Newsletter - December, 2009
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December, 2009 Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." Matt. 25:40 Published by the Society of the Good Shepherd, P. O. Box 122, Amberson, PA 17210. (717) 349-7033 |
In the United States, Medicare pays nursing home costs for the elderly. However, in Honduras, there is no Medicare, and there is often no place for the elderly to go. Some families simply turn their elderly parents out on the streets. Some elderly persons have no family, and they too end up wandering the streets. Their plight moved Dr. Corréa and another doctor to start a rest home in 1991 for indigent people in need. (The other doctor is now deceased.) Through the years since then, the home has taken in 150 different people who would otherwise have no place to go. The residents that the home takes in pay nothing to live there. Dr. Corréa has taken in people off the street who were literally dying, and he eased their final days in comfort and cleanliness, in Christ-like love.
When I speak of Dr. Corréa, please do not picture a well-to-do U.S. doctor, who might have suffi-cient personal resources to finance a ministry like this by himself. In small towns like Siguatepeque, doctors typically earn less than do ordinary Americans who are considered “lower middle class.” So from the beginning, Dr. Corréa has had to depend upon donations to keep this ministry operating.
At Villa del Cerro, they currently have 21 residents, both men and women. Among the residents are a man who is 97 years old, a man with multiple sclerosis, and an elderly father with his adult, Down’s-syndrome son. There are four caretakers who live at the home. They prepare the meals, do laundry and cleaning, and take care of other needs.
Part of Dr. Corréa’s dream for the rest home is to eventually have it be self-sustaining, so that it will be able to continue even after he is gone. They have a good water supply on the property, and Dr. Corréa has thought about setting up a water purification system and selling purified bottled water to the families who live in the area of the home. They have also considered selling chocolate snacks and home-made granola.
With the help of a brother here in the States, Dr. Corréa has started the construction of a laundry room. He needs to purchase some heavy-duty washers and dryers, but he has no funds for these. A store in the city of San Pedro Sula has offered to make the washers and dryers available to the rest home at a substantial discount. So I told Dr. Corréa that perhaps we and our readers can come up with the funds for the machines.
We are scheduled to return to Honduras on January 14. We ask for your prayers that God would use us in the most useful way possible while we are there. David and Deborah Bercot.
Click on the following link if you would care to make a donation to the work in Honduras: Donations
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