The coronavirus has closed down our schools. Parents have lost their livelihoods. You’re needed to make sure children can get off the streets and back into a classroom — safely.

For a Limited Time, Your Gift is Matched

YES, I WILL HELP IN A TIME OF CRISIS

 

Launching The School Stabilization Fund

The COVID-19 crisis is threatening to close the doors of schools in Paraguay. In order to save the schools — and make sure children won’t lose their only chance to get a quality education — we need generous Canadians like you to step in and help. Please consider giving to help our partner schools stay open to provide a quality Christian education to children living in poverty.

As COVID-19 reaches Latin America, we’re more thankful than ever for your friendship. Your support is making sure children living in extreme poverty aren’t forgotten during this crisis — and that they will have a school to return to.

As the situation develops rapidly, watch this page for updates on how we’re responding. And please consider making a gift to make sure our schools can respond with care and compassion to needs in the community — and make it through this time of crisis to resume classes when it's safe to do so.

October 15th, 2020

Due to COVID-19, the future of the Oasis School in Paraguay is in peril.

Classes continue to be cancelled in the country. Parents lost the menial jobs they had. With no laptops and access to internet, continuing school online is impossible. Teachers are doing what they can, walking from home to home to distribute homework and check in with children.

But there simply isn’t enough income to sustain the school.

Like any building, the school requires regular upkeep and maintenance.  And we have pledged to continue paying all the teachers and social workers — local Christian men and women who are giving their life in service of the children they educate.

That’s why you’re needed.

A group of generous donors — a business owner from Edmonton, a farmer in Saskatchewan and a family from Winnipeg — have pledged to match every dollar you give, up to a total of $70,000.

Please give now to save the Oasis School from closing its doors — and make sure children won’t lose their only place in school.

Your gift of any amount joins with the gifts of caring and committed people of faith like you across Canada — defenders of children who believe every boy and girl deserves the chance to develop their God-given skills and talents.

 

 

July 31, 2020

Another short video update to keep you informed on how the children of Latin America are doing through the COVID crisis. Thank you for your incredible generosity and help in making sure these children get through each day!


 

 

June 30, 2020

Hundreds of children and families have been blessed with food hampers and meals over the last month thanks to generous Canadians like you! Here are some photos to show you just how these food hampers and meals are being handed out to the children and families in Latin America.

Food Hamper Gallery

 

 

June 5, 2020

Here is a short video update on how your kindness and generosity has impacted the children in Latin America during the COVID crisis. Thank you for your care and compassion to help these precious children and their families in such a difficult time!

 

 

April 22, 2020

It has now become clear that most parents have lost the little income they had. Families are at home with no income, and soon, no food.

Days count. We are working with local suppliers, businesses and churches to prepare hundreds of emergency food hampers to make sure every child and family makes is through this crisis. We don't have the budget — but we're stepping out in faith, knowing we cannot let these children go hungry.

Our Action Plan

  1. Establish an emergency food supply chain.
  2. Work with local food suppliers and grocery stores to get food donated or heavily discounted for the poorest children and families who have lost everything.
  3. Organize transport from the food supplier to the local Generation Rising office/warehouse.
  4. Organize local community volunteers to sort and pack hundreds of emergency hampers and load them up for distribution.
  5. Deliver hundreds of emergency hampers to each school, where teachers, staff and volunteers will distribute them to each family in need.
  6. During hamper delivery, assess the urgent needs of each family in our schools and mobilize additional help if needed.

How You Can Help

The first hampers are being delivered today — but we need to prepare hundreds more. And right now, we need cash donations to see us through. Every $23.39 you give will provide an emergency food hamper that will feed a family of five for two weeks.

Each hamper you provide includes:

  • Beans
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Milk
  • Rice
  • Eggs
  • Sugar
  • Flour
  • Noodles
  • Salt
  • Soap

Please stand with us in prayer. These precious children of God live on the edge of survival. Without the help of caring Canadians like you, they will suffer during these uncertain times.

 

April 6, 2020

As of today, all of our partner schools in Paraguay, Honduras and Nicaragua are no longer offering classes in school. School is closed — but the education continues.

The good news:

  • Teachers and staff are committed to maintaining the Christian education of the children and doing an amazing job
  • Students pick up their assignments at school in staggered intervals at the beginning of the week
  • Using the phone, WhatsApp and/or social distanced personal check-ins, teachers continue to guide their students through each week's homework
  • Even though many are illiterate, parents have been doing a great job supporting their children through this

The concerning news:

  • The Coronavirus is just starting to take hold in Latin America, but the healthcare system was already woefully unprepared
  • With everything shut down, many parents are starting to lose their jobs.
  • Before this crisis, more than 50% of all parents of children in our schools only worked for daily wages — doing odd jobs here and there. Most of them have lost their jobs already, with many others likely to be unemployed in the coming week or two.

How you can help:

  • Come what may, we are committed to keeping the schools operational to support the community. But with parents unable to continue paying their monthly school fees, we will need your help now more than ever before. Any extra funds raised will go toward making sure the children and families make it through this pandemic.
  • The economic situation in Canada is already having an impact on our ability to raise crucial funds right now. If you can help — and want to help — every little bit counts right now.

Thank you for keeping the children in Honduras, Nicaragua and Paraguay in your prayers. With poor access to healthcare and tight living quarters in urban slums and rural hamlets, the truth is they are so vulnerable if the Coronavirus takes hold in their community.

 

 

March 20, 2020

As of today, we have closed all our schools in Paraguay and Honduras. Our schools in Nicaragua will likely close in the next few days. Covid-19 is a terrifying health emergency. Many of our children and their families live in some of the poorest slum communities.
 
If Covid-19 virus takes hold.... we can’t even imagine.
 
Please pray for each child, their parents, our staff team and teachers.
 
This is a very difficult time. In addition to the health risk, parents are extremely vulnerable to financial hardship. Some have already lost their jobs. With their children off school, they will no longer receive a free noon meal. We are talking with our teams right now, working towards some kind of aid for families.
 
We pray we can continue to pay our teachers and staff team during this crisis. But we need your help.
 
Every teacher is dedicated to the school, even though they receive a lower salary than at a public school. They are Christians and believe in the program. But without some kind of salary, they will be forced to leave and find other work. Worse, without a social safety net, they may end up extreme vulnerable.
 
This is a very serious situation.
 
The average cost to maintain a school of 300 students for 1 day is $500. Your gift, whether $20 or $5000, means we can care for families, teachers and staff during this terrifying crisis.