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2009 has been a wonderfully productive year for Orphan’s Hope Project and for the orphanage. In 2009, Orphan’s Hope Project, Inc. was able to wire $20,000 US, directly to the orphanage account in Guatemala, for salaries, utility bills, supplies, improvements, repairs, etc. $20,000 goes a long way in Guatemala. Our water bill at the orphanage is usually about $600 a month. We use gas for cooking so there’s always a bill to be paid, for filling up the gas tanks. The electrical bill is sky high… kids are afraid of the dark and for security, we leave lights on. Staff needs to get paid, school uniforms need to be purchased, we need gas for the vehicles, there are car & van repair costs, construction and on going maintenance is a constant & on and on. I know you understand. When it’s for 60 kids, plus staff, the costs escalate. Just imagine running an orphanage with about a dozen large buildings, lots of classrooms, play areas, bathrooms, a bakery, a carpenter shop, a church and all on a big, uphill parcel of land. You can just imagine how grateful they are to receive approximately $1675 a month from Orphan’s Hope Project, Inc. to pay some of these bills and salaries.
Well, we don’t stop there. In addition to the quarterly wires to the Guatemalan bank account, we provide many other things for the orphanage. We bought shoes for all the kids this year….three times! And, we’re buying their school uniform shoes again in January. We shipped lots and lots of shirts (over 600 shirts this year), underwear, over 75 blankets, binders, other shirts, backpacks, thousands of heavy duty plastic bags, a new heavy duty 42 qt. pressure cooker, school supplies, notebooks, hundreds of pens, Rosetta Stone language programs, 100 new cloth (and reversible) sling bags, post it note notepads, high lighter pens, flash lights, lanyards, calculators, picture frames, hats, pajamas, jackets, Nike shorts, Nike sweat pants, 4 laptop computers and a lot of other items. The items were all new… and were donated by various businesses and individuals. 96 new Oakland Raiders backpacks arrive at the orphanage on January 4, 2010.
In addition, Orphan’s Hope Project buys the ink for the computer printers, we buy lots of paper for the orphanage, we bought a new printer this year, we buy office supplies, storage containers, various food items, kitchen utensils and supplies & more. Orphan’s Hope Project upgraded the internet service at the hogar this year. We also pay for the internet service and we pay it six months in advance. We are now allowing some of our older boys to have Facebook accounts. They are learning how to use the computer!
The boys love getting special food made for them when our workers are there…pizza, ice cream, oatmeal with raisins, pancakes on Sundays, cornbread, special soups, special salads, etc. If if needs to be bought or replenished, we buy it. We are giving them a better life.
In early January 2010, we are ordering new mattresses for all of the beds. Orphan’s Hope Project has budgeted $8,000 for the purchase of 60 new mattresses, fitted quilted mattress pads, new pillows for everyone and new blankets. This will be a big improvement and all the old mattresses and pillows will be given away to families in the local village who don’t have beds. If the old mattresses are too nasty, they will be thrown out. We have a work team coming in February and we’ll scour the dorm rooms, paint them if necessary and then bring in all the new mattresses, mattress pads, pillows and blankets.
The new chapel was finished this year…complete with a beautiful metal door, chandeliers, stained glass windows and beautiful wrought iron seating outside.
We have an ozone water filtration system now and that means purified drinking water for all of us. We have a gym on the orphanage property, which is used by the older boys. We have more musical instruments and a few older boys have formed a band. We have broken ground for another classroom. A new chicken coop will be built soon.
We had a medical and vision clinic in January 2009. The local villagers came to the orphanage in droves, for 3 days, and got free medical care, check ups, prescription medicines, eye exams
and new glasses, if they needed them. Of course our children got the same services.
The kids went on various outings this year. The outings break up the monotony of orphanage life and the outings broaden their horizons, show them more of the city, farms, botanical gardens, swimming pools and other educational field trips. We went out in the evening a couple of times…with the older boys, to dances. Those nights were a hit. Some of the better behaved boys got to see the Harlem Globetrotters perform in Guatemala City. The boys saw movies, they visited an agricultural school, some got to go on overnights to Antigua, the old capital of Guatemala, and more. Some kids spent a couple of days with families for Christmas…families who take them in for a few days to show them family life.
There is just so much than still needs to be done. We are a work in progress but the orphanage is very much improved over the past 3 years since we have been involved.
We have a few new gung ho volunteers…who return again and again. I am thankful for all the work groups and volunteers that visit and work at the orphanage. You know who you are!
We broke ground for a new house, for girls, just outside our security wall. We are hoping to obtain funding for this 4 bedroom house so that the construction can continue. The budget for the construction of the house is about $70,000.
We are planning a 2nd Christmas celebration for mid January. We have 159 kids on our list. Airline Ambassadors International and Global Legacy have teamed up with Julian Roberts and plans are in the works for that.
We’ll be headed to Guatemala on the 31st of December, arriving on January 1st. What a great way to start out the new year! There’s so much to do. Two big boxes (crate size) have already been shipped and they’ll arrive on January 4th.
We have a new power point presentation/update on the first page of our web site. We hope you’ll take a moment to look at it. The link is in the middle of the text on the first page. Look for Hogar Miguel Magone Update on that page.
Thanks for your support in the past and in the future. Thank you for your good wishes and prayers and remember….all your donations are tax deductible. We have no overhead so this is one non-profit foundation that maximizes every single dollar that is donated. Donations can be made on line through PayPal….e-check is very easy to do, it’s safe and there’s no stamp to find, no envelope to address and before you know it, we will be using your donation for something good. If you can’t make a donation, that’s ok too. I did want you to read about our project and what we are accomplishing. Every $, every new shirt, every donation helps.
Thanks for your time, thanks for caring and thanks for you.
Próspero Año Nuevo!.
Diane Springer
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Founder
Orphan’s Hope Project, Inc.