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Humanitarian
Interfaith Ministries
About Us |
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About HIM
Brief
Description of the Problem in Honduras
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch caused vast
devastation in Honduras and other countries in Central
America. It left more than 12,000 people dead and
hundreds of thousands of people with damaged or
destroyed homes. Massive destruction to the
infrastructure set Honduras back at least twenty years.
Because of the devastating flooding and poor soil, many
rural families sent their children to the cities in
order to beg for food rather than starve in the
countryside. Many of these small children ended up on
the streets of El Progreso and San Pedro Sula.
In
addition to overwhelming poverty, disease has also
orphaned many children in Honduras, as the country is
recognized as the AIDS capital of Central America. To
exist on the streets, children do whatever it takes to
survive, which causes them to beg, steal, eat out of
garbage cans and prostitute themselves. Most of the
street children sniff or huff shoe glue to take away
their hunger pains. For a few cents a week, a child can
purchase this illegal and toxic glue at many shops in
the cities. This glue is as addictive as heroin, kills
brain cells, causes organ damage, and drastically
shortens the children’s lifespan. Once the children
become regular users of the glue, they are often led
into other drugs and the drug culture that surrounds the
drug trade, including gangs and violent crime.
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HIM History
In
response to this overwhelming problem, two parallel
initiatives were begun. The first was to establish the
Proniño Foundation (www.streetkidshonduras.org)
in El Progreso and its parent organization by the same
name in the U.S. (www.pronino.org).
The Proniño Foundation was established by George and
Betty Mealer, a Honduran-American couple living in
Honduras who have dedicated their lives to helping the
poor. The Proniño Foundation is a community-supported
organization which helps orphaned, abandoned and at-risk
children on the streets and gives them a home
environment, education, vocational training and
spiritual growth.
The
second initiative was to create an all-volunteer
organization, Humanitarian Interfaith Ministries (HIM), to
support the Proniño Foundation. HIM, founded by Fr.
Joseph Maurizio in Johnstown, PA, was established as a
ministry which strives to save the children of the
streets of Central America by supporting the Proniño
Foundation and other organizations through child sponsorships, mission trips,
publicity and fundraising efforts.
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HIM Support
HIM
has made a commitment to help support the goals of the
Proniño Foundation in a number of ways, keeping in mind
the need to involve and gain support from the local
community in El Progreso as well. In addition to working
closely with the Proniño Foundation Board of Directors
in the U.S. and Honduras, HIM supports the Proniño
Foundation through:
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Funding
HIM helps to fund construction of
new buildings and other infrastructure
improvements on the site of the Mountain Home
and Educational Center (which will also offer
spirituality, education, and vocational
training). The Proniño Foundation matches funds
from HIM dollar for dollar through donated
labor, building supplies, donations, and
discounts. Funding to support the Proniño
Foundation is provided in large part from
generous sponsors in the Altoona-Johnstown, PA
area. |
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Child Sponsorship Program
HIM manages a Child Sponsorship
Program to provide funding to children in the
Four-Phase Program by matching sponsors in the
United States with children of the streets.
Sponsorship of a child living at one of the
Proniño sites costs $50 per month. This funding
supports the comprehensive needs of a child,
including food, shelter, education, medical and
dental care and counseling. Individuals have the
option to fully sponsor a child at a cost of $50
per month or co-sponsor a child at a cost of $25
per month. Sponsors in this program receive
letters and artwork from their sponsor child as
well as periodic photos and progress reports on
their child. For more information on how to
become involved as a child sponsor, click
here. [More photos of the children of
HIM in the two Proniño Foundation sites are
available in the photo gallery
here] |
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Mission Trips
Since 1999, HIM has been
organizing and managing Mission Trips, in which
volunteers from the United States travel and
work in northern Honduras for periods of up to
twelve days. The Mission Trips are primarily
designed to assist the Proniño Foundation with
the construction of buildings on its two sites:
La Montaña and Las Flores. For more information
on how to become involved in a Mission Trip,
click
here. [More photos of volunteers from
previous Mission Trips are available in the
photo gallery
here] |
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Publicity
HIM works to increase the
exposure of the Proniño Foundation
internationally through fundraising letters,
presentations to community groups and through
the Humanitarian Interfaith Ministries website.
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About Father Joe
Maurizio
Rev.
Dr. Joseph D. Maurizio, Jr. is a Roman Catholic Priest
of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Fr. Joe works closely with Rev. Mr. John Sroka. Deacon Sroka helps to direct Humanitarian Interfaith
Ministries (HIM). Traveling to the developing world is
no new experience for Fr. Joe. Over the last 35 years,
he has visited approximately 100 countries and has
personally witnessed poverty and suffering in many
places around the world. In 1996, Fr. Joe Maurizio began
to participate on the mission brigades to Honduras and
assist in the medical, dental and construction ministry
to the poor. Fr. Joe founded his mission programs in Johnstown, PA in 1999. |
