A Christmas Message from our Board Chair, Dr. Alina Ramos
We are so thankful this Christmas for all our volunteers, donors, helpers that have made this year such a success for Honduras Good Works. It has been 25 years since a small group of friends went to Honduras and started this wonderful organization. We are proud to celebrate their achievements and look forward to our continued commitment to our mission. We are committed to work in partnership with our Honduran friends to improve the health of rural Hondurans, to assist underserved Honduran youth in getting an education and to nurture the spirit of the Hondurans we serve.
We had one our largest medical brigades this year with 53 volunteers from the US and 31 from Honduras including 4 Honduran doctors, 4 Honduran dentists, a Honduran pharmacist, and a Honduran dietitian. We went to 20 villages and saw 1,970 medical patients and 237 dental patients. Some of these villages we had not visited since 2015.
We are committed to training guardianas to follow up on the medical care of the patients that we see in the medical brigade. Dr. Francis Alemán, one of the Honduran physicians, helped train the guardianas during the medical brigade and will continue to work with us this coming year in providing additional training for the guardianas.
Our water filter project has been one of the most impactful projects we do, giving clean water to the villagers we serve. During this year’s medical brigade, the water filter team trained 45 women in the town of Zarzal to use and maintain water filters. In all, 300 water filters were installed this year.
Our scholarship committee went in February to evaluate and talk to the recipients of the scholarships. Twenty plus years after this program was started, we can see tangible results of what the scholarships have meant to the children and their parents. The scholarships have caused a tremendous shift in the education level especially in the more isolated villages so now children of mostly agrarian adults are dreaming of being professionals. We started a new scholarship for training (technical) school which is already helping 10 students. We also gave 225 scholarships to middle and high schoolers and 6 university students.
In October, we celebrated our success with our fantastic 25th anniversary Top golf fundraiser. We thank each and every one who was able to take part whether online or in person.
We look forward to our pre- Christmas Kendra Scott event coming very quickly on December 20 from 6-8pm and hope to see you there.
We look forward to this coming year and all the new wonderful memories we will build with our friends here and in Honduras. We are grateful for all the love and help and thank you so much for your continued support.
Alina M. Ramos, MD
HGW, Board Chair
