Delivering food, shelter, and hope to the poorest of the poor
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Transform Lives with Safe Homes
Bless families with shelter, food and more!
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Meet an Urgent Need by Providing Safe, Sanitary Housing for Poor Families
Basic shelter is an essential human need — and when that safe housing isn’t available, poor families often become stuck in survival mode. In rural Guatemala, for example, it’s common for struggling parents to raise their children in small, insecure, mud-floor shelters that cannot even keep out the rain.
That’s why many of Cross Catholic Outreach’s international ministry partners are focused on providing needy families with safe, sturdy homes in addition to food, education and economic opportunities.
And why your support of their mission is so critical.
With gifts from donors like you, our Catholic partner Caritas will be able to build 59 safe, sturdy homes in the Guatemalan Diocese of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu, and 100 additional houses will be constructed in the nearby Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima. A home represents more than a safe, secure place for a family to live. It provides a firm foundation for them to build a better life!
Your generosity will represent an answer to prayer for poor families in developing countries like Guatemala. Many are currently living in destitute conditions that threaten their security and health. Please, donate today to transform families’ lives with safe housing and the hope-restoring love of Christ!
Guatemala’s Housing Crisis
Rural Families Long for Peace and Safety
Imagine trying to survive on less than $3.20 a day. That is the fate nearly a quarter of the people in Guatemala endure, while 60% of the total population lives in poverty. More than half of the nation’s people also reside in rural areas that lack access to quality schools, modern sanitation, reliable electricity and safe housing.
Facing these heartbreaking circumstances, the poorest families can only afford to build small mud-floor shelters, and those fragile homes leave them vulnerable to bad weather, vermin and intruders. It is an unsanitary way of life, and children and the elderly frequently fall ill as a result.
Give now to bless families in Guatemala with greater security, improved health and a tangible reminder of God’s love with a safe place to call home!
Sources: CIA World Factbook, World Bank Group
Help us meet the urgent need for housing.
Our Ministry Partner
Caritas Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu
We’ve been working with a local Catholic partner in the Diocese of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu for the past four years, serving families in Christ’s name. With the help of generous friends like you, we’ve worked on a community transformation strategy that includes food relief, agricultural support and academic scholarships and built two community water systems to strengthen local families. This will be our first housing project in the diocese!
Our Partnership Timeline
Our ministry begins its work in southern Guatemala by partnering with the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima. Over the years, our donors have funded the building of nearly 400 homes in that diocese.
We expand our work in southern Guatemala and begin partnering with Caritas Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu.
To Date
Our donors have sent more than 2 million meals for the hungry, strengthened 400 families with agricultural support, financed two community water systems, and provided various other blessings in the Diocese of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu. This past fall, donors helped launch the diocese’s first housing program.
Safe Homes Transform Lives
Share the Love of Christ With Families in Guatemala and Around the World
Imagine living in a home that’s literally crumbling around you. Think of putting your children to sleep knowing you are providing them with little protection from the outside world.
Faced with conditions like these, impoverished families end up living in survival mode — making it almost impossible for them to get ahead in life.
But through your generosity, you can help provide blessings of clean water, nutritious food, medical aid and safe homes that will restore hope, ensure security and increase poor families’ optimism about the future.
The homes you can help build in the Diocese of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu will typically feature:
- A 338 sq. ft. floor plan with three rooms.
- Concrete walls and flooring.
- A galvanized steel roof.
- A secure metal door and shuttered windows.
- A water storage tank.
- A sanitary latrine to promote hygiene and dignity.
- A clean-burning stove to protect lung health.
The González Family Needs Your Help
Otilio and Vicenta González live with their children and grandchildren in a crowded small house. Their little shelter has a dirt floor and is mostly made of wooden planks with some concrete blocks at the base. “We don’t feel safe because we are afraid, because the house is not well covered,” Vicenta said. “The children suffer. It is very cold in the mornings.” The González family prays that they will have a safer home one day. You can be the miracle that families like the Gonzálezes need!
The power of your mercy and kindness will help meet material and spiritual needs of families across the world.
Floridaima de la Cruz and her children used to live in a crumbling shelter. Today, they have a safe home! Take action to bless more families like theirs.
Proceeds from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures incurred through June 30, 2023, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.
What Is Your Legacy Mission?
When you include Cross Catholic Outreach as a beneficiary in your will, trust, retirement account or life insurance policy, you will make a difference for poor communities by meeting both material and spiritual needs for generations to come. Create Your Legacy!