I have been given a wonderful opportunity to volunteer with "Hogar Casa de Pan", an Orphanage in San Jose, Costa Rica.

I have now been here for almost 2 months and have seen and felt the love this family has for each other and every new child that is welcomed into this family. But I also see and experience the daily struggles and the great need for donations, help, and financial support to keep the wheels turning.

This is a family and a home created by Mr. Víctor Guzmán and Mrs. Melba Jiménez to provide a permanent home for kids in need of a new family. For almost 50 years, this couple has helped and supported over 125 high-risk children and adolescents, who have ended up in the "system" after experiencing difficult and often traumatic years as babies and children. These are children does not have parents or biological family to take care of them.

But Melba and Victor take them in and raises them as their own children. They give these kids a safe home, food, education, and everything else a caring family offers, so that these children can grow up safely and have a brighter future.

As Melba and Victor have devoted their lives to taking care of all these children, they depend on money and support from the outside. They have chosen not to be a part of the public orphanage system, as this would place rules to "kick their children out" when they reach the age of 18. So they stay out of the system and support their family mainly through people like yourselves who are willing to help.

That is why I have chosen to ask you; friends and family, to help support the 37 children who now live there.

Every dollar collected by 20 September, will be given to the orphanage directly by me.

So thank you for supporting this right now. The money goes to where the need is greatest, such as rice and beans (food), soap and detergent, toothbrushes, school uniforms, doctor and dentist visits, etc.

I look forward to being able to share photos and the experience of the handover with you from the 20 September.

Thank you so very much, Lise <3