In collaboration with “Rice Bowls”, we will be supporting 50 children by providing 3 meals a day over 6 months in two community homes (The Micah Project boys home and Rancho Ebenezer orphanage) that care for orphaned and street children in Honduras.

Did you know that malnutrition plays a part in more than half of all child deaths worldwide**?

Malnutrition stunts growth, leads to mental and physical impairment such as anemia, and slower cognitive development, as well as weakened immune systems making children more susceptible to diseases.

Orphaned children are most vulnerable- not only to malnutrition but also at risk of being exposed to child labor, human trafficking and begging. According to UNICEF, there are currently around 163 million orphaned children in the world.

The Micah Project boys home and Rancho Ebenezer orphanage care for and support vulnerable children in Honduras.

The Micah Project is a non-profit organization in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with group homes for 22 boys, an outreach to street-connected youth, and a variety of other ministries in their community.

Rancho Ebenezer has a lively 80 acre campus which serves as home to 36 abandoned children aged from infants to 18 years.

When orphanages and community homes which often operate on minimal budgets don’t have to worry about sourcing and covering the costs of adequate nutritional food, they can just focus on loving, teaching, protecting, and providing for the children in their care.

So this is where Rice Bowls comes in! We are excited to be partnering for the first time with Rice Bowls. They do awesome things by partnering with children’s homes around the world to cover 100% of their locally sourced meals. The dishes are nutritionally balanced and homemade combining animal or plant-based protein, vegetables, rice & tortillas- packed full goodness for growing kids.

This model is sustainable and an added benefit is that it also helps contribute to the local economy. Please help us in powering up these children with daily nutritious meals so they can grow into their full potential!

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Started in 1980 in Spartanburg, SC, Rice Bowls is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide food for orphaned children in the name of Christ. After visiting developing countries and witnessing the ravages of world hunger first-hand, Dr. Alastair Walker decided to develop a pro-active means to feed the hungry.

With the help of other staff and members of his church, Dr. Walker developed a plastic rice bowl coin bank that’s very similar to the one we still use today. Since rice is a dietary staple for much of the world, this design reminds us of those in need around the world. The original concept of Rice Bowls remains the same – help organizations collect money that goes to feed the hungry.

In 1985, Rice Bowls was incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit agency in the State of South Carolina.

Beginning in 2007, Rice Bowls began partnering directly with Christian children’s homes, first in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. This movement was in prayerful response in part to the growing global orphan crisis. Today, we still use the plastic coin banks but we also pursue other avenues to engage those here in the US as well as help our partner homes.

Rice Bowls is still based in Upstate South Carolina. Since its inception, Rice Bowls has raised tens of millions of dollars to alleviate world hunger.

Rice Bowls

Happy Tummies - Honduras

Luis and other young boys in Tegucigalpa no longer struggle to survive on the streets, thanks to the support and care provided by our partners Rice Bowls & the Micah Project, which offer three meals a day and a safe environment for these kids to thrive. 

Our giving community supported the food budget for two children's homes in Honduras - providing children just like Luis a new beginning. Thank you for making this possible! 

Happy Tummies - Honduras Celebration Story

Based in South Carolina, our partner Rice Bowls has helped over 1,775 children in 8 different countries with over 1.9 million meals! 

As with most orphanages worldwide, Rice Bowls has found that up to 74% of an orphanage's operating budget is spent on food, and then whatever is left over is spent on healthcare, education, housing, and clothing. So our partner focuses on providing food to help these grassroots organizations maximize their resources and use them to address the various needs of a child.

Each children's home plans its menu with local recipes made by the house-moms or kitchen staff, working to fully stock each pantry with fresh produce, quality meats, and dry staples. Rice Bowls encourages children to get involved in the kitchen so that they can learn cooking skills and have fun at the same time.

July Insight

The stats on child homelessness in Honduras are shocking. 

According to the National Institute of Statistics, in 2022, Honduras will have 9.5 million inhabitants, of which 30 percent are children from 0 to 14 years of age (2.9 million).

Of those 2.9 million children, at least 15 thousand children** live on the streets in Honduras. 

Extreme poverty, migration, and social violence in neighborhoods generate a high flow of displaced persons, which could explain why a child would run away from home. 

Street children are mostly found in the country's two largest cities: Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. The majority are boys of around 12 years old who face violence, disease, and hunger and are exposed to prostitution and human trafficking. 

To survive, many of these boys steal, scavenge from garbage bins, or polish shoes. Some may even choose violence.

We are partnering with Rice Bowls to provide nutritious daily meals to 2 Honduran safe houses for boys. 

One home we are supporting with daily meals is the Micah Project. Micah welcomes boys and young men who spent hopeless childhoods on the streets or impoverished homes. Here they find freedom, family, and futures in Jesus Christ through discipleship, therapy, education, opportunities to develop their talents, and service to others.

Through their street outreach team, the Micah Project regularly interacts with children who call the city streets "home." Once boys and young men come to trust the organization, they have the option of moving into the Micah House or the Isaiah House.

* Although this data is an estimate because there is no systematization of information nor official data indicating how many children are living on the streets.
**Private Institutions for Children, Adolescents, Youth and their Rights

Child homelessness in Honduras

An infield reflection from Regina Hernandez, our volunteer Project Coordinator: 

A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to visit two children's homes in Honduras with our partner Rice Bowls. This was my first trip with Mite and was full of beautiful highlights, but the biggest was meeting Franklin. A curious and loving boy, Franklin always smiled when walking around, as you can tell from the picture. He loved being with his classmates and friends; I could tell he was a dedicated student. 

Franklin showed me his favorite toys, favorite pair of shoes, and pictures from his photo album. He pointed out his big brother and sister but didn't show any photos of his parents and mentioned that it is rare for him to get a family visit. If he does, it's always his brother. You could tell his past was not easy, but it was inspiring to see him always smiling and happy over the "smallest" things. 

Every meal we ate was with the children, and it was delicious and very nutritious, but Franklin didn't share the same food. When I asked his house guardian why that was, she responded that Franklin could not eat everything because he experienced awful stomach issues due to malnutrition before arriving at Rancho Ebenezer. He was not used to eating whole meals, and it has taken him time to adjust, affecting several other aspects of his daily life.

My childhood memories flooded my mind, and I recalled my birthday parties with a beautiful cake my mom spent all morning baking, plus a lovely meal shared with family. I immediately became overwhelmingly grateful to have grown up with food security. My heart shattered just thinking about the uncertainty and pain Franklin must have felt when there wasn't food on the table. 

I am forever grateful that Franklin is now growing up with three nutritious meals a day - something every child deserves. Thank you to all the generous supporters for making this possible! 

Project 51: Happy Tummies - Honduras

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