15 Apr Serving the Children for a Better Future
By Phil Waldron, CEO
Recently Donna and I were invited to visit an incredible mission effort in San José Costa Rica. It is called Roblealto and has been in continuous operation for more than 90 years. I ran into the President of the non-profit and the General Manager of their chicken business while visiting the IPPE show in Atlanta in January. The IPPE is the premier event for the chicken industry. These two men were there because they work with a Christian non-profit that has a large program for daycare and primary schools which, in great part, is supported by the profits that they generate from a very large chicken production business. As we talked more and more, the similarities of what we are doing here in Honduras became more and more apparent. The difference is that Roblealto has 90 years of experience and Mission UpReach only has sixteen years of history.
Our meeting at the IPPE ended with them inviting Donna and I to come and see for ourselves what God has been doing through their efforts to help the most vulnerable population in San José. The children in their daycare facilities are from families from the poorest and most dangerous sections of the city. During this last month we spent a week there getting to know their people, attending their annual board meeting and in general asking a thousand questions. They treated us like “royalty” putting us up in a nice hotel for the week and chauffeuring us around to their various projects. I spent hours talking with their managers and operators of the chicken business. And Donna and I both toured several of their daycare facilities and spoke extensively with their directors and staff.
We learned too much to relate to you in this brief article, but I did want to mention the message that one of their board members gave as a devotional during their board meeting. This man is in his mid to late sixties and is a medical doctor. He was very passionate about his theme and his twenty-minute message was quite moving. He spoke on Isaiah 1:17 and James 1:27. Both passages reveal the heart of God towards widows and children as the most vulnerable segments of our society. Isaiah says it so well, “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
During the meeting a newly elected board member stood up and told his story of how his mother enrolled him in one of Roblealto’s daycare facilities at 8 months old. As a child and teenager, he witnessed murders in the street, shootings and all manner of crime and violence. He gave thanks to God and to Roblealto for making the difference in his life. Today he is an Engineer, married with a family, and looking to give back to the organization and community that helped raise him.
Thank you for being a part of Mission UpReach’s mission to help the most vulnerable come to know Jesus and learn how to live successful lives that not only bless their immediate families but the entire community in which they live.
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