Here is our monthly (más o menos) newsletter to keep our friends and family updated on what is happening with HHCR and Hope House in Mexico.  The newsletter will provide updates on the boys, especially the new ones, a little insight into the staff, teams, vocational training, projects and items of special interest.  If you know of someone that would be interested in HHCR/Hope House, Mexico updates they can subscribe here.

A copy of last month's newsletter can be found here.  If you go to this website there is a link to all previous newsletters.

At midnight on Friday, 27 July, a freak hailstorm hit the Ixtlahuacan area. The photos below show the size of the hailstones. Locals don't ever remember a storm of this magnitude. At Hope House and elsewhere, this caused significant damage, especially to the solar hot water systems, as the tubes are glass, and the aquaponics structure, since a lot of ice accumulated on the shade cloth and the weight was too much for the structure to bear. Of course, many other things were damaged, such as outdoor lights, windows, and skylights. Windshields were broken and significant dents made in the cars themselves. The hailstorm hit during a fiesta in the village of Ixtlahuacan, and some people were injured. No one at Hope House was hurt.

The photos below show the size of the hailstones. On the upper right is what it looked like as soon as dawn approached and the lower right is a pile of hailstones from the sidewalk along the dining hall.

The photos below show work in progress. The upper right and lower left show some of the outside lights being replaced. The lower right is the aquaponics shelter the day after the storm, with ice still on the roof, and the one on the upper left is the structure put back to normal. Structural integrity will be accomplished with additional steel supports. Also, the shade cloth needs to be replaced.

Other damaged items are currently being repaired. As soon as they are done, we plan to show before and after photos.

Again, thank you for a rapid and generous response.

We have carried an article on a potential scholarship program for the boys. Remember, very few of the boys, if any, have had any schooling whatsoever before they came to Hope House. Their parents just could not afford it, in spite of it being public school. As an example, one of the boys arrived at the age of 10 and had to be taught things as basic as colors and shapes when he first came. Some of the boys have aspirations of college but that is sometimes beyond their reach. However, the possibility of technical or trade schools or even in-house tutoring to achieve a school education are possibilities.

Some people have responded with either a one-time sizable gift or recurring smaller gifts. As a result, four of the boys have had the opportunity to go to barber school, a trade with an excellent future. The photos below show the boys in the class learning to cut hair and practicing on the other boys as their "clients".

The collage shows additional photos of the class plus the boys receiving their certificates. The four boys were Ulises, Gerardo, Jorge, and Luis. Gerardo is not in the photo but notice that two of the staff also attended barber school, which will help keep the boys' hair always cleanly trimmed. Having these certificates in hand  is a means of providing hope for the future of these boys.

In addition, three of the boys, Ulises, Jorge, and Gerardo passed their qualifying examination to be able to attend "preparatorio" or high school. So the future is looking even brighter for them. However, since some have had little or no schooling to date, there is a need for them to be tutored in-house to succeed in the future. The in-house tutoring provides an additional opportunity to help the boys have success in the future.

Some generous local people came to Hope House, not only to spend time with the boys, but to bring much needed supplies, such as uniforms, shoes, tennies, and general school supplies. The collage below shows the folks who came with all these goodies.The bottom row photo on the left shows some of the packages in Annel's office. This is just a portion, as her office almost full. Thank you again for the generosity of people who care about our boys.

We have introduced our scholarship program to give the boys further help in having productive lives in the future.  As indicated in the section entitled "Scholarship Program Activity" the scholarship is already producing results.  As more boys reach 18 years of age, the demands on this program will increase. These funds are used for tutoring boys within Hope House who have come with no prior schooling, all the way to supporting technical training beyond school, for example, barber school as mentioned above.  Donations like this have a major impact on the boys lives. Education is the key to changing lives in Mexico, one at a time.

All funds designated for scholarship are only directed for that purpose. The accounting and disbursement of these funds is monitored and controlled separately from all other funds.

This month we have also received a couple of one-time gifts from a group of The King's Academy students calling themselves the "Guad Squad". They ran several local fund raisers in California to generate support to help the boys at Hope House. Thank you Guad Squad.

Hope House also has an urgent special need goal of $2,000 monthly for health insurance for the employees.  It is not only a desirable benefit but it is mandated by the Mexican government.. You can read more on the need at this link.