In May, the father of a staff-member at one of the orphanages we support took a fall from a ladder and sustained severe spinal fractures. We have been providing consistent medical support since the injury-from hospital stays, to doctor’s visits, to medicine, and even psychological support, we have been working with this family for months. In addition, this month we have raised funds to pay for a surgery to remove gallbladder stones for someone else from Pino Gordo. In addition, in June we were able to provide funds for a hip dysplasia surgery for a young boy. These surgeries have been life changing for the people you have helped, and were all a tremendous success. We couldn’t have done this without you, so thank you!

We at Give Joy 2 One believe education is incredibly important, and we do everything in our power to ensure the kids in the villages and orphanages we support get a good education. Thanks to support you all have provided, we were able to do just that. We were able to pay for the tuition of the kids at God Bless the Children for this school year (the kids at the other orphanages we support have teachers on staff). Furthermore, we were able to give every child new uniforms, back-packs, and school supplies. In addition, at the newest village we adopted (Retalhuleu)- an incredibly remote village- we were able to provide internet service and books to create a library for the school. Those kids send us monthly reading updates, and it warms our heart to see how much these kids value their education.

Because statistics have shown that malnutrition is one of the greatest causes of death in Guatemala, nutrition is something we try and focus on every year. Part of our projects this year was to start a garden in Pino Gordo- a source of nutritious fruits and vegetables for these families who might otherwise not have any. The women in the village have been taught how to till and cultivate to ensure the garden is kept in the best manger possible. We also brought and installed water pipes to another village we have worked in in the past- La Tejera- to create a healthy and clean source of water. These projects were tremendous undertakings, and, again, you were critical in ensuring these things happened. 

As you guys saw on our Facebook page multiple times, we did a lot of fundraising this year to provide foodbags to the various villages and orphanages we support. There is no denying that COVID-19 drastically affected us; however, we have certain privileges and blessings (i.e. food pantries) that Guatemala and other third world countries lack. Guatemala was suffering before COVID-19, so this virus created even more struggles and battles for people.  Thanks to you guys and God’s provision, we were able to provide for so many people and we’re so excited to tell you about those.

In Pino Gordo, we did multiple deliveries. In April, we brought enough soup (rich in nutrients) for the entire village for a month. In addition, we’ve continued to provide resources for the church to continue distributions monthly. Finally, over three months, we provided 500 food-bags to Pino Gordo. The bags provided nutritional food in addition to food seen as treats and specialty items (i.e. Pringles). These bags are still providing food for the families.

We also took five new villages under our wing including Finca Buena Vista, La Tejera, Usumatlan, Santa Maria, and Parramos. To these villages, we provided a total of 2,415 food-bags affecting several thousand people. These villages came to us via friends and contacts we have in Guatemala, and we are astounded that God provided a means for us to help so many people.

In September, we received a message in our Facebook page asking for help. We contacted the individual and found out there was a small group of families living in a ravine in the city who had no food or clean water. We were stunned they found our page, but we were quick to post and you guys were quick to support. Thanks to you all, we have been providing them food bags weekly since September.

We also, of course, continued our partnership with Funcafe to send monthly food bags to the orphanages we support. In addition, we added The Alvarezs in Guatemala ministry- including the Lighthouse Women’s shelter and special-needs children home- to our supported organizations. Finally, we brought Lindsey Logsdon under our wing to help with her community work.

Thank you all for your incredible support in this goal!