Print, Post, Repeat!

Here's a flier that explains the crisis at the El Salvador Orphanage and tells about our fund-raising efforts. Feel free to print it out and use it to spread the word!

Thanks to all who are working so hard for our kids. We just heard today that one person who had accepted the "1 of 130" challenge has already met it! Now she plans to more than double that by fund-raising extra hard.

God Bless!

Can you help our kids?

For some time now, SHIP’s focus has been on building a new orphanage home for the children of Jehovah Jireh Orphanage in San Salvador, El Salvador. Over the years, we have come to love these children, and they are a part of our family.

On June 26, we were saddened to learn that new laws threaten to split up our family. Many repairs need to be made to the existing orphanage building by October 15 of this year, but, even if all repairs are made, the government says that the current building is too small to house all of our children. They plan to take away 19 of our 34 children.

We can’t let this happen. Our only option is to complete work on the new orphanage building. In order to complete the project, we need $130,000. That’s a lot of money, but we can do this if we just break that big number into small, manageable pieces. Just think about it like this:

If 130 people give $1,000 each, how much money have we raised, and how soon can the building be complete?

It’s simple, really. All it takes to raise the $130,000 that we need is 130 gifts of $1,000 each. But, $1,000 is still a lot of money. Personally, I don't have $1,000 to spare, but I do have some money, and I do have friends. That’s why we’re asking you to think of how your 1 family, 1 church, 1 youth group, 1 sorority, 1 poker club, 1 whatever could get together and raise $1,000.

Can you bake? Can you put together one awesome garage sale? Can you wash cars?

Whatever it takes, can you (with the help of friends, family, co-workers, anyone) raise $1,000?

I will be 1 of 130. Will you be 1 of 130, too?

How to be 1 of 130:

1. Get a group together. Talk to your family, friends, co-workers, Sunday School class, Brownie troop. Talk to anyone whose heart will be touched by this need, and get them to join you in raising $1,000.
2. Raise $1,000. Raise $1,000 really fast. We hope to start the final phase of construction on August 1. We know it’s fast, but we also know that you are amazingly capable of doing anything you put your mind to.
3. Send the money to SHIP. You can donate via Internet at http://shipinternational.org/donate/, or you can send a check to:

Shelter the Homeless International Projects
P.O. Box 3003
Bryan, TX 77805-3003

Please Help Us!

We love these kids. We love every single one of them. We’ve seen them grow up over the years, start school, graduate, go to college. We’ve seen them fall in love with those of you who’ve gone to El Salvador. We’ve seen their faces light up when they get their Christmas gifts from those who’ve sent them. We’ve seen the love they show each other and us, and we’ve known that in them we see Christ.

They are a family. They are our family. But, our family is in trouble.

Today we visited the orphanage and learned that the orphanage is in danger of being shut down. The government agency in charge of child welfare (CONNA) thinks there are too many problems with the orphanage. The building needs to be bigger; repairs need to be made; they need more people on staff. We have until October 15 to make that happen.

Even if all repairs are made and staff added, CONNA still believes that the building is only big enough for 15 children. There are 34 children in our family.This means that 19 of our kids will be taken from the only loving home they’ve known and placed in an impersonal, government-run orphanage.

These are children who have known physical and sexual abuse, abandonment, neglect. Many of our children have been through the government system before; some of them still carry the scars of it. We can’t let our children go back to that. We can’t look at the faces in that picture and choose who we could part with.

We need the new orphanage now—sooner than now if possible. We need $130,000 to complete construction. We need your prayers. We need to keep our family together.

http://shipinternational.org/

Construction!

On Saturday, three of us (Ann, Maegen, and Sara) came to El Salvador to see the progress of the orphanage and to bring some much-needed food to the volunteers. We got to go out to the site and see how much work has been done, and it is amazing. Walls are going up, and we're beginning to see how great this building is going to be.

When we got there, we saw this!



We headed down the mountain to see some more views.

We got to see the giant hole that the guys dug. Nice work! This will be the future septic tank.
There's still a lot of work to do, and Josh is there to do it! Maria Lydia, who lives down the mountain, has even started a little catering business.
And, the guys are enjoying their lunch at the "Hotel Radisson." :)
And, Robert has a new friend, Rigoberto. Rigoberto has been working at the site, and he's been such a help to us.

Please keep all of the volunteers and workers in your prayers. We are grateful for all of their hard work, and we are grateful for all of your support.

So, What's Going on in El Salvador?

In case you thought we'd fallen off the map, nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, things have been pretty busy here at SHIP, with even more people headed to El Salvador to work on the new building. Just a few days ago, a new group of five volunteers (including SHIP board member Robert Horton) joined our Brittany, Julie, and Cameron at the El Salvador orphanage.

With this new group of volunteers, much of the work has shifted to the new orphanage site, with Julie and Brittany still working with the children. But, the guys have been going out to the site and digging trenches. In what might have been a lapse of judgment, someone decided to let the guys loose with the camera. I'm still not sure whose idea it was, but we might need to have a talk. :)

Anyways, just check out how much the work has come along since our last update! The guys took these pictures, and it's pretty amazing to see the progress!






Now we see the guys hard at work.



Just look at their hard work and dedication to the project!



And, in this picture you can see...



Um, wait a second. I'm not sure how that last one got in there. And I'm not sure what they're up to. Any guesses?



And if anyone can explain that last picture, we would surely appreciate it! Whatever is going on, it looks like a lot has been accomplished and all are having a good time.

SHIP at Texas Reds

Would you like to help out a good cause and have a lot of fun while doing it? Well, this Saturday, you can do just that at the Texas Reds Festival in Downtown Bryan, Texas. SHIP will have a booth where we'll be selling beautiful granite crosses and other items made by our good friend John. Part of the proceeds of the sales will go to building the new orphanage in El Salvador.

If you haven't seen the crosses before, they are truly amazing and come in many different sizes and styles. I'm not sure how many of those crosses I've given as gifts, but they're always a huge hit.

And, if you haven't been to Texas Reds before, you really must go. The great thing about Texas Reds is that so much of it is free. You can enjoy concerts by many bands, including this year's headliner, Robert Earl Keen. He's also an Old Ag, so that deserves a Whoop!

So, please come out to Texas Reds and check us out. Our booth will be close to the new Must Be Heaven, and there will be plenty of us there to answer any questions you might have about our work in El Salvador, how you can help, how you can go, or anything else you might want to know about. Just don't ask us any math problems. Most of us aren't any help in that area. ;)

What Are We Doing Here?

This little boy makes me smile every time I see him. Even when he's being bad, though I try to hide it then.

The other night, we all sat around watching TV, and he sat in my lap. He was obviously tired, and after a little while he fell asleep. One of the older girls took him to bed, but shortly after, he came out of the room crying. He had fallen asleep with someone holding him but had awakened alone. So, I picked him up, took him to the rocking chair, and just held him until it was time for the children to say prayers and all go to bed.

I kept thinking that, with so many children at the orphanage, there just isn't a lot of time for each child to have someone hold him. But, then I had to think that, though there is little time for the individual attention that each child needs, the children at the orphanage are the fortunate ones. They are the ones who have people who love them, who have the guidance of kind parents, who wake up and always have someone there for them.

Most of the children at the orphanage are not truly orphans. Like so many children in the orphanages in and around this area (and in every other part of the world), most of them have been abandoned. Parents leave them with other relatives; those relatives are unable or unwilling to care for the children; then the children are either comepletely abandoned and left to live in the streets or find shelter in an orphanage. Earlier this evening, I learned from a good friend of our organization that, in this area alone, there are over 2,800 children living in state-sanctioned orphanages.

But, those are just the children who are actually in orphanages. There are other children who cannot be accounted for because they live on the streets or go from shelter to shelter or find a relative to take them in for a while. These children grow up without the stability and love of a family. My mom sometimes says, "Imagine how many children go to bed each night without someone to tuck them in." Or, imagine how many children awaken from bad dreams and have nobody to turn to for comfort.

So, that is what we are doing here. We are here because we hope to provide shelter for even more children, and we're here so that no child will have to wake up alone and scared. Please pray for us. This is a big job, and we need all of your prayers.