From day one at Ryan & Rose, giving has been at the forefront of our efforts. It’s so important for us as a company that it’s one of our core values. We believe in the power of supporting organizations doing great work locally and internationally, working to empower and transform communities and working to meet physical and spiritual needs.
Today, we’re excited to highlight the great work of Point Honduras and our commitment to them as an organization serving vulnerable and disadvantaged communities in Honduras.
Point Honduras specifically serves children in Kindergarten – 6th grade and their families in the poorest neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa, HN.
The children are provided a hot, nutritious meal every day since, for many, this will be their only meal for the day. Point provides a fully accredited Kindergarten and an after-school program for children in 1st-6th grade, where they are taught the gospel and tutored in their classes. This provides an alternative for the children to stay off the streets or in gangs as they only go to Honduran school for half of the day.
Point also serves the child and family with free medical care in our medical clinics and churches in each of the neighborhoods served. Point also serves the community members in the neighborhoods by providing many jobs for them, such as teachers, cooks, and custodians. The ministry is run by all Hondurans.
So, Why Point Honduras?
Growing up, Lindsey went on mission trips every summer while in high school, including an international trip to Venezuela. It’s something she loved being a part of, and to this day, has a heart for local and international ministry and serving vulnerable communities both near and far.
A few years ago, Lindsey felt God leading her to go on a trip down to Honduras with Point and participate in the incredible work. She knew about Point because the founder, Ruth Hamilton, goes to the same church as Lindsey. So Lindsey and Whitney went to Honduras with other members from her church (Fellowship Memphis).
Lindsey said it was a very eye opening trip. A trip that brought her back to the reality of what people experience and deal with in other countries, especially within impoverished communities.
What Made Lindsey Want to Partner with Point Honduras?
For Lindsey, it’s the amount of work that Point is doing to help empower kids and families within Honduras. It’s not just education or nutrition, but spiritual guidance, addressing physical needs through medical clinics… it’s all encompassing work for communities that desperately need it.
Lindsey remembers delivering food to houses—houses that had dirt floors and sheets of metal leaning together as walls. She remembers just how desperate and impoverished the people are and how they need these regular meals to keep going. For some kids, the meals that Point provides are the only meal they will have in a day.
Seeing all of that first-hand had a big impact on Lindsey’s life. She saw how important and how good the work of Point is for those communities and people.
How is Point Honduras Meeting These Needs?
Physically: malnutrition is the single largest contributor to disease in the world. Many of the children in the areas we serve are malnourished. The meal we serve daily may be the only meal they have that day.
Medically: 34/1000 children in Honduras will die without proper medical care. Our clinics are helping decrease the health disparity in our communities by offering free medical care to the children in our centers as well as their families.
Spiritually: There are not many churches in the communities we serve. Each of our centers have a pastor on-site and are ministering to the communities as well as holding church services.
Educationally: Honduran schools only offer a half-day option for the morning or afternoon. Also, the gang population in the areas we serve is very prevalent. Our centers provide a place to get the children off the streets, go to Kindergarten, get extra help in schooling, and most important they hear the gospel on a daily basis.
During the pandemic: Even during quarantine we have been able to continue to feed the children on a daily basis. We have also been able to do two food drops where each child has been able to take home a few weeks worth of food to their families.
(delivering Tubs of Love)
What Has Occurred as a Result of Point Honduras' Work?
In Honduras, more than 100,000 children drop out of school each year and are forced into the workplace to help their families make ends meet. Nearly 63% of the population lives below the national poverty line, and nearly 1-in-4 children are stunted, or chronically malnourished.
These are some of the statistics that guide the path of why Point Honduras programs are needed and important in the communities where we work. In our 4 locations we are serving 650 kids, 61 of them enrolled in our government accredited kindergarten.
As a result of Point working in the communities, we are seeing children grow healthier. All Point Honduras children have free access to healthcare through our clinics and with our food program children that have been diagnosed with malnourishment have been able to overcome it. We’ve served about 89,700 meals in our center this year alone.
We have also delivered 1,400 bags of food in response to the COVID crisis to the families of Point children.
Through our tutoring program, we are seeing students successfully advance to their next school grade, children are learning faster, and they are motivated and driven. At the beginning of the year, every child is provided with a backpack full of school supplies and school shoes, this gift ensures students can stay in school and prevents children from dropping out of school if parents can't afford school supplies.
This year 61 students will graduate from our kindergarten program with preparedness for elementary school and we will graduate 91 kids from sixth grade ready to start 7th grade.
We work very closely with the public schools in the neighborhoods and our teacher’s curriculum is based out of theirs so that we know what our children need to be learning. Public school teachers recognize the work Point Honduras is doing as they get to experience first hand the deficiencies in other students and how our benefited children have higher advantages in learning.
In our medical clinics, we are serving 90 patients daily. Through our clinics we ensure that every family member of our Point Honduras children are healthy.
We also have a growing church in the neighborhood of San Juan. The church is very passionate about sharing the gospel and serving others. A group of leaders in San Juan have started a small discipleship group in the neighborhood of Crucitas; their intent is to plant a church in every Point Honduras center neighborhood in order to provide a closer and permanent spiritual support for the children and their families.
What Did Lindsey Experience on the Ground in Honduras?
One particular moment Lindsey recalls was going to “the dump” in the community and seeing families living on top of trash. The smell was so intense and the people were in such great need. It was an emotional scene for Lindsey. She saw how helpless these people were. But then she also saw how Point was going to those people and meeting them where they were, and that was remarkable.
Sometimes we think we can’t do anything to affect others or change someone’s life… but Lindsey was seeing it firsthand. Just a meal was making a huge difference for a family living in terrible conditions.
Lindsey also mentions how a normal person from Tennessee—Ruth Hamilton—just followed God’s lead and has been faithful in the work of starting and leading Point, and how the organization is touching so many lives every single day. That’s a reminder that we can do something for other people. We can be of great help. We can be the hands and feet of Jesus. We can help change the world for the better.
Why Does Ryan & Rose Continue to Support Point Honduras on a Regular Basis?
For Lindsey, it’s not about picking organizations to support that she thinks are good. It’s about following God’s direction and what He leads her and Ryan & Rose to be involved in. She’s just listened and been faithful in the areas He’s called her to give to and support, and Point Honduras is one of those. For Lindsey, the work that Point is doing is God’s work. It’s on the ground, with the people, shoulder-to-shoulder, supporting them physically and spiritually.
Ryan & Rose gives large donations to Point every year along with sponsoring a child. Whitney also sponsors two children monthly and provides a tub of love to their family.
So, how can you get involved and impact lives? Here are some ways (and you can find more on their website - pointhonduras.org/give):
If you'd like to speak to someone at Point Honduras about getting involved (by sponsoring a child, giving monthly, or any other form of involvement) you can speak with Kari Smith:
Email: childsponsorship@pointhonduras.org
Phone: 901.830.1000