For Your Church Newsletter 

Dear Faith Community Partners, 

We are working hard to find ways to help our partner congregations stay updated and connected to their partners in Nicaragua!  As part of that effort, we will be sending out this "For Your Newsletter" email once a month.  We hope you will include some of the news and pictures it contains in your newsletter!  And, we hope you will also let us know what kinds of things are happening in your community to grow and deepen your Nicaragua partnership!  

For instance...  last year, Ktizo UCC in Phoenix, Arizona made Nicaragua the focus of their Vacation Bible School.  The children drew maps of Nicaragua, made volcanoes, built a water system, and ate foods their Nicaraguan partners eat!   AND... St. John's Parish in Euclid, Illinois created a special Lenten offering for their sister parish in Chacraseca.  They raised over $5000 for a badly needed new roof on the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Chacraseca!   Let us know what you are doing and we'll share the good news! 

And now... choose one, two, three or all of the news stories to share in your newsletter! 

NEWS FROM CHACRASECA:

  JustHope scholarships sent 400 children to school this year!  When the school year started in early February, 400 children in Chacraseca had new backpacks that contained all the school supplies they needed to start classes, plus a uniform, socks, and brand new shoes!   That sets a new record for the number of children attending school because of JustHope Partners! ($50 a year provides a "backpack scholarship")  

NEWS FROM SANTA EMILIA

    The elementary school in Santa Emilia now has lights in the classrooms... AND a new latrine for the teachers!  JustHope Partners for Kansas did the work in February.  Now the school can host parent - teacher meetings at night, along with community meetings, and even tutoring classes!   The school has become an even more important community resource!

NEWS FROM LA FLOR        

     It's been a busy spring in La Flor! JustHope partners from Arizona, Illinois, and Kansas built a new community kitchen, several new latrines, and the FIRST in a new ten-year housing project to build simple but adequate 18'x18' houses for families living in little more than plastic lean-to's.  AND, the badly worn and dangerous suspension bridge across the river is getting a face-lift the first week in May -- new boards to replace the broken and cracked bridge floor, and new netting along the sides!  Thank you JustHope Partners!

A SIMPLE WAY YOU CAN HELP JUSTHOPE!   We got verification that JustHope has been accepted as one of the charities to be offered to customers of Amazon.com by Smile Amazon. How it works is you go to www.smile.amazon.com to order from Amazon. When you first go to Smile.Amazon you will login like you normally do with Amazon with your email address and password. Then, you can select which charity you want Amazon to donate to.  Amazon will put your choice - JustHope - on your account and with every qualifying purchase that you make on www.smile.amazon.com, Amazon will contribute .5% of the cost of your purchase to JustHope. It's easy and will add up quickly.  And, just think how fast the funds will increase if you tell all your friends and invite them to select JustHope to receive a donation from Amazon with every purchase they make.  You could even post it on Facebook. 

It will be rewarding to know that with every book or movie or birthday gift you order from Smile Amazon, your purchase will benefit our companions in Nicaragua. It will be fun to watch your contributions add up and see the good that they do!