Rachel talks briefly about moving to Planes de Rendero.
[vimeo 15179729 w=400 h=300]
Before moving into our new house in Los Planes de Renderos, we took all of the kids for a visit so they could see it for themselves. It’s a beautiful four story house in the neighborhood of Las Neblinas. It has a large kitchen and dining area, 10 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, a courtyard with fruit trees and so much more. It has a large terrace with wonderful views and is just a short walk from both Balboa Park and Puerta del Diablo (the highest point around and great for climbing). Here is a quick video so you can see it too!
[vimeo 14945516 w=400 h=300]
Thank you so much for your prayers over the last couple of weeks. The kids are doing well and I think are beginning to appreciate the beauty of our new location. We are a lot higher up and the temperature is much cooler. Several of the kids, workers and Myself are sick with colds and sore throats, but besides that, the transition is going very well. There will be some pictures and video of the new home posted soon!
In August there was a news report on Love and Hope which is being
broadcast during the whole month of September. You can view it at
http://www.esmitv.com/vernoticia.aspx?id=32095
One??of my favorite places??in El Salvador is “La puerta del Diablo.”?? It’s about
a 25 minute ride from San Salvador and is a short hike up to a cliff with an
amazing view.?? When the clouds aren’t surrounding, you can see the ocean, lake
Ilopango, several volcanos, mountains, and the city all from the same spot.?? A
couple of miles away are two of the best children’s parks in El Salvador.????Near
the parks??there are pupusas,??and lots of other??salvadoran foods being sold.??
Right in between these parks and La Puerta del Diablo is a great big beautiful
house.?? This will very soon be home to the Love and Hope family.?? When I first
looked at the home I thought “why would anyone build such a big house?”?? It has
10 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, a huge kitchen and dining room, 2 big garages, and a
lot of common areas.?? It will be a wonderful home for us during this time as we
begin to look for land to purchase and build a permenant location for our home.??
It is in a safe, somewhat touristy area with a very welcoming community.?? Thank
you for continuing to pray for us as we go through these exciting, but at times,
incredibly difficult changes.?? Please pray for the kids as moving is always
hard.?? There are a lot of mixed emotions in all of us.?? Pray for peace, for
wisdom, and for favour in this new community and that the kids would be loved
and supported well through this transition.?? Pictures of the new place will be
up soon!??
We have an urgent need for new transportation to get the kids to school.?? Our
van, which has 300,000 miles, is broken down once again!?? We hate to continue to
put money into fixing it as we know it is not going to last us much longer.??
This week we are renting a van and driving our SUV to take the kids to school.??
Ben is doing a great job of researching all our options as we begin the search
for the right vehicle for us.?? We are considering either one small bus that
would seat??30 people or 2 vans that would seat 15 each.?? Either way we go, it
looks like we are going to need to raise $25,000 to $30,000.?? Please pray for
wisdom for us as we look into our options and that the needed donations would
come in!?? If you are able to make a contribution you can send your donation to
Love and Hope International with a note attached??saying that??it is for
purchasing a vehicle.?? L&HI mailing address is 9555 Vista Parkway, Suite 230,
Cleveland, OH 44125.?? We greatly appreciate your prayers and support!
