About the Program
We believe the best mercy ministries are built on relationships and improvement comes most powerfully when local communities are part of bringing it to pass. We have been able to identify specific areas of need and have worked with friends to address them. Here are our initiatives:
- SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM
One of the best ways to show community leaders we care is by caring for their kids. When Dads and Moms see that we love their children, they come to trust us. This opens amazing doors for relationship. Each week, we provide and serve 800 school lunches in four coastal villages south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico: Boca de Tomatlan; and three villages reachable only by water taxi: Quimixto, Yelapa, and Chimo.
- CARING FOR COMMUNITIES
This initiative finds simple ways to help people work together to improve and prosper their community. Often, the answers are simple, for example: We gave a loan to Quimixto to underwrite their first annual "Surfing Contest". Commemorative T-Shirts and homemade sandwiches were sold. It was a big success! They repaid the loan and gave money back to community projects, such as their church building. The Mothers in one village volunteer their time to prepare the school lunches every week. To thank them, we paid for a Fiesta on Mother's Day. We helped a friend and Registered Nurse host a mini Medical Clinic for several months, where she advised parents and gave out medicine. A short-term Missions Team of young adults helped pour a cement floor for a Church.
- HOPE FOR FAMILIES
As we are joined with local communities, we see so many needs. Many families with young children may live in homes with dirt floors. With the help of Short-term Missions Teams, we have been able to buy, haul, and pour cement floors in five homes, so far. We have helped with simple needs: a STOVE for one of our regular cooks, a mattress for a teacher's son, moving a donated refrigerator, a Clothing Give-away (They loved it!).
