SLMs in Bolivia Appeal for Some Help

SLMs in Bolivia Appeal for Some Help

Veteran readers of this blog are already familiar with the Salesian Lay Missioners.  For more years than I know (a LOT of years), SLMs have been serving orphaned and other needy little girls and teens at Hogar Sagrado Corazon (Sacred Heart Home) in Montero, Bolivia.  The Hogar is truly a home for these girls, the sisters who staff it are truly mothers to them, and the volunteers (not only from our SLM program but from Salesian volunteer programs in other countries too) become very attached to these girls and vice versa as they provide service to them and grow in their own Catholic faith at the same time.  Services include 24/7 availability, helping the little ones dress or get ready for bed, homework help, lots of play time, medical attention in-house and trips to doctors when needed, outings, etc.--with (at least theoretically) a day off each week.

Last August we commissioned 13 new SLMs for service in Bolivia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Congo, Zambia, South Africa, and the exotic country of Florida (my home state).  Two of them, Thao Nguyen and Avra Dugan, accepted mission to Montero.  They have just launched a modest appeal for some financial assistance for the program, which I post here in support of the Hogar and our SLMs.

Hello family and friends,

I'm writing to ask you all for help in fundraising efforts for Hogar Sagrado Corazon. For those who aren't familiar, the Hogar is a home for girls age 1-20 in Montero, Bolivia. It provides a loving home, basic necessities, activities, education, and a lot of fun for over 120 girls who have no families, or families who are unable to provide for them. We (Thao and Avra) have only been here for about a month, but already we feel welcomed with the greatest possible warmth and love into the gigantic family here. It is difficult to explain how much this place means to the girls who live here. Often girls arrive undernourished, ill, afraid, and completely abandoned. Many have never attended school, never lived in a house, and never had a stable family. The Hogar provides a safe and caring environment for them, and it's amazing to see girls who were unable to walk or speak when they arrived playing and laughing with the other girls. The Hogar is run by a group of Franciscan sisters, whom the girls call 'Madre', as well as paid staff and volunteers. Some financial support comes from the church, as well as the state, but the Hogar also runs an independent fundraising initiative called the Madrina Program. Girls are sponsored by a Madrina (Godmother), who pays yearly dues to help them purchase necessities, or small gifts to help them feel special. We are currently trying to raise money for the general account. This account is shared among all the girls, and is for yearly purchases of items that all the girls will need, like new shoes (most of the young girls have only one pair of flip-flops, and many of them are broken), school supplies like erasers or colored pencils, clothes, and hairbrushes. We also hope to raise enough money to purchase fun Christmas presents, like small toys or books for the girls. It's rare for most girls to receive birthday presents, or any gifts during the year, so Christmas is a very special time for them, and we hope with your help to make this a wonderful Christmas for these very wonderful girls.

We are including a link to a gofundme page with a few pictures and stories about the girls, so you can get to know a few of them, and see why we are so happy to have the opportunity to work with them all the time!

https://www.gofundme.com/hogar-sagrado-corazon-christmas

To Donate: 

Donations can be made via PayPal, Venmo, or by Check. If you should feel it is better to send the money to me, you can Venmo me @Thao-Nguyen-9. I promise 100% of the donated money will be going to the girls! 

Checks are made out to Hogar Sagrado Corazon, and can be mailed in the U.S. to 

Mara Fuller 501 Oakwood Ave. Lake Forest, IL 60045

(Mara is one of the administrators of the Madrina program, and checks are mailed to her to avoid having to mail money into Bolivia, which is difficult)

PayPal is to marafuller@hotmail.com

Venmo is to sagradocorazon.hogar@gmail.com

Some girls are also without Madrinas, currently. If you would like to be a Madrina, please let me know and I can send you more information on how that program works.

Avra Dugan isn't hard to pick out as she entertains some of the younger girls of the Hogar.

Thao Nguyen (center) with a couple of the older Hogar girls.

The color scheme that I used on the title for this post reflects the colors of Bolivia's flag.