Tag Archives: sponsors

Shelley Callahan | January 26, 2017En Español

In 1997, Southwest Airlines distributed thousands of copies of Dr. Richard Carlson’s bestseller, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, to its employees — including pilot Don Wyatt of Palm Coast, Florida.

Inspired by the sentiment of the book, Wyatt wanted to give back. And since the late author was a strong supporter of Children Incorporated, Wyatt began to research the organization.

“There are many fine agencies to choose from, but my personal favorite is Children Incorporated… The experience has brought tremendous joy and satisfaction to my entire family.”

– Dr. Richard Carlson

After thoughtful consideration, Wyatt signed on. He currently sponsors four siblings — three sisters and a brother. They live in El Progreso, Honduras, a town still recovering slowly from the destruction caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Today, the population still grapples with the effects of homelessness, disease and continued poverty stemming from that natural disaster.

El Refugio Welfare Center opened soon after the hurricane to provide a place for poor and abandoned children to go to for food, clothing, and educational assistance. The center provides for the children during the day and invites parents to become involved at the center by providing support in childcare, hygiene and healthcare.

A sponsor since 1999, Wyatt has consistently gone above and beyond to help provide the siblings with the essentials they need to succeed. He is currently paying for one to attend college and plans to help the other three when the time comes.

We sat down with Wyatt to learn more about why he chose to become a sponsor, and what he’s learned along the way.

CI: How did you get involved with Children Incorporated?

DW: Like many other people, I learned about Children Incorporated though the book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. I acquired that book through my employer, Southwest Airlines, in 1997. The company thought so much of the book that they bought thousands of them for their employees. The book says to give back to others, and I was impressed with what the author said about Children Incorporated. I have contributed to other charities, and one of the things that I liked the most was that the money goes straight to the children.

CI: What do you know about Honduras?

DW: It was the first time I had been in Honduras in about three years. I am prior military and have lived all over the world. I am very familiar with how things are in underdeveloped countries. I have been to Korea and the Middle East, and I have seen poverty.

CI: What do you know about the childrens’ living situation?

Mr. Wyatt with his family and sponsored children’s family

DW: They live with their mother. She is the primary caregiver, and she has worked several odd jobs in El Progreso. Employment is hard to come by, so she has worked as a clerk in a grocery store, and a custodian at a hospital. But recently, the mother has had health problems. I don’t know how she helped the children when they were not old enough to take care of themselves.

They live in a very rough part of town, and it is amazing that they have somewhere to live at all. They rent the home. For a while they were squatting in a home, and they got into the program because they found an empty home right next to the coordinator’s home. She enrolled the children in Children Incorporated’s program, and then they eventually moved into a home that they could legally pay for.

CI: What do you know about El Refugio?

DW: I met an assistant coordinator, Trenie, who always arranged for a translator and a driver, and has always met me, and spends the whole time with me and my wife, and going about visiting the children’s homes. I have visited all of their schools, and I have taken them out to restaurants and water parks for a day of relaxation. The children are being provided for at the center after school with supplies, clothes and large bags of groceries on a monthly basis.

CI: What can you tell us about the children you sponsor?

The book says to give back to others, and I was impressed with what the author said about Children Incorporated. I have contributed to other charities, and one of the things that I liked the most was that the money goes straight to the children.

DW: Bernardo* was my first sponsored child, but he ended up dropping out of the program. I was asked if I was willing to sponsor a child in the same program in Honduras, which is when I learned about Samuel*. Over the course of a few months, I was told about some special needs of this family, and found out that he had three sisters as well. For about six months, I was only sponsoring Samuel, and then started sponsoring all the children — and that was in 2005.

Cándida* is the eldest of the four children. She was about eleven back then, and now she is 21. She is in her second year of the higher education program in university classes in El Progreso, where she studies information technology. When she’s not studying, she spends her time listening to music and watching movies with her friends.

Right behind her is Mariluz*, who just graduated last December. She’s also a movie buff. We got her a computer to help her with her studies.

Samuel is seventeen. He took an auto mechanics course in junior high school and is continuing his studies at a technical trade school, along with some regular classes.

Natalia* is the youngest. She’s in high school. Like any other teenager, she likes movies and listening to music — but mostly, she looks for simple things to do that don’t cost that much.

CI: Do you communicate with the children directly?

DW: Yes, I try to write them at least as often as they do, if not more — six to eight times a year, and then on birthdays and holidays as well. I tell them a little bit about my life and what I do, and I take pictures of the cockpit of the airplane and send those, and ask them about their health and happiness, and try to encourage them in school. I am hopeful that it will provide some additional opportunities for them.

CI: Do they write back? What do they say to you?

DW: The letters are normally eight to ten lines long, and they give a brief sentence of how they are doing. And then say they hope my family is happy and healthy.

CI: What advice would you have for someone reading about you and your sponsored children, and considering sponsorship?

DW: Children Incorporated is extremely responsive. They welcome inquiries, pass along concerns and are willing for me to get more personally involved with the needs of the children. I am very happy being associated with Children Incorporated, and I feel that the organization has a great history, and every dollar goes to the direct needs of the child.

People contribute to charities for a lot of different reasons. If you are the type of person that wants to become more involved on a personal level, Children Incorporated lets you do that. Often with other charities, you don’t feel like you have a personal impact. With Children Incorporated, you can be more than just a contributor of money.

* Names changed for children’s protection.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN HONDURAS?

You can sponsor a child in Honduras in one of three ways – call our office and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, email us at sponsorship@childrenincorporated.org, or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in Honduras that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | January 16, 2017En Español

Someone set fire to the playground matting at G.H. Reid Elementary School last summer. The fire spread around the equipment, melting and disfiguring most of it, and leaving the 750 Richmond, Virginia public school children with few options for outdoor play.

But when bad things happen, good people often start showing up to help. Hundreds of volunteers from various Richmond organizations, including Children Incorporated, stepped up to help out last November.

But when bad things happen, good people often start showing up to help.

Together, they rebuilt the playground in just one day.

Community support

Renée Kube, director of U.S. Programs for Children Incorporated, explained that the project was led by KaBoom, a national nonprofit that builds playgrounds, especially in low-income areas.

“We had been told by our volunteer coordinator at the school that funding had been secured from KaBoom,” she said. “But KaBoom requires community buy-in — additional community funding and also hands-on help — so what they really needed from us was warm bodies to come and work all day.”

They also needed maintenance funding, and Children Incorporated pledged to provide that as well.

A one-of-a-kind design

But it was the children who designed the playground, which was based on ideas and drawings submitted by students at the school. Because the children created their own ideas and voted on what they wanted, the Reid Elementary School playground is one-of-a-kind.

The playground under construction

The CarMax Foundation and KaBoom put in most of the upfront money and materials, and on November 3rd, Kube turned up to work, along with her Children Incorporated co-workers, Shelley Oxenham, U.S. Programs Specialist, and Chuck Smith, U.S. Sponsorship Manager.

They were among about 250 volunteers who built the playground from the ground up in just one day. One of the jobs Kube, Oxenham, and Smith were tasked with was painting maps and game boards onto the playground surface.

A global concern

They painted maps of the United States and of the world, a hopscotch board, and other game lines on the blacktop. Fortunately, Kube said, they didn’t have to be experts on global geography in order to get the maps down.

“KaBoom sent people out the day before to plan out where things would go,” she said. “They decided where to put the monkey bars and swings, and they drew out the outline of the maps for us.”

When the work team arrived on November 3rd, they painted the maps, after some redesign.

“One of the volunteers looked at the map of the world and said, ‘That’s not right,’” Kube recounted. “He was Dutch, and he said that part was wrong – so we said, ‘Okay, you’re in charge of Scandinavia.’”

They also needed maintenance funding, and Children Incorporated pledged to provide that as well.

An enthusiastic audience

In addition to the playground, the team built a swing set, a giant Connect 4 board, and a trellis with a bench and cubbies. They also painted the maps and blacktop games, and repainted the lines on the basketball court. They cleared out a garden area, and removed trash and debris from the site.

While the volunteers worked, the children tried – mostly without success – to concentrate in their classes.

“It was tremendously exciting,” Kube said. “The kids were peeking out the windows to watch it going up, and at the end of the day, they were leaning out of the school buses, looking at this new equipment so longingly.”

“They had to wait several days for the concrete to set before they could use their new playground, but since then, it’s been well-used and appreciated,” Kube said.

Ongoing maintenance

Our staff members Renée, Shelley and Chuck

The heavy use the playground will get is one of the things Children Incorporated has pledged to keep up with. With 750 children running across its surfaces every day, the paint won’t hold up forever – and neither will the mulch spread around it.

Children Incorporated will provide funding to repaint and re-mulch the playground as needed – and they may even provide the manpower, too, Kube said.

“We just built it in November, so maintenance is not an issue yet,” she said. “They’ll look at it at the end of the school year and see what needs to be done. We will definitely be providing funding for mulch and maintenance – and, if needed, we’ll be doing the work ourselves.”

Other community groups may put in the physical labor too, Kube said. One church in the area said they couldn’t raise maintenance funds but could provide volunteers to help spread mulch once Children Incorporated purchases it. The paint job may go the same way.

“We want to keep it attractive, and we want to keep it safe,” Kube said.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN Richmond?

You can sponsor a child in Richmond, Virginia by calling our office and speaking with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381 or by emailing us at sponsorship@childrenincorporated.org.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Ron Carter | December 7, 2016En Español

It’s not every day that a small nonprofit—even one that’s been around as long as Children Incorporated—finds out that they’re receiving a donation of $1.75 million.

Thousands of children will benefit from Mr. Foy’s donation.

I suppose that’s why I remember the day so well. We had been saddened in 2015 to hear of the death of Mr. Glenn Foy, an engineering innovator and adventurous spirit who had passed away at such a young age — just 59 years old — in a private plane accident. I had spoken to him only once, a few months before his death, and remembered him as a kind soul, committed to what we do, and a regular sponsor over the last decade. It wasn’t unusual for Children Incorporated to receive a bequest, although most tend to come from sponsors who have a much longer history with our organization.

Mr. Foy’s law firm informed us that we’d be receiving 28 percent of his estate to help children however we saw fit, which certainly made my eyes widen. It seemed like a large percentage for such a relatively recent donor.

The magnitude of Mr. Foy’s generosity has allowed us to go to new places, accomplish much, and impact the lives of not just children in need, but their families, their communities, and in some cases, generations to come.

But on the day we learned how that 28 percent translated into real dollars — 1.75 million of them to be exact— I was struck truly speechless.

Glenn Foy was an adventure-seeker, a cycling enthusiast, an aviator, a lover of life. His annual contributions impacted the lives of eight children over several years, but he was quietly generous, preferring not to receive attention for his philanthropy. His supportive family, I hope, will indulge me the attention I want to give to him now.

The magnitude of Mr. Foy’s generosity has allowed us to go to new places, accomplish much, and impact the lives of not just children in need, but also their families, their communities, and in some cases, generations to come.

Our Hope In Action Fund is, essentially, money set aside to use in tackling an ever-growing list of programs to support, centers to build or improve, and projects to get off the ground. We chip away at it, sometimes even making great strides; but this year, we turned so much of that hope into impactful, measurable action.

Glenn Foy’s Legacy in Action

Pinagpala Center, Philippines

Because of Mr. Foy’s gift, we were able to construct a two-classroom daycare center in Tagaytay City, Philippines. Mothers in this struggling area now have a safe place to leave their children as they seek employment or go to work. Every day, you can find children learning and playing at Pinagpala Center, which also provides a nourishing feeding program to improve the health of each child.

Marching Band and Classrooms at Juan Apostol, Guatemala

Children in Guatemala will benefit from new musical instruments.

School and community leaders in Guatemala City have come up with a unique way to encourage student participation in school—the Juan Apostol Marching Band. This band’s talents have become known throughout the country, and playing in the band has become the goal for so many students, which, in turn, encourages students to apply themselves academically (you have to show an “A” grade average before you are eligible to participate; Mr. Foy’s gift allowed us to purchase instruments for the band). At the same school, we also built two new classrooms.

Fruit and Vegetable Garden Program, Ethiopia

Multiple generations will benefit from the produce-bearing garden at Kids Hope–Ethiopia. The community surrounding the center is desperate for agricultural knowledge and supplies. Not only will this garden provide food for the children who attend Kids Hope, but it will also serve as a learning experience for the community.

Biofuel Plant, Kenya

This year, we were able to build a biofuel plant at Maria Immaculata school in Nairobi. Biofuel means energy taken from burning the gases emitted from organic matter – in this case, cow manure. It sounds unpalatable, but these enterprising Sisters figured out a way to keep their costs lowered and introduce more sustainable solutions. And we were there to help.

Dandora Medical Clinic, Kenya

The Dandora Community Center holds a special place in our hearts, and renovating their medical clinic helped the center make huge gains in Nairobi. Attendance is booming, which means healthier children and healthier families. Healthy kids spend more time in school, which leads to better-educated generations, which leads to a brighter future for the whole community.

Water Purification Plant, Kenya

At St. Nicholas School in Msamaria, Mr. Foy’s gift allowed us to move forward with plans to repair a water purification plant. The school’s commitment to self-sustainability keeps costs low while teaching children valuable life skills.

Student Attendance Program, Kentucky

Students in Kentucky will benefit from Mr. Foy’s donation.

At Martha Jane Potter Elementary School, one volunteer coordinator hit upon an idea for a motivational program that would help encourage attendance. Until that point, attendance had been sporadic at best, particularly during standardized testing. We funded the program, the experiment worked, and we expect the school to try it again next year.

College/Career Awareness Program, Kentucky

Rural Kentucky has a tough time in their struggle with poverty, and we find a lot of the same problems in our country’s rural poor areas as we do abroad. Children without resources, struggling their best to survive, when just orienting them towards other futures often makes a lasting impact. We helped a coordinator at Carr Creek Elementary School establish a program that exposes children to various careers, takes them on tours of community colleges, and even helps their parents with career readiness.

After-School Program, New Orleans

The Encore Academy wanted a way to increase its students’ academic success and social and emotional well-being, and they found it through homework assistance and enrichment activities including computer coding and expressive writing. We proudly funded this program, which also includes gifts of clothing-and now thirty participants are benefiting from it. Gifts of books for the school library extend the program’s impact to the entire student body.

Disaster Relief, Baton Rouge

We’d planned to work on a project at Friendship Capitol Academy, but when the floods struck this summer, we shifted our focus to disaster relief. Approximately forty children in grades nine through twelve received practical assistance (clothing, food, cleaning supplies, and hygiene items), as well as support, comfort, and motivation to attend school, despite the upheaval of the world that surrounds them.

Kindergarten “Boys Club,” Washington, D.C.

At Lucy Ellen Moten School, a coordinator noticed that kindergarten-aged boys were having trouble adjusting to the routine and the structure of a school day. What’s more, they tended to take their overwhelming feelings out by pushing, hitting, or biting. Early intervention was identified as the key to helping these boys express themselves more healthily.

Making your Own Legacy

Glenn Foy had never seen our Hope In Action Fund list, yet he chose to leave such a substantial amount to an organization he believed in. Why? How could he have known what an impact his gift would make?

We may never know the answer, but I’d guess that it’s because Mr. Foy witnessed the power of much smaller sums. And I’d guess this because I hear it from our sponsors all the time. They love how connected they feel with their sponsored children, and they know they can trust us to address specific and individualized needs for each and every child. It’s that relationship that keeps our donors engaged for lifetimes (there really is a rather extraordinary number of sponsors who have been with us since Children Incorporated began in 1964!).

They love how connected they feel with a child, and they know they can trust us to address specific and individualized needs for that child.

This year, we’ve launched our On the Road series to show the impact of your contributions to the lives of the children we serve around the world. The dispatches are often inspiring; other times, they convey the honest exhaustion and discouragement that come from the burden of poverty. But time and time again, they always find hope.

In this season of gratitude, we urge you to take a few minutes to think about your legacy. Do you have a plan to make what you’ve earned throughout your life count long after you’re gone?

Whether you make arrangements to have the children you sponsor supported until adulthood or whether you’re more interested in donating a lump sum to support our chosen programs the way Glenn Foy did—no gesture goes unnoticed and no effort goes unused.

We approach each new year with hope. In 2016, we were able to turn an unprecedented amount of hope into action. One man’s decision made that possible for children in so many countries around the world. At every level, we’re counting on the continuing generosity of all of our sponsors and donors to keep that momentum going in the years ahead.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD THROUGH CHILDREN INCORPORATED?

You can sponsor a child with Children Incorporated in one of three ways – call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org, or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | November 16, 2016En Español

Mexico is such a modern, developed place that in many respects reminded me of America – but high unemployment rates have cities grappling with spikes in poverty and crime.

As a result, there are many children who have been abused, neglected, or flat-out abandoned by family members in distress. In several cases, the parents are unable to care for their children because they are incarcerated.

As a result, there are many children who have been abused, neglected, or flat-out abandoned by family members in distress.

Children without families to help keep them safe, healthy, and to make sure they’re going to school often find themselves involved with drugs and crime. It’s because of this that Luis and I so loved to see the Sisters step in and fill the void.

At homes like Hogar Santa Maria, Hogar Santa Ines, Mexiquito, and La Luz, it was the Sisters who were there for the children, providing not only support and guidance but real and moving affection, too. These parental figures provide the structure and consistency that help kids bloom into a generation that can positively impact their country. They foster a loving, nurturing environment where the children have adults to depend on and other children to play with.

Together, they’ve made a family.

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How do I sponsor a child in Mexico?

You can sponsor a child in Mexico in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in Mexico that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | November 5, 2016En Español

If you travel around Mexico, as we have, you’re sure to notice that Monterrey feels a little different from the rest of the major Mexican cities. It may be wealth. After all, it’s the second wealthiest city in Mexico. But this capital of the state of Nuevo Leon is a distinctly more modern feeling. Its population of 1.1 million produces iron, steel, glass, furniture, automobiles, and electronic equipment amidst the Sierra Madre Mountains on all sides.

Here, the lower you stand on the income ladder, the higher up on the sides of the mountains you live.

I was so struck by the industrial-yet-contemporary feel of Monterrey when we arrived — it felt like the city had been prepared for its own growth spurt, with expansive highways and city roads that easily accommodated the traffic.

Above this, natural beauty drew my eye as I try to distinguish where the surrounding mountains ended and the sky began.

But despite its busy commercial face, Monterrey is also known for being home to thousands of Mexico’s unemployed and underemployed. As a result, families struggle, even in the middle of all this productivity.

Protecting the Vulnerability of Children

In 1970, Hogar Santa Maria opened with a mission to help the boys and girls of these struggling families, providing them with even the most basic of needs: food to eat, a bed to sleep in, and a safe place to do both. Despite being known as one of Mexico’s safest cities, Monterrey still carries a lot of danger for poor children left to fend for themselves during the day.

The home isn’t far from our hotel, but when we visit it, I see that it’s in a lower-income housing area. Here, the lower you stand on the income ladder, the higher up on the sides of the mountains you live. It’s cheaper there — fewer services are available, and no public transportation can get up the steep roads. The view from the houses is breathtaking, but within the neighborhoods is a less stunning view. Crime runs rampant here, with drug peddling and robberies pretty much status quo. Parents worry about their children becoming involved at a young age, as they so often do.

For three years, Sister Eloise has run Hogar Santa Maria with the help of a secretary and five other Sisters. Together, they provide what’s essentially daycare to twenty-five children, age six through twelve. All of the children go home on the weekends, and about a third of them sleep at home each night, with the Sisters making sure they get good meals and are en route to school at the right time.

Sponsored children eating lunch during our visit

In addition to the six Sisters running the show, the place subsists on donations from community individuals. There’s no government aid here, and because the model revolves around getting the children ready for, headed to, and picked up from school, the capacity of area schools sometimes affects Hogar Santa Maria’s allowed enrollment numbers. Schools in this area essentially determine how many students the home can take. For instance, right now, the home looks after twenty-five students, though the program is designed to accommodate sixty.

Leave it to these always-resourceful nuns to find alternate ways to make money, though. They run a used clothing thrift store in an area far away from their charges. This way, the place doesn’t become a market, the kids remain protected, and Hogar Santa Maria can generate a little income. Volunteers from the community, as well as university students, assist the home in mentoring the boys and holding fundraisers. Children Incorporated sponsors fill the gap with food, medicine, and school supplies for the children at the home.

The children themselves almost embody Monterrey’s juxtaposition of poor and thriving. From the poorest houses, everyone’s treated to a panoramic view of this incredible city, but they still can’t find work. Meanwhile, Monterrey enthusiasts keep coming from Latin American countries or other Mexican states, having heard there was plenty of work for all who needed it but finding nothing at all suitable. Instead of a growing job market, then, the city just has a growing population of poor and uneducated. And in the middle of all this, Hogar Santa Maria keeps quietly running along.

Children Incorporated sponsors fill the gap with food, medicine, and school supplies for the children at the home.

Looking for Help to Keep Their Kids Safe

After visiting Santa Maria, the sisters take us on a newly home visit to Pedro’s house. Pedro lives with his mother, two older brothers, and his mother’s boyfriend in a small house with separate bedrooms and a kitchen. He lives at home with his family, but he is at Hogar Santa Maria on weekdays while his mother works to clean houses.

He’s home this week, though, having just had his appendix removed.

Sister Eloise and the social worker smile and chat with Pedro, who smiles back at them. His mother, meanwhile, tells me about how she worried about leaving her son home alone. She says she feels much more secure about Pedro’s safety now, knowing that Pedro is being cared for by the sisters at Hogar Santa Maria while she works to provide for the family.

The other home on our schedule this morning was a home devoid of children — at least at the time we were there. The grandmother was home alone in a house with three beds, a plastic kitchen table, a small couch, and a refrigerator. She told us that three children, three adults, and she all lived all together in one room. It seemed to me that this had to mean that all the children slept in one bed.

While the adults worked during the day (including the youngest child, who went to work with her mother), the older children traveled to school all on their own. Again, at this home, the family we met expressed great concern that the children would get into crime or drugs if left to their own devices. They count on Hogar Santa Maria to keep their children safe.

I wonder what exactly Hogar Santa Maria needs in order to enroll enough children to meet its full capacity — more money, surely, to buy food and supplies — but also to hire staff and teachers. I wonder if these families look down at the city below and wonder what it would feel like to have everything they need all the time, including the luxury of safety.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN MEXICO?

You can sponsor a child in Mexico in one of three ways – call our office and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org, or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in Mexico that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | November 2, 2016En Español

The city of Guadalajara has a lot of things going for it — it’s considered the home of mariachi music, the historical area’s plazas and museums are sought-after by tourists, and overall, it’s considered to be the cultural capital of the Americas. With the surrounding areas considered, the population exceeds four million, making it the second most populated area after Mexico City.

In 1986, a priest named Father Ramon Aguirre decided to start a home for children whose parents were serving time in prison. In a large city like Guadalajara, you can’t really avoid pockets of poverty or the crime that comes with it. Father Ramon Aguirre felt that it was important to help siblings stay together while their parents were away — this way, the families could remain families, rather than the children being turned out into the streets, which happened often during that time.

Resources are currently an issue—La Luz is currently only at half capacity. None of their support comes from the government, since none of the kids were brought to the home by the government.

Stability Five Days a Week

La Luz Home is run now by Sister Nellie, who picked us up from the bus station with Allie, a full-time social worker at La Luz. We ate lunch together after we arrived, and the two told us more about the specific situation at the home, which is a little different from the ones we’ve seen so far.

The boys and girls at the home, for one, go to public schools during the week but are cared for by the sisters in the afternoons. All of them go home on the weekends, which is certainly a change from the other schools. Sometimes that means going home to their mother because their father is incarcerated; sometimes that means going to the home of a relative if one or both of the parents are out of the picture (from time to time, both are incarcerated).

Not only does the structure of the school keep the children sticking to a routine, but it also keeps the sisters from having to find the resources to house the children over the weekend. Resources are currently an issue — La Luz is currently at only half-capacity. None of their support comes from the government, since none of the kids were brought to the home by the government.

The sisters find the children through their work within prisons as they help incarcerated individuals find spiritual peace. In doing so, they learn about the prisoners’ children and their current living situations and agree to help out the prisoners’ families.

The children of incarcerated parents are brought here, where dormitories surround a large playground. The dorms are separated by gender, and the 24 children range from age three to thirteen. There’s a psychologist on staff who helps the children with the transition, and Allie, who works closely with the children. Together, those two decide whether or not the child should be reestablished permanently with the family once the parent(s) are out of jail.

The family of some of our sponsored children

These children might be kept in a stable place with their siblings — unusual in itself. But their home lives are the most upsetting of any of the kids we’ve seen so far on this visit. If their environments weren’t poverty-stricken, they were probably abusive, unstable, and inconsistent. Most of the crimes committed in this case are robberies, and the legal system takes a long time to work. No one’s ever sure exactly when they’re going to see their parents again.

But here at La Luz, they don’t have to worry about that, at least not right now during our lunch. The children have had a dance instructor lately, and they perform for us as a way to thank us for visiting. As it’s Friday, their mothers and grandmothers start to arrive to pick them up for the weekend, and I love watching their faces light up as they spot their moms waiting. Some of them are so excited to see their family member that they get distracted and forget to dance.

After the School Week Ends

The next morning, we begin home visits with Sister Nellie. They’re our first since we’ve arrived in Mexico, as the other homes we visited housed children full-time. I’m anxious about what to expect.

Guadalajara is very modern on the surface, but as soon as you turn down a side street, the roads are unpaved, the houses get tiny, and security weakens (the more affluent areas of town have gates to protect against crime). The first home we visit is that of a mother with five children, three of whom stay at home during the week. Their father is incarcerated, and the whole family stays in a portion of their uncle’s home.

We can see into the home through a window. It’s got a dirt floor, a small kitchen — it seems far too small for six people. Sister Nellie knocks on the metal door, but no one answers.

I’m relieved that the grandmother’s house is nice and clean and she seems like an able caretaker, but I’m even more relieved that the children can go to La Luz and have their minds engaged during the week.

Everyone’s confused because the visit had been scheduled in advance. Sister Nellie asks a neighbor, and they suggest checking at a house up the street, as sometimes the kids will go there when the mother has to work cleaning houses. They’re not there, either. It feels so strange to go searching this street for these children, but Sister Nellie isn’t worried. She explains that this kind of thing is pretty normal, in that the children’s routines are anything but. Their lives change from moment to moment.

We find two of the children at their grandmother’s house, watching TV. These are just two of her twenty total grandkids. She rents the house currently, but her daughter intends to find a place for her and the children once the children’s father is out of jail. They’ll likely watch TV all weekend, while the older children wander the nearby streets and the very youngest child sticks close by the mother as she cleans the homes. I’m relieved that the grandmother’s house is nice and clean and she seems like a capable caretaker, but I’m even more relieved that the children can go to La Luz and have their minds engaged during the week.

The next home visit is largely the same situation — five children, a dad in jail, and a TV on. Two other relatives live there as well, bringing the total to eight people, with six sleeping on three couches and one bed in the living room. When we talk to the children, they say they love going to La Luz, and that there’s nothing for them to do when they’re at home, even though we’ve seen how excited the kids are to see their mother.

Hearing that from the kids is bittersweet. We’re so glad that we can be part of a program that is clearly making a difference in the kids’ lives, and it’s so refreshing that they can still see their parents sometimes, but the idea of them sitting in the dark and watching television all weekend is dispiriting.

There’s a light in that darkness, though, beyond the pleasure they get from seeing their parent or guardian. The youngest child in this family, Fernando, gets packages from his Children Incorporated sponsor every month, including clothes, shoes, and toys. He doesn’t write much in school, but he’s gotten very good at drawing and coloring, each month making a special picture for his sponsor.

While finances are always on the minds of the households we visit, La Luz is especially concerned with resources right now. Some support comes from the La Luz Children’s Hospital next door, but much of it comes from Children Incorporated, which helps furnish clothes, school supplies, and food. The home could be housing as many as 48, but the money just isn’t available, despite the clear need in the community.

After lunch, we head back to our hotel as I try to wrap my brain around what life is like for these kids. I’m not sure they’re old enough to really process what it means for their families that one or both of their parents are in jail, or how their lives could really change at any minute. That’s why it’s so nice to see them getting some consistency and support at La Luz, even though it’s only during the week.

I focus on how happy the children were as soon as they saw their mothers’ and grandmothers’ waiting faces. Father Ramon Aguirre was right to try to keep families together, while at the same time giving these kids some structure, with which they seem to thrive.

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