Your Impact in Action - Not for Sale June Highlights
Take a quick look at what our community partners have been up to:
Community Leader Highlight: One of our main community leaders, Jessica who is the principal of the school, was featured on the local news in Yoro sharing about the school, the lunch program and the activities that the school partakes in.
We often talk about our community partners in Honduras, though it is so important to share about community partners here in the United States as well. We are so grateful to Holy Nativity Church in New Hope, MN who faithfully sponsor Not for Sale each April raising funds and donated items for the Honduran community. They continue to highlight Not for Sale and invite us into their community. This last April they collected suitcases and brand-new underwear for children in Honduras. Thank you, Holy Nativity, for your committed service to Not for Sale and the Yoro community.
Special Projects:
National Tree Day (Dia del Arbol) The schools in Honduras celebrate National Tree Day by creating beautiful art projects and heard a presentation about the importance of taking care of trees, and their role within our ecosystem. This complimented well with the tree planting Not for Sale sponsored in February this year.
Not for Sale was able to help provide diapers/wipes/formula to a mom in the community who has been a committed volunteer of Not for Sale. This was a community effort to pick up and deliver supplies to this amazing mom as a way to give back to her for all of her efforts to Not for Sale and her community.
The lunch program continues to be so helpful to the students and their families. The school has recently began purchasing food items in bulk to save money. With the savings the school has been able to donate extra food, to families with significant food insecurity. Teachers and community leaders Jessica and Raquel oversee the shopping and food preparation throughout the month.
Ways to help in June:
Suitcases! We would love your old checked sized suitcases. These suitcases carry essential supplies for their one-way trip. Some examples of how suitcases in Honduras have been upcycled:
Suitcases have become rolling libraries between schools to share important resources
Suitcases have transported life restoring medications and supplies for mobile health clinics.
San Iyves Centro de Nutricion: This is a non-profit local community organization that we partner with in Yoro. It’s a child nutrition center where the children ages from Newborns to 5 years old from rural mountain communities, are fed, cared for and nursed back to health. Families are identified by physician’s from the local hospital as children who suffer from severe malnutrition. This organization also provides health and nutrition education to families in the community. Not for Sale was able to attend an education session nearby where over 40 community members gathered for pre-natal education.
San Iyves just had a 5K to raise money for the center. We would love to gift them any donations that we can collect to support this fundraiser.
Check out their website: https://www.sanyves.org/
How You Can Pray This Month:
Please pray for the mom’s who volunteer preparing and serving lunch with the lunch program. They serve sacrificially making sure each child is given a healthy meal.
Please pray for the 20 students who partake in the transportation program. Many of them work, care for their family in addition to attending school. Pray they are able to continue their education and have the supports they need.
Love and Loss
This is Lisa here. June marks the one-year anniversary of the loss of my mother. In addition, I was informed of a loss of a very dear friend of mine, Barb Smith. She was a faithful supporter of Not for Sale, sacrificially giving financially and always offering prayer support. Barb loved Jesus to her toes. I know the Lord loudly pronounced “Well done, good and faithful servant!” upon her arrival. As a last measure of her love and support to Not for Sale, she requested donations to Not for Sale in lieu of flowers. She was a quiet, gentle, kind, compassionate woman and I am incredibly blessed to have called her friend. Donations from her passing will be used to update our lunch program pots/pans/essentials. We are grateful to Barb and her family for supporting the families of Honduras in this way.
I heard something recently that really brought me perspective. “Grief will last as long as the love did.” If the love did not end, why expect the grief to? Jesus was brought to tears when his dear friend passed away. He knew he could (and would) bring him back and still he wept. It is okay to grieve. It is expected to grieve. Just never without hope. I grieve my mom. I grieve my dear friend Barb. I also celebrate with them the knowledge that they are free from pain, breathing easy and with Jesus. I also know that when the day comes, they will be there waiting for me when I arrive. Oh, the hugs that will shake Heaven on that day.
If this email finds you in grief, loss or sadness. Know that you are loved, you are known, you are cared for. Grieve as your heart leads. Just don’t lose hope. And just as you pray for us, please don’t hesitate to shoot us back an email on ways we can pray for you or your family.
In Christ’s Love,
Lisa & The Not for Sale Team