Help Secure Permanent Emergency Shelter

There is only one way to embrace what we are all currently enduring in our lives today, “Love each other as I have loved you”. We at Mary Open Doors extend warm and sincere greetings to all involved with the organization who continue to support us in any way possible. Words will never be able to compensate or impart our truest feeling of gratitude. We would like you to know that we will continue to strive to keep the doors open with your help.

The President is trying to schedule a Board of Directors meeting as soon as possible to discuss the upcoming Raffle fundraiser for November 2021, hoping this will help with the overhead cost of running the organization. We are receiving monthly donations of two food baskets to support families at the shelter.  Also received were some school supplies. Today we are pleased to inform you that we have received our Certificate of Good Standing from the Government. Presently we are Bze. $3,500 away from owning our shelter. Sadly, we have had to dismiss our house mother due to a lack of funds. We pray we will be able to rehire them when funding becomes available as she is a core member of the organization. We are struggling but remain positive and confident that this too shall pass.

Shelter update: we have served 4 families and ten children over the last three months, plus three families off-site. One offsite family was assisted with immediate removal from the situation, court preparation, and food. Another with transportation for the first week of employment enabling her to secure income for her family and an elderly with food assistance. We were also approached to house a woman in an abusive relationship who was diagnosed with cancer, fortunately, family members were reached and they were able to house her we continued to offer support when we can. We are also working with one client on-site who is preparing to undergo surgery with the help of Women’s Department San Ignacio, her sixteen years old daughter has been accepted at Sacred Heart College and is currently doing classes online.

Once again thank you for your continued support and together we will continue to do the best that we can given our circumstances because of the additional pressure with covid, nonetheless, we will have a greater outcome. It is not magic we are willing to allow our challenges to become our motivation to go on. God Bless us all!

28^th May, 2021

Theme: Saving Families: “The core of our Human Experience “

Greetings! Supporters, donors, friends, Board of directors, and associates. Once again it is with a grateful heart we extend our sincere thanks for your vital help and motivation at this time, as we continue together to do our best to enable the organization to remain in operation and function at capacity. Experiencing difficulties is not new to us at MOD, we are pushing forward.

A Board of Directors meeting was held in which members are trying to brainstorm on ways to get the office/resource center open on a regular basis again.  A clothes sale to raise funds was organized and will be held this Saturday to assist the organization with overhead expenses.  Also, we are awaiting a visit from the organization of Special Envoy for women and children which was reschedule, hoping that we will be able to get some assistance from them and can establish a working partners relationship to further assist and address Families affected by domestic violence.

 Shelter Update, it was with regret that we have had to ask a client to leave because of constant drug use at the facility. Successful relocation of a family out of the country. We have assisted 5 families and the shelter continues to function at full capacity with House Mother and assistance from the Women’s department.

 Making a new connection, recognizing and assisting Ms. Stacy who had been with MOD many years and is now at The Inspiration Center, she says and I quote “I am Being trained so well, it has really made me see MOD from a wider perspective and I would still like to help when I can”. Moving on but not letting go, Stacy, you will always be a part of the MOD family.

Reconnecting with an old partner, Word at Work has donated 10 boxes of “lintels and vegetables” to the organization which was shared within the community for those in need.

Celebrating women’s month in May, brought Mr. Andre, of DFC, bearing gifts of cakes recognizing the work being done at Mary Open Doors. Please accept our thanks to all who continue to help keep Mary Open Doors in operation we cannot do it without you all. God Bless!

Blessed New Year greeting to all our Board of Directors, clients, friend, and supporters of Mary Open Doors and to the GlobalGiving teams. Margaret Mead once said, “It only takes a few committed people to change the world indeed it’s the only thing that ever has”.

In the last three months, we have accommodated five families affected by domestic violence the nature of these cases varies.  Two out of the five cases was incest. One was a returned family. In total, we had four new and I returned the case. We had some very challenging times but our gratefulness far out weights the challenges. One client had Covid but the children were all negative. We experience the amazing compassion of our friends and supporters coming to her aid and for this we are grateful. Women are strengthened by the many trials they experience as they continue to single-handedly seek to provide protect and guide their children. But the most heartbreaking part is the effect this has on the children. With covid and the flood experienced in the latter part of 2020, we have definitely seen the rise in domestic violence.

As a part of the annual 16 days of activism, against gender-based violence, on 23rd Dec. Our President Mrs. Particia Flores represented Mary Open Doors with the Women’s Commission on the Channel 5 TV show Open Your eyes, discussion focus on why it’s hard to understand why victims of Domestic Violence remain in abusive relationships. They wanted to offer the professionals the opportunity to share about the cycle of violence that traps victims of Domestic Violence. They also wanted to share information about the services available and where you can go for help.  We have also received a donation of cleaning supplies and hand sanitizers, masks to assist us with following the protocol regarding COVID-19.

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me"

                   -Philippians 4:13

Running the race, we keep falling getting up brushing off, and getting back on the road again. Greeting from the Board of Directors, Staff, and clients of Mary Open Doors. It is with a grateful heart that we extend our gratitude and thanks to all who have prayed for us, donated time, energy, finance, encouragement, or contributed in any way to the organization.

As we close the third quarter for the year 2020, we continue to face challenging times. But this is not new to us it’s the very essence of our work. We have supported five families offsite with food. One was our client with two children. The mother was tested positive for COVID and had no way of supporting herself while in quarantine. Three of the five families continue to receive assistance. This assistance is made possible through generous community members. We have accepted another family into the shelter for three months working with the women’s department. We have assisted Ms. Joy(real name hidden for the privacy of individual) of the WEE woman’s group with school supplies for children. Our homeless person died on August 2^nd and was buried with the aid of Mary Open Doors, several community members, Belize Cancer Society, Sacred Heart Parish. 

We are also reporting that our source of funding from Kings Ransom Foundation has been canceled due to COVID. We are tremendously grateful to this organization, who has been one of our first donors since the opening of MOD. WE pray that as they too face their challenges that they will be blessed abundantly to continue their much-needed work.  As we embrace our trials we pray, hope, and trust that as this door closes others will open. We continue to reach out to businesses and the community at large for assistance to keep the organization open. So far, we have received many negative responses. But we are still hopeful and positive all will be well. It seems positive that The Government of Belize will continue to fund our house mother position. We also receive from GOB a double bed mattress, cleaning agents, and hand sanitizers to help with keeping our shelter properly sanitized. On the 13^th August, we receive a generous gift of a Mabe stove from Mr. Fred(real name hidden for the privacy of individual) for our shelter which will replace the one we have that is not working properly. Everything little counts at this time and we are grateful and determine to persevere and to keep serving or community, women and children affected by domestic violence.

As families are put in a more difficult position due to COVID, with loss of employment and cost of living increased, A single mother finds herself in a serious situation having to make critical decisions to secure the wellbeing of herself and her children. Meeting her basic needs has become a nightmare.

Another applied for unemployment but was not accepted quote “feeling devastated and lost not know where to turn or how I would make it past another week as a single mother it is not easy being sick…especially not knowing where the other meal is going to come from.”

WE at Mary Open Doors hold every family of our community in our hearts and pray God will bless each area of our lives as we continue to trust and believe that this is a time to be compassionate to each other because there is no other way. It is in giving that we receive.

A sincere thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to support or mission at Mary Open Doors. We can only be grateful for all that is given and for those whom we have been the privileged to serve. Life can sometimes become unbearable and one may feel downhearted facing domestic violence in the home, but with your compassion and support, there is hope for those in these situations. 

Mary Open Doors is happy to inform you that over the past three months three families have moved from the shelter, and we welcome two new families during the start of our country lockdown. Both families were placed by the GOB. A twenty-five years old woman and an eighteen months old child and a forty-nine years old woman with three children ages seven years, five years and nine months. We have often shared our challenges and trials housing families, today we want to share the unity and compassion we experience as we work with these two families and others in our community. Listening and witnessing these two broken families coming together sharing was the start of their healing in the midst of the fear and uncertainties was an inspirational experience and will be treasured. We have also opened our doors during this covid19 crisis to a homeless person at the request of the San Ignacio Hospital and offered accommodation. Community members are assisting with the needs to aid this person. In the midst of this Covid19, we are seeing the unity and compassion of our community working to help each other in these troubling times. We can also report that in February we have been able to hire a full-time House Mother for the shelter with the support of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Belize. Thank you GOB for recognizing the need of the organization. Ms. Lucy Botea has joined the Mary Open Doors Family as our Shelter house mother. Through this time we were also assisted by Sacred Heart Parish, Mr. Chebet, and Sacred Heart College Alumni with food donation for several single-parent families. These families are severely affected due to the nature of their work to maintain their families. Some of these women are door to door vendors others do seasonal work.

Due to Covid19 we have closed our office (working from home performing basic office duties)   but the shelter remains open, we are also in the process of securing our new Board of Directors to continue to meet the requirements of the government and function as a legitimate community organization. As we move forward it is our hope that we will be able to overcome our financial challenges due to this new economic situation in our country. Efforts continue as we seek to make the final payment on the purchasing of our shelter. The administration will be looking at creative ideas to continue to fundraise under the current circumstance, nonetheless, we will remain positive that we will eventually achieve our goal. We believe there is strength in unity and all this is possible through God.