Nestled in the foothills of the mountains, Plan Escalon serves some of the neediest children in Honduras. The subtropical climate and the beauty of the surroundings belie underlying problems – poverty, lack of education, and discarded children. Plan Escalon is working to change that.
A part of Tree of Life Missions, Plan Escalon houses over 500 children, and it schools more than 600. Ranging in age from 12-25, all the students come from extreme poverty, and are either orphaned or abandoned. Plan Escalon, which means “a plan to escalate,” provides education, housing, food, medical care, and nurture from a caring staff who desire to see these young adults reach their full potential and break out of the cycle of poverty.
In Honduras, the priority for education ends at the 6th grade level; Plan Escalon stepped in to provide a secondary education, which will equip these students with the necessary skills to advance themselves and their nation. Students receive training in areas such as agriculture, masonry, and administration. In addition, they graduate from high school with two degrees – one in business marketing and one in computer technology.
The needs of Plan Escalon’s Technology School proved a great fit for ROI. Before ROI, Plan Escalon had 5 computers on the internet; ROI teams stepped in to build computer labs and add 59 more computers. There are now over 100 computers online.
ROI’s partnership with LifeSong for Orphans and Plan Escalon brings with it a remarkable return on investment. In Honduras, 1% of children who graduate high school go on to college; 47% of Plan Escalon graduates go to college. Honduras has 70% unemployment; 70% of Plan Escalon graduates get jobs after graduating or after college. Additionally, each student participates in two Life in Action trips a year to mountain villages, which translates to over 700 trips a year to give back to their communities.
ROI is proud to partner with Plan Escalon as it lifts up the children of Honduras.
Results: ROI installed a computer lab with 59 systems for a school of 570 students in Honduras for $22,000. This lab is now considered one of the top computer labs in the entire country, helping to build graduates prepared for the new workforce and providing a new generation of leaders for Honduras
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Lifesong for Orphans provides grants and zero interest loans for adoption. They also work with churches to manage adoption funds, reducing the administrative burden at no cost. They also support specific orphanages and act as advocates for adoption. www.lifesongfororphans.org |
To find out how you can help RetailROI, go to: http://retailroi.org/Donate
To find out more about Plan Escalon, go to: http://www.tolm.org
To find out more about LifeSong for Orphans, go to: http://www.lifesongfororphans.org