Summer Report 2010

GREAT NEWS!!!! WE DID IT!!!! We made our $10,000 fundraiser goal to purchase a vehicle for The Refuge of Hope. Thank you for your donations through the spring and summer. We are now in the process of purchasing a vehicle which will be used to transport students in the vocational training program to and from school, as well as to and from the "Quince" reforestation ranch where many of them are studying and working. The vehicle will also be used to transport plants and supplies to support this project. Click here for more information on this exciting step towards sustainability.

Your summer donations were also used to provide 3 meals a day for 40 boarding students on campus all summer, repair the water well, and to pull the Refuge of Hope elementary school out of debt with the electric bill associated with the school's classrooms and facilities. Thanks to your support, the school has run all summer with food, water and electricity. With basic needs met, the Refuge of Hope can move forward in its mission to empower disabled children and youth with education and skills.

Thank You Summer Volunteers!

Planting trees, building walls, digging post holes, hammesummer volunteersring, painting, playing, sweating. These are just some of the jobs packed into a week in Pucallpa, Peru, at The Refuge of Hope by two groups of volunteers this summer. Volunteers included a group of 7 from First Yuma United Methodist Church in Yuma, Arizona, July 3-11, and a group of 13 from Desert Foothills United Methodist Church in Phoenix, Arizona, July 17-25, as well as a group from The King's Academy. They came bearing gifts of wheelchairs, crutches, medicines, braille typewriters, school supplies, clothes, and more. If you are interested in taking a volunteer team to The Refuge of Hope (minimum 6 persons) click here to contact Chris Eaton with Bridge Builders.

Trees, chickens, hens, and cows: more steps towards sustainability

The Refuge of Hope is continuing its efforts towards economic sustainability with profitable reforestation and animal husbandry programs. Here's the latest report provided directly from Victor and Ana, the Refuge of Hope Directors in Peru:

• We now have 7 acres of trees planted. This includes trees for Amazon reforestation, lumber trees called "Boloyna" and "Capirana", and medicinal trees called "Sangre de Grado".
• We just planted 120 orange trees that should produce fruit by August of next year.
• In June, we started raising ducks and hens. We now have 40 hens which means 40 eggs per day to feed our students and workers and to sell to help sustain our programs.
• In July, we raised and sold 400 chickens (donated by Northeast Presbyterian Church in St. Petersburg, Florida) and earned a large profit to continue our sustainability projects.
• Our cow, "Susanna" had a baby and we named her fondly "Estrellita" (Spanish for little star), because she has a white star on her nose.
• We thank God always for all of the blessings we receive every day. We are grateful to God for the help we receive and for the people who are extending their hand of help to our ministry.