Christmas Wish List gift will be DOUBLED

With the holiday season in full swing and 2023 quickly coming to a close, I look back with gratitude and ahead with great hope. Although it’s been a challenging year, I’m incredibly grateful for friends like YOU who genuinely care about the girls here at Our Little Roses. Without your friendship and generosity, we’d be hard-pressed to care for these precious children.

Please continue to help the girls again by responding to our 2023 Year-End Campaign.

Over the past 36 years, people have repeatedly asked what made me want to start a ministry for at-risk girls. In the beginning, I really did not have a specific answer; I only knew that I felt a call from God, and I simply noted

that the girls were vulnerable and deserved a childhood free of suffering on the streets.

Recently, my husband and I took the girls to the movie Sound of Freedom. We invited seventeen older girls who had not suffered severe trauma to see the documentary film on the trafficking of children, which has become a multibillion-dollar operation around the world, surpassing even drug and gun trafficking. We met with a psychologist prior to watching the movie because we knew after watching we wanted to have a follow-up meeting with the girls to discuss their emotional responses. The movie had a profound impact on all of us. It gave the girls a greater understanding of the importance of always being aware of their surroundings always walking with one or two others. What stood out with clarity was their appreciation for and deeper understanding of all the care and security that Our Little Roses provides them.

Around 1986, I was driving in downtown Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras. There were always so many boys on the streets begging for money. Tragically, many of these children used money that they received

from motorists to buy glue to sniff, a desperate attempt to numb the pangs of hunger and the harsh reality of homelessness. During those years, there were many homes for boys rescued from the streets. These programs often taught the boys a trade so they could eventually get a job and earn a livelihood. But there weren’t any programs aimed at helping abandoned girls.

One day, as I idled at a traffic light, a child who looked to be a young boy approached my car and gentlytapped on my window. At first, I ignored the tapping, but as it grew more persistent, curiosity compelled me to roll down my window. To my surprise, the child removed a cap, and long, flowing hair cascaded down to her shoulders. She told me that she and other girls disguised themselves as boys to avoid detection by men with evil intentions. In that moment, I was convinced there needed to be a safe home for girls.

I did not realize how grave the situation was when Our Little Roses first began. I had no idea that children could be forced to work seven days a week in homes with no pay, often abused by adults and older children. Children were sometimes snatched away by strangers on motorbikes or dragged into cars while playing in the street with their friends. Some were taken to faraway countries, never to be seen again. Tragically, child trafficking not only continues today but has also increased.

Over these past 36 years, Our Little Roses has rescued such innocent victims as young as six years old who had been trafficked — enslaved in homes and made to work long hours, day after day, and be subjected to other unspeakable traumas.

It is YOUR generosity that has allowed Our Little Roses to rescue these innocent victims from abuse, depravity, and even trafficking. Indifference is the enemy; it is only possible to stop the abuse of these innocent victims through your support. Yes, YOU have made it possible for these innocent girls to transform their lives — providing them with a safe sanctuary of love, education, and, most importantly, optimism for a future for their children who will never have to suffer the pain of abuse.

So, before 2023 comes to a close, please make a generous year-end gift to help care for our girls in the new year ahead.

If we all do our part, we can stop the trafficking of children. With your help, Our Little Roses will continue focusing on society's most vulnerable. These at-risk girls are counting on caring people like you to make this world a better and safer place.

God bless you for helping to provide a safe place for abandoned and vulnerable girls at Our Little Roses. Without your compassion in action, our work wouldn’t be possible.

Thank you always for your kindness. I wish you and your loved ones a holy and joyful Christmas and a new year filled with many wonderful blessings!

In gratitude for all you do,