Help Secure Permanent Emergency Shelter

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.

As we start this new-year 2020 with renewed spirit and enthusiasm we welcome you to join us on our journey forward as we prepare to embrace projected successes and face our challenges. To all our donors and supporters, national and international we cannot do this without your commitment and support. Your dedication have kept us inspired.

Mary Open Doors continues to work together with the community on the elimination of domestic violence. On November 26^th, 2019 Ms. Teresa Watlow, past client, represented MOD on a panel with other survivors of domestic violence for Galen University.   Currently Galen is organizing two courses in the summer having to do with gender studies and domestic violence and have asked that MOD meet with them as information gain from this meeting will help frame the content for the courses. Having the organization operating and functional is a dire need for our community and we must each do our share. We also continue to work closely with the Police, Human Services and Women’s Department in San Ignacio. We are still in the process of raising funds (BZE $5,000) to complete the purchase of our shelter and pray that this will become a reality in the very near future. Our Board of Directors will be organizing events to accomplish this task.

Since November, 2019 three families have moved on from our shelter, and we have accepted another family of five.  In 2019 we assisted 21 families from March through December. 18 families, was assisted at the shelter with accommodation periods from overnight to four months. Eighteen adults and twenty-two children. Adults between the ages of twenty and thirty-eight and children between the ages of two months to seventeen years. Other families were assisted with food, medical, education, legal counsel and 1 HIV client, were assisted off site. We also accommodate walk-ins at out office and was able to help with general information on DV and whatever else requested, Who we were not able to assist are usually referred to the appropriate agencies.

Even though the safe shelter is our focus, bonding with our families is much deeper that the tangible essentials. When assisting and interacting with women and children when they are most vulnerable is to be in core of a person's being. When a woman is told that her husband (who she has been married to from the age of 19) has molested five of her seven children and to witness her reaction leaves one speechless. There are no words in this world that can take away that kind of pain and suffering or fix the damage done except the love of Jesus that is channeled through your caring by assisting those in need. We are extremely grateful for your help and continue to lean on your generosity, selflessness and prayers to fulfill our commitment to assist women and children in our community.  Broken families CAN be restored. Restored families, rebuild communities and create a new nation.