January 2012
In This Issue
FAITH & LOVE
THREE KINGS VISITED
TRANSITION PROGRAM
LAST MINUTE NEWS!
Birthday Corner

February Birthday's

  • Abigail
  • Martha
  • Ana
  • Jessica
Follow-up Links


Greetings!

Hello and welcome to the January 2012 edition of The Rose Garden Newsletter! We're excited to bring you our latest news and updates monthly now. Please be sure to forward this newsletter along to any who may be interested so they may sign up to receive the Newsletter as well.
A COMMUNITY OF FAITH 

AND LOVE:

 

Loving and caring for each other, the girls from Our Little Roses celebrated Christmas on the Eve of December 24th, a Latin American tradition.   

 

Preparations began in August when the sponsors received instructions on how to send their Christmas presents to their special child. Day after day the gifts arrived at the Diocese of Southeast Florida, and from there Jim Ellis carried as many bags as he could handle to Honduras, loaded with Christmas gifts.  

 

  

Keeping track of each present takes time and a lot of effort to ensure that each gift is put into the right bag. It is a monumental task of gigantic proportions. The staff from Our Little Roses makes sure all the girls receive a bag that is equal or similar in nature. They do this to make certain that there is parity in the distribution of gifts so that no child is left out or feels less.

 

Girls attended Church Services the evening of the 24th at San Pablo Episcopal Church where they prayed for the wonderful gift of Baby Jesus and thanked God for bringing Him into the world and into their lives. They prayed for every single thing that has happened during the year.  They thanked God especially for their sponsors because they are aware of the importance that their sponsors play in their lives. Girls from the transition program also joined in the celebrations. After church, they returned Home for the festive Christmas Dinner. 

 

WHERE IS SANTA?  The girls began to ask themselves.   They know that after dinner, there is a surprise for them.  SANTA CLAUS WILL BE THERE TO HAND OUT THE GIFTS THE SPONSORS HAVE SENT! Christmas bags adorned the bottom of the tree, waiting for Santa to come and give them their gifts!! Barbie dolls, hair items, perfumes, body lotions, clothes, personal items, etc. 

 

  

Smiles can't be bigger on the faces of the girls who were called by name to come and receive their gift from Santa.

 

Santa presented this beautiful mahogany carving to Diana carved by the girls at OLR. 

 

 

THREE KINGS VISITED OLRM

These Three Kings are the ones who followed a star to meet the new King of Kings (Baby Jesus) and offered him three presents: gold, frankincense and myrrh to the newborn child in Bel�n (Bethelem).



Girls from OLRM love tradition that goes from year to year. Age was not a barrier to interpreting traditions with love and gratitude on January 6th.
 
 
The Three Kings: Melchor, Gaspar or Baltasar not only brought gifts to Baby Jesus, but also gifts which included candies to all the girls.
TRANSITION PROGRAM:

The transition program is an important part of Our Little Roses Ministries which gives the girls that have graduated from high school the opportunity to continue a higher education. In Honduras, high school education is geared to prepare students in a particular profession which will allow them to go immediately into the job market. The transition program is not mandatory. (Honduras recognizes the age of 18 as adulthood and they are responsible by law for themselves).

Our Little Roses encourages the girls to continue in the University Program, but it is only the individual girl who can make that decision of whether or not to continue. This year, our transition program has been reconstructed with the appointment of Licenciada Caty Kawas as Coordinator of the Transition Program.

Last January 14, Josselyn Boquin was moved to the Transition House in Colonia Villa Florencia. Raquel Paz and Maricruz Guardado are still living at the OLR Home and will move in the near future following the guidelines of the process. Josselyn, Raquel and Maricruz will start classes at the Autonomous University on January 30. Dr. Jensy Maldonado, who graduated in the School of Dentistry in December, will begin a specialty in Orthodontics at the end of January. Josselyn enrolled with a major in Education, Maricruz in Psychology and Raquel will begin her career choice in Chemistry and Pharmacy.
Gildan Reveals the Names of the 2011 Gildan "I Support..." Program Award Recipients

A total of $200,000 is being donated to charities for the 2011 edition

 

A heartfelt thank you from everyone at Our Little Roses to our wonderful supporters! Without you we would not have made it to the top ten which is where we needed to be to submit the answers to their questionnaires for the judges.....please read the details from excerpts from the Gildan's press release.

 

Gildan announced the names of the five charities that have been selected by a panel of judges, based on a number of criteria including accountability, sustainability and impact, which will receive donations ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 in recognition of their contribution to their communities. The five recipients are:

  • Our Little Roses Foreign Mission Society - Genuine Stewardship award ($50,000)
  • Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society - Impact award ($20,000)
  • Amizade Global Service-Learning - Sustainability award ($10,000)
  • Camp DreamCatcher - Accountability award ($10,000)
  • YESIWUAH, Inc. - People's Choice award ($10,000)

The 2011 campaign, which ended on December 31st, was the second edition of Gildan's "I Support..." program. Gildan reached out to individuals  via social media (facebook.com/genuinegildan), in order to generate nominations for charities that are having a genuine positive impact in the communities they serve. People were asked to identify charities they support and why. A top ten list was determined based on the number of votes each nominated charity received and a panel of judges from the apparel and charity industries then used the charities' responses to a questionnaire in order to determine which of the ten would receive donations from Gildan.

 

The official presentation ceremony for the $50,000 Genuine Stewardship award will took place on January 20th, 2012, at the Long Beach Convention Center, during the Imprinted Sportswear Show in Long Beach. For more information about the program please visit www.gildanisupport.com

LAST MINUTE NEWS!! 
 
Holy Family Bilingual School received a donation of 25 computers from St. Mark's School, Palm Beach Gardens that will enable the school to equip the students with high technology to face professional challenges. Congratulations HFBS and students!!! Thank you St. Mark's Episcopal School.
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

 

With Love,

 

Our Little Roses Ministries

Sponsor A Child   

There are many ways to support Our Little Roses, but one of the most valuable is to sponsor a girl. This gives the home an assurance of a steady source of support for a girl for several years -- hopefully until she becomes an adult. Sponsorships are $720 per year, which may seem like a lot, but paid quarterly ($180) or monthly ($60) is quite manageable.

 

If you sponsor a girl, you will receive a certificate and a photo. You are encouraged to correspond with the girl you sponsor, and she will reply. 

 

Another possibility is to accept responsibility for tuition for one of the girls at Holy Family Bilingual School or at university.

For More information please call Beverly Allison at 1-800-849-9252; (540) 832-5141 or email to [email protected]. OLRFMS is recognized as a charitable organization by the Internal Revenue Service and contributions are tax-deductible.