First Baptist Church of Pine Island gets ready for World Gospel Outreach Honduras trip
First Baptist Church of Pine Island Team Leader Jody Link said an international outreach organization sponsors a ranch in the mountains where the pastor’s sister-in-law has been actively attending each summer for 25 years.
“It’s called Rancho Ebenezer, and it’s run by World Gospel Outreach. They take in the abandoned kids in the streets,” Link said.
The government takes them in to this ranch, she explained, saying there are foster parents and the kids are placed in homes with families and given a bilingual education, and also taught skills. Once they are adults, this foundation will allow them to go back to the city or area where they are originally from and be productive citizens.
“It really appealed to us that we’re going in and helping them with a skill set,” Link said.
The ages of the kids is a changing composition, with some children very young — 4 and 5 — to others 16 and 17, she said.
There are a number of women with sewing projects working with the Golisano Children’s Hospital, she said. They are preparing to gather with some of the girls at the ranch to teach them some sewing skills. The kids will also be offered a chance to help out in the kitchen and even work such as laying concrete floors for some of the houses in the city, she said.
“When they do that they can bring the young people with them and help them understand how to do labor such as to pour concrete, or they might learn to do a plumbing skill, or even electrical work, or something like that,” Link said.
When the church gets together to work on this trip, leaders submit a list of skills they all are able to offer, or are confident in doing.
“Like for me, mine is working in the kitchen and sewing, because I can do those things. When they see each group’s composition, they figure out what the projects are going to be,” Link said.
There also is a coffee plantation at the ranch, she said. Coffee roasting is something that they do and teach their kids and young people in Honduras. Roasting and selling this coffee also is a vital part of raising the money necessary to sustain the needs of the ranch, she said.
“It’s really a moment where you learn the difference between giving a kid a fish or teaching that kid to fish so they can sustain themselves,” Link said.
The culture is different, she said, saying some practices, following, for example, the death of a parent can leave a child homeless, adding that this is why the government has worked with the World Gospel Outreach to care for the kids.
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