As a
born native from Honduras, I always envisioned to help my country one day. My
dad migrated to the US in 1988 to reach the American dream that everyone has
once spoken about. He knew that he could not give me a good and educated life
in Honduras, due to the low standard of living, even though he had a degree as
an accountant and was a skilled carpenter. In 1990, my mom and I migrated to
the US, we passed Matamoros River in Mexico as immigrants to make it through.
That same year my brother was born and 11 years later my little sister. Both of
my parents worked very hard year after year with many difficulties, but never
giving up. And it was not until I graduated from high school that I was able to
help my dad administrate Extreme Wood Works, our family-owned business. As I
worked alongside with my dad, as a mother and wife at 20 years of age, I also
managed to keep going to school and accomplished my Bachelors in Business. My
dream of helping Honduras was still pending until the unfortunate disasters of
Hurricanes Eta & Iota occurred.
Our initial plan with other friends of ours was to send 1 container
to the victims of these hurricanes. We were worried that we would not make it
because the container was only halfway filled and had 3 days to fill it up. But
I woke up in the middle of the night in the midst of this and wrote an email to Channel 7
news. That same Sunday morning, I received a call from a reporter to make an
interview for the channel to explain what we were doing. Then it hit me, we need
to contact news channels and it went viral. We were able to send 3 full containers
of donations to Honduras and 2 to Nicaragua with the help of Leana Astorga,
Telemundo 51 reporter & the channel itself, local radio host Enrique Santos & his team, Carlos Arroyo & Nicky Jam and Marti Auto Service. Our receiving donation center was our woodshop, our main
volunteers were our employees, family & friends and even though we worked
12 hour shifts for 2 weeks straight and underwent other unforeseen challenges
in the middle of a Pandemic situation, it was all well worth it. I made the
trip to Honduras in December 2020, missing my daughter's 14th birthday, to make sure all the donations were getting to the ones in need. My trip was a bittersweet encounter because even though we were
helping thousands of families with small portions of food, clothing &
medicine, the destruction was massive and therefore we are continuing to help.
Amor y Fuerza Honduras is now officially a 501c3 non-profit organization that
continues to ask for monetary donations to keep helping.
Monetary donations are being used to buy construction materials to repair homes,
purchase medications to continuously help with
medical brigades and purchase essential items,
such as food, hygiene care and baby items. These
donations are being canalized alongside
with Rotary Club of Choloma, they
have been the middle ground in making this
possible. We have come a long way, but there is still
so much more we can do. We give many thanks to our
entire community here in Miami that
responded to our call of help and we continue to ask
for your help to keep helping. Honduras & Nicaragua
will take 12+
years to recuperate from these disasters
and we can make a difference. In the pictures to follow are images that share the
beginning of this wonderful story named Amor y Fuerza
Honduras, also known as Love & Strength
Honduras.
A special thank you to the following :
Yolanda Lopez
Rotary Club of Choloma
Samaria Beauty Supply
WM Partners
Jill Shaffer
Romax Logistics
WorldPack Services
Enjoy Hospitality - Carlos De La Fuente
The Indigenous Miskitu
CPDH Miami
El Pana Arabe
Great Florida Insurance
Iglesia Internacional de la Gracia de Dios
MLA Academy
Marti Auto Service - Yamil Marti
Carlos Arroyo
Nicky Jam
Enrique Santos
Radio Station tu949FM
Harold Velenzuela
Julio Ramirez
Leana Astorga
Telemundo 51
https://www.telemundo51.com/noticias/local/sur-de-la-florida-recolecta-ayuda-para-centroamerica/2138058/
https://www.telemundo51.com/noticias/local/sur-de-la-florida-recolecta-ayuda-para-nicaragua-y-honduras/2143174/
https://www.telemundo51.com/noticias/local/comunidad-responde-a-llamado-de-ayuda-para-damnificados-de-honduras-y-nicaragua/2142901/
https://www.telemundo51.com/noticias/local/piden-apoyo-para-enviar-ayuda-a-nicaragua-y-honduras/2142586/
https://www.telemundo51.com/noticias/local/miami-recoge-ayuda-para-afectados-por-huracanes-en-centroamerica/2139220/
WSVN - Channel 7 News
https://wsvn.com/news/us-world/local-nonprofits-collecting-supply-donations-for-central-americans-caribbean-residents-affected-by-eta/
https://wsvn.com/news/local/local-organizations-residents-lend-helping-hand-to-families-in-iota-battered-central-america/
CBS - Channel 4 https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/11/17/miami-non-profit-collecting-hurricane-relief-supplies-honduras/
https://miami.cbslocal.com/video/4876560-donations-collected-to-help-people-in-honduras/
Local 10 News https://www.local10.com/news/local/2020/11/17/nicaragua-honduras-need-help-after-2nd-hurricane-blow-in-2-weeks/
Where to donate :
Wells Fargo Bank
Beneficiary : Amor y Fuerza Honduras
Acct # : 5619333320
Connect and like our Instagram & Facebook pages :
https://www.instagram.com/amoryfuerzahonduras/
https://www.facebook.com/amoryfuerzahonduras
