As most of you know, Children’s Shelter of Hope Foundation is a hands-on, grassroots foundation supporting the needs of children and their families in Puerto Vallarta and in the small communities that surround it. Like you, we are concerned about the health, welfare and education of children. Our primary focus for the last 10 years has been to help and assist with the needs of the Refugio Infantil Santa Espenaza (RISE) and Pasitos De Luz. These fine facilities care for the unique needs of many children.
We are now excited to tell you about a recent project that has caught our attention – Sendero de Esperanza y Amor. This innovative shelter, slated to open in January or February, will offer a new and different option for some of the older children and their siblings currently living at RISE. It will be a much smaller, family-like home where the children will not be distracted by issues around communal living, will not be reliant on staff members to constantly provide for their needs, and will experience how families function with consistent expectations and values.
The Vision for Sendero is:
A Family Home where each child can reach his or her fullest potential through guidance counseling and academic support.
A Family Home where all the children learn personal responsibility for themselves and for others.
A Family Home where each child learns the life skills necessary to succeed in the real world.
In this home every child will be involved in the daily household tasks of cooking, cleaning and even purchasing the food to prepare their meals.
In this home every child will learn the concept of money and how to live on a budget, have the opportunity to play sports, or attend dance classes, or even hold down a part-time job if desired.
In this home every child will have to opportunity to learn, through example, how families care for each other – now and in the future.
Living at this family home will be an honor, not a right.
We see it as the future of Mexico, a country that many of us have come to love.
Can we count on your support as we go forward to make this vision a reality?