Henry’s Helpers
Henry is a little boy who resides in the gentle slopes at the base of the strikingly majestic mountains that are a hallmark of rural Guatemala. At age six, Henry doesn’t put much thought into why a group of Americans visit his family every year. He is happy to have a new mattress, loves the new family bathroom and enjoys the food donations that have added to his nutritional health. Henry is thrilled to attend school but he doesn’t make the connection between our visits and his school supplies. If asked, he would not know the meaning of the word “scholarship” even though he has one.
Henry has lots of helpers.
Moving a family out of generational poverty and illiteracy takes, as they say, a village. In this family’s case, the village is vast, dedicated, generous and relentlessly hopeful that our investment of time and funding into this family will be life-changing. It requires “boots on the ground” volunteers as well as those with the less than glamorous, but equally important jobs.
How many hours does it take a month to generate fiscally financial reports for our IRS nonprofit status regulations? Marguerite volunteers innumerable hours keeping our Quickbooks records, financial board reports and Excel data base in sterling condition. Under Marguerite’s direction, Finding Freedom through Friendship has doubled in size, strengthened in financial structure and vastly improved in data base development.
Rae House (http://raehouse.com/) is currently and firmly planted in her desk chair as she designs our new website. Representing our work to the world is what Rae does best. Every time we pass out a business card, brochure or post on social media, Rae’s flare for graphic design reaches out to the far corners of Egypt and deep into the crevices of Guatemala. Our work is only as good as the message we can get out to the public willing to hear about what we do. Without Rae, our audience would be left without visual representation of FFF’s mission.
Mary Kay is one of our founding board members. There from the inception of FFF and with a heart for service, Mary Kay firmly believes that our participants are capable of steering their own lives into a positive direction, should they be given the tools to do so. She represents the very core of what we do. Intelligent, compassionate and the ultimate caretaker, this nurse a classic role model of what our program represents.
This photo was taken just before the upcoming 10th anniversary of our program. These are just four of “Henry’s Helpers” but they represent the countless others who support us financially, systematically and emotionally.
Henry is a fortunate little boy indeed.
