Recap of 2019: How You Helped Make a Difference
2019 was quite an exciting year for Our Little Roses! We had the amazing blessing of continuing our efforts to empower and educate young girls in Honduras while staying true to our goal by offering extensive educational and enrichment programs. As we look back on this recap of 2019, we are excited to share all that happened and how God has blessed us in our mission to empower Honduras’ most vulnerable girls.
Overall Mission of Our Little Roses
In an effort to provide the best education possible at Our Little Roses, we have diversified our reach with multiple schools and programs to help educate our girls.
Safe and Secure Residential Home
Meeting the basic needs of our girls is the first step to enriching their lives with a better education. To do this, we offer a safe and secure residential home that offers a warm and loving living environment.
We had a total of 64 girls ranging in age from 15 months to 26 years old in our care this past year. These girls lived in our full-time residential home that puts their safety first. Our loving staff help provide care to each of the girls from a parental standpoint. In addition to receiving healthy meals and clean clothing, the girls also create a sisterhood and lasting bond with other girls who live within the home, along with mission teams and sponsors.
Offering a safe and secure environment allows the girls to focus on their education by meeting their daily needs.
Our Little Roses Ministries
Beyond our full-time residential home, Our Little Roses is a multi-fold ministry that helps to enrich the lives of each girl that walks through our doors.
Education
Educating girls is one of the fastest and most effective ways of promoting economic development and is the key to ending poverty and injustice towards women.
Raising the Bar on Education
- 99% high school graduation rate (vs. 25%-65% for Honduras)
- 64% enrolled in tertiary education (vs. 26% for Honduras)
- 20% graduated university (vs. 11% for Honduras)
- 28% of Our Little Roses’ university graduates go on to acquire a postgraduate degree
Our Schools
Holy Family Bilingual School
This highly-rated bilingual school offers comprehensive, inclusive, and individualized education. Each student graduates with the ability to speak, read, and write in both English and Spanish.
Escuela Madre Maria Luisa
For those students who aren’t quite ready to enter a bilingual school, the Our Little Roses Ministry partners with the local private Catholic School – Escuela Madre Maria Luisa.
Special Education: Mi Rincon (My Corner)
Our on-site program services those girls who need special attention for their studies. The range of needs vary widely and each girl receives individualized and special care to help them learn.
English as a Second Language
For those students who don’t attend a bilingual school, we offer an afterschool program that helps them learn English. This fun program includes 25 students ranging in age from 3 to 16 years old who learn English through games and activities.
REST Program
This program allows us to offer safe living quarters for those graduates who want to stay on our campus while pursuing higher education. The girls either attend a University program or are enrolled in a trade or technical school.
Enrichment
All children love to have fun and the girls at Our Little Roses are no exception. We go beyond the basics by enriching the girl’s lives with exciting programs and activities.
- Organized Sports & Classes – Our girls love to stay active and enjoy playing soccer as well as taking part in Zumba and yoga classes. Many of our girls also enjoy performing arts with the local Centro Cultural Infantil, which teaches ballet, folk dance, and drama.
- Woodworking – We have found that woodworking not only adds a level of creativity to their lives but also helps them learn important skills using different tools and techniques.
- Poetry & Writing – Expressing yourself through writing is another important part of the healing process for the girls that attend Our Little Roses. Our Poet in Residence Fellowship Program hosts one poet for a month-long stay that helps teach the girls about the written word.
Medical
It is hard to focus on your education when you are in need of medical care. We have an off-site medical clinic that not only serves our girls but also helps provide medical care for the local community. Our girls also receive regular dental, eye, and psychological care to help ensure their health overall.
Spiritual
As a faith-based ministry, we greatly encourage every girl at Our Little Roses to grow in their spiritual life. We offer regular chapel services as well as provide religious instruction and counseling to both our girls and the extended community. Plenty of mission groups join us on campus throughout the year which helps provide opportunities to share and grow in faith.
Emotional
We added a new element to our ministry reach this year with the addition of our Positive Discipline Program. This program helps teach respect and understanding. One of the most important parts of the program is replacing the word “punishment” with “consequence”. We believe that this is a powerful new program that has been vital to the emotional health of our girls who have traumatic pasts.
Where Do Your Donations Go?
As with any ministry, we want to make sure that we are always open and honest in reporting where your donations go. We are so grateful to all of our donors and supporters who are making a difference in the lives of our girls and the local community. View our recap of 2019 below to get a closer look at how donations are distributed.
This is the overall amount of income received by Our Little Roses Foreign Mission Society – the fundraising and development arm of Our Little Roses Ministry. You’ll note that over half of the income comes from general donations and sponsorships that are vital to our success.
76% of the overall 2019 expenses were directly related to the programs in Honduras for the girls of OLR, while the remaining expenses go towards staff and fundraising efforts to help support those programs.
It takes a lot to house and care for the needs of 64 growing girls! The full-time residential home and staff make up a good portion of our expenses in Honduras. As you can imagine, the cost of education and food is also a large portion of our overall budget.
How You Can Help Our Little Roses
We strive every day to not only meet the basic needs of the girls in the Our Little Roses home but also to enrich their lives through education. We believe that each girl in our care is a blessing from God and know that He has great plans for them. We have witnessed the impact that empowerment through education can have on a girl’s life.
Make a Donation
Our program relies solely on the generous support of others. As a 501(c)(3) ministry, your tax-deductible donation goes directly to helping the girls in the Our Little Roses program.
We humbly accept any donation and are grateful to those individuals and organizations who have decided to join us in caring for Our Little Roses in Honduras!
Sponsor a Child
For just $2 a day you can have a direct impact on one of our sweet girls at Our Little Roses! We combine your gift with the gift of others to help care for your sponsored child. As a sponsor, you can connect with your sponsored girls through cards, letters, and can even come to visit to learn all about her life once we are over the COVID crisis!
Organize a Mission
We love inviting missionaries from all over the world to Our Little Roses! Not only will our girls benefit from your mission trip, but we believe that God will use us to increase your faith as well. Learn more about organizing a mission to Honduras. All trips are currently canceled due to COVID-19, but we are penciling in reservations in the hopes that by the fall we can be back on track.
Create a Fundraiser
Want to help even more? Consider donating your time to help organize a fundraiser on behalf of Our Little Roses. We’ve had plenty of successful fundraisers in the past and know that they can be a powerful tool in helping us care for our girls.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us this past year with your donations, time, and prayers. We are blessed to have such a wonderful community of believers who partner with us in our mission to enrich and empower the lives of our girls at Our Little Roses.