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Arrival and the Work Ahead

After months of planning and preparations, the big day finally was here! We arrived safely in Guatemala, after each traveling from our home airports to make connections and then continuing to Parramos together. Well, mostly together — unfortunately, three Great Lakes teammates hit flight snags and were diverted to Miami until Monday. While disappointing, it was only a slight hiccup, and the entire team was reunited on Monday, ready to get to work to support Hope for Home and its residents. In the meantime, those of us who arrived on Sunday got acclimated to our hotel in Antigua, saw some of the country, had lunch, and visited the Hope for Home campus, which is about 45 minutes away from our hotel.

We’re so proud to partner with Hope for Home for our Mission Trip. Founded in Troy, Ohio, Hope for Home is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving children with disabilities and their families here in rural Guatemala. It provides holistic care — medical, educational, and spiritual — to those who are often overlooked and underserved.

We’ll be helping Hope for Home’s local contractors build new therapy and living spaces that will serve up to 15 children.

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Tour and Site Preparation

While we were still awaiting the arrival of our Great Lakes friends, the team made our way to Hope for Home at about 9 a.m. Monday for a tour of campus, where we’ll be doing masonry work on the new living and therapy spaces. We checked out where we’ll work, and one of Hope for Home’s founders, Daryl Fulp, told us about the organization’s work and history, which includes helping out rural communities in need near campus.

We were thrilled to be able to spend some time with the young residents, playing soccer with them, jumping on a trampoline, and just getting to know them. Among the children are two who received medical treatment at Dayton Children’s Hospital, both of whom are now thriving.

Next was lunch in Parramos and a tour of the town, courtesy of Daryl.

By then our Cleveland crew had arrived. Hooray! We all got to spend more time on campus, getting familiar with the site and visiting with adult residents this time.

The passion and vision of Hope for Home’s founders are inspiring, and we are so excited to get to work to make a positive impact here!

Stay tuned for more updates. Next up: We build!!