Last week, I made the journey down to Belize to experience our Building for Change immersion program for the first time as Executive Director. There were 13 total people in our group who traveled, lived, and worked together for the week. I am confident that each group member went to Belize hoping to make a difference, and we all finished the week feeling impacted and changed by the lives of those we met and the relationships that were either formed or strengthened. I was reminded again, as I was in Nicaragua, that life is more beautiful when we step outside of ourselves to see others, listen to others, and learn from others.
We worked with Hand in Hand’s Belize staff and community members to build house #531 for Roman, Patricia, and their four-year-old daughter Aviyah. Their new home is just outside the bustle of Belize City on a peaceful and quiet piece of property. We were blessed to be a part of their lives for that week. Though we all arrived as strangers, we left as family. I will always cherish my time with Roman and Patricia, their family and friends who joined us in the work, and I’ll hold close the love and hope that was shared during our time together.
We spent one morning at the Fowler Community Center and heard updates on our HIV/AIDS outreach, daycare, and preschool programs. We also met two students who are receiving financial assistance and other wrap-around services through our scholarship program. We heard from their parents about the impact this opportunity is having on their daughters and the doors it will help to open for them in the future.
Your support of Hand in Hand helps us to accomplish our mission within each of our programs, “to bring people together to instill hope in one another as we meet the housing, education, and health care needs of the economically vulnerable.” I was inspired to see that mission firsthand in Belize through our various programmatic emphases, but mostly through the people we met and the lives that we encountered. My own life has been enriched with each opportunity I’ve had to step away from my world and enter someone else’s. I encourage you to make that choice for yourself in 2025, however that might look for you.
Always hopeful,
Luke Chase, Executive Director
