Four years ago, my brother Frank, met Marina, a Mayan street vendor selling her families hand-woven items in Guatemalan and was touched by her story. Marina, her mother, and four sisters all weave these hand-woven items to support the family. Her father died and left her mother a widow with five daughters and no support.  This kind widow has since taken in two more orphans off the street AND two orphaned cousins!  Six girls and four women living in horrible conditions with dirt floors and walls and a tin roof that barely keeps them dry! They are a very hard working family and deserve our help.
Fortunately for her, Frank is a skilled mason and carpenter, and every year volunteers with a Foundation  that builds stoves for the indigenous Mayans; however, he wants to do more for her family outside of his usual volunteer organization and build a new, sturdy home for them in the village of San Antonia Palopo, Guatemala.  This will also help the local workmen in the area who badly need the work! The $8,500 is an estimate of what the materials and local labor will cost.