$75 is all it takes to help 3 children for a whole month
Lent is upon us.
This penitential season allows us to step back, examine our lives, and consider where we have strayed from God and how we can move closer to him again. The three tasks we use to jump start this process are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Of the three, however, Mike Aquilina says “surely almsgiving is the most neglected.” He goes on to say that almsgiving is even better than prayer and fasting because it is both a form of prayer and a form of fasting!
What is almsgiving?
Simply put, almsgiving is giving to the poor–money, food, material goods, or time. And we have a very special group of kids in Honduras who would be forever grateful to benefit from your almsgiving this Lent.
Poverty in Honduras tells the story
According to the World Bank, more than 66% of Hondurans lived in poverty in 2016. In rural areas, 1 out of 5 Hondurans lives in extreme poverty–less than $1.90 per day.
Honduras faces the highest level of economic inequality in Latin America. But access to quality education is the best way to level the playing field and give Hondurans who live in poverty a chance to earn higher wages and build a better life for themselves.
When you give a child access to quality education, you set them up for opportunities and successes they will never know without that education.
In the tiny coastal town of Trujillo, Honduras, there is a beacon of hope.
La Finca del Niño (Farm of the Child) started 21 years ago as the vision of Vincent and Zulena Pescatore, a couple who knew God was calling them to do something big for the children of Honduras. Today, thanks to Zulena and the Franciscan Sisters who help run La Finca, more than 50 neglected, abandoned, orphaned children have found a loving, faith-filled home here.
La Finca gives children a safe place to come when their families can’t care for them. Children grow up here in safety, stability, and peace. La Finca is truly a safe haven for these children, many of whom have lost their families to disease, gang violence, or addiction.
Will you take a moment right now and say a prayer for Zulena, the Sisters, and the children of La Finca?
Amazing things are happening at La Finca. Children’s lives are being changed for the better every day.
But to continue this beautiful work, La Finca needs your help immediately.
Here are 5 ways to give education to the children of Honduras.
When you give a child access to a quality education, you set them up for opportunities and successes they will never know without that education.
1. Sponsor a Child
Zulena and the Sisters are phenomenal stewards of the funds they receive. They stretch every dollar as far as possible.
That means that they can care for most of a child’s needs for just $25 per month! If you and two friends or family members each give $25, your $75 gift will sponsor three children!
2. Give textbooks to a student, a class, or the entire school.
Technology has allowed for some great achievements, but nothing replaces a book, especially in poor countries, where access to electricity can be limited or inconsistent.
The textbooks at La Finca have been well used and are falling apart. You can give textbooks to the children of La Finca today!
- $40 – textbooks for 1 student
- $400 – textbooks for a whole class
- $4,000 – textbooks for the whole school
3. Give school supplies.
Every student needs school supplies! You can give now and give the students at La Finca the tools they need to succeed.
- $125 – buys a notebook for every child at La Finca.
Other needed supplies include pencils, pens, and markers. Your gift today will enable the staff and administration at La Finca to provide these supplies to students for free!
4. Support teachers by donating classroom materials like maps and posters.
Maps, posters, and other classroom materials not only enhance the environment of a classroom by adding color and brightness, but they also give students more opportunities to learn.
$500 will provide new maps, posters, and other classroom materials to every class at La Finca.
5. Bless a teacher and support learning by giving worksheets, handouts, and other educational materials.
When you were in school, did you ever think about where that handout Mrs. Hill gave you during your third-period French class came from?
For the teachers at La Finca, without your help, they will either have to pay for copies of worksheets and handouts on their own, or they will have to make their own copies. By hand.
With your help today, you can give La Finca the resources they need to provide teachers with a budget for copies. You’ll not only help the children learn, but you’ll also help the teachers do their job well!
$1,000 will provide for the copying needs for La Finca for the whole year!
Meet Julia – A child at La Finca you can help today!
Julia was brought to La Finca when she was just 3 years old. She’d been abandoned by her parents on the doorstep of a local hospital. She was hungry, chronically malnourished, and completely alone.
Today, Julia is 6! She is thriving thanks to the hope, peace, healing, and joy-filled care she receives at La Finca. Julia gets to go to school, too–a gift that will allow her to continue to re-write her story for the rest of her life.
And perhaps best of all, Julia has gotten to learn all about Jesus and his love for her, thanks to Zulena’s faithfulness to the Gospel and the witness of the three Franciscan Sisters who live and work at La Finca.
La Finca‘s school is making a huge impact.
With small class sizes and hands-on learning experiences, students at La Finca‘s school flourish.
Here’s what sets La Finca apart and allows students to thrive:
- Small class sizes (12 students maximum per class)
- 10 full-time Honduran teachers (who pour into the local economy with the wages they earn) & full-time missionary teachers
- Special education classes
- Serves Kindergarten-9th grade; local public schools don’t offer kindergarten or grades beyond 6th
- Open to children at La Finca and children from the local communities
Five students who graduated from La Finca in 2015 just graduated from the local public high school, and were awarded full tuition and housing stipends for university!
This is an opportunity they never would’ve had if it weren’t for the school at La Finca!
The work happening at La Finca is vital, not only for the children who are growing up there, but for the future of Honduras as a whole.
Please, give now and change a child’s life.
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