Children of Hope

If you’ve come to Mt Vernon the past few weeks, you’ve heard about an incredible ministry partnership opportunity. For those of you who haven’t heard, let me share an incredible ministry opportunity we have called Children of Hope. Several years ago, Mt Vernon took a mission trip down to the Dominican Republic. While there, our church saw God open a door for us in the Batey (slums) of Baharona. If you don’t know, Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island. Dominican Republic is poor. Haiti is poorer.

In the slums of Baharona live thousands of Haitian refugees who have fled the poverty and instability of their country for hopes of a better life. Unfortunately, many of them fled illegally, and now they’re stuck. The Dominican Republic won’t do anything for the slum dwellers because they don’t have the proper documentation. Haiti won’t take them back because they don’t have the proper documentation. For all effects and purposes, they’re stuck.

So we partnered with local missionaries in Baharona to build a school for the Haitian children living in the slums. (By school I mean a single cinder-block room with a teacher making $200 a month). For us, it was a small thing. For them, it was life-changing. There are hundreds of children being raised in the slums, with no chance at an education (because lack of proper documentation). So, our school wasn’t merely to give them a better option of education: our school is the only option.

Because of Mt Vernon and the tireless work of the local missionaries, fifty children now have the opportunity to learn how to read and write (in Spanish and English). Their education is an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty in their families. A new church has also started out of the school to minister to the spiritual needs of the children and their families.

Here’s how you plug in: now that the school is built, we’re enlisting 50 families to sponsor the fifty children to help them with the costs associated with school. The cost is $25 dollars a month (one year commitment), and the cost goes to cover school supplies, meals for the students, and salaries for the teachers. If you’d like to partner with us and sponsor a child for a year, please visit: www.sponsorchildrenofhope.com

My boys have a quality education guaranteed for them. Not all children have that guarantee. Children of Hope will make a difference for fifty of them. Below is a short video to show you the faces of the children we’re sponsoring:[wpvideo xrX1HS33]