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| Community outreach is where our work begins. It is here that we form the relationships to carry out the other two facets of our ministry: family intervention and substitute family homes. We believe that not only is it important to invest in the individuals and families, but in their communities as well. In affiliation with SAC, our Brazilian partners, we are working in 3 local communities; 2 in Recife serving 600+ children and their families, the third serving the indigenous people in the interior of the state.
What we've done:
- In 2005, Mike Sutherland, a member of our Board of Directors, had the opportunity to use his professional skills to provide an artificial leg for John Lennon, a young boy who lost his leg when he was 3 years old as a result of being hit by a bus. John spent 5 years without a leg, learning how to use a crutch as his in order to walk. Mike has since made two more legs as John has grown in order to fit his body and plans to continue this ministry. ESTHERS Children has also been blessed to employ his father, a wood worker, to construct furnishings for Esther's House.
- In October of 2007, ESTHERS Children began a ministry partnership with Project Potyra in Cha de Cruz. We sponsored their annual Children's Day celebration, a Brazilian national holiday, for more than 100 girls and their mothers. We provided a traditional Brazilian holiday meal, Feijoada, followed by a giant sized cake for dessert and a small gift for each child. The girls from Esther's House performed a dance program and volunteers put on a puppet show for them.
-In January of 2008, ESTHERS Children provided school and art supplies for the 600 children at Project Potyra for their tutoring program.
-In October of 2008 ESTHERS Children sponsored the annual Children's Day celebration with Project Potyra again, this time serving 150 girls and their mothers.
Future Goals:
- Capacity building for the much needed and desired expansion of the Computer Lab at Project Potyra
- Assist in the building of an on-site library at Project Potyra and stocking it with books and other resources to be used by the children and families served by this community outreach program. We believe that education is one of the most powerful tools to impact communities; a catalyst to bring about positive change in the lives of the children.
- Create a fair-trade co-op for women in Cha de Cruz where we would make an initial investment by providing seed money to purchase the tools and materials necessary to create a small business using an identified skill, trade or artistic talent. Brazilians are very creative and talented possessing specific artistic skill(s). However many of these women turn to prostitution as a way to earn money and support their families. Through this co-op we would help them find a self-dignified way to support their families while sharing their skills and talents with others.
- Set-up a scholarship program for children with great academic potential, who are not a candidate for a substitute family home, to attend a local private school and receive a promising education. These children will be identified through the leadership at Project Potyra.
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