Sam Baker

October 18-19, 2008

Sam Baker spoke at the Assumption Church in Morristown, NJ after every Mass. Sam raised over $2,500.00 and sold $473.00 in bracelets for the poor in Guatemala.. Thank you Sam. 

Hi! I am Sam Baker. I am 13 years old. I was born in Guatemala. My parents adopted me when i was 6 months old. My first trip back to Guatemala was in 2007. My family was going on a Mission Trip with the charity From Houses to Homes to build a home for a poor family. Prior to leaving, my Mom asked me to do a service project for the children. I came up with the idea of collecting kites. My Mom checked with the Executive Director, Joe Collins, to see if this was a good idea. As it turned out there is a Kite Festival every year on November 1st, called El Dia de los Muertos The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and relatives who have died. The kites represent a symbolic link between the living and the dead. The poor children cannot afford kites so they fly plastic bags tied to a string. I knew the kites would bring great joy to the children. I sent out emails, letters and told everyone I came in contact with. I explained why I was doing this and received great response. I collected 108 kites.

In October 2007, I was asked to speak at a local church. I spoke at 7 masses. I described the poverty I witnessed in Guatemala and shared with the congregation the effect it had on me. After the Masses I sold bracelets that are handmade by a Mayan woman in Guatemala.. I raised $4,200.00. My short talk not only encouraged people to donate money, some people donated time. Some went on a Mission trip and donated and help build a house for a Mayan family. Another gentleman donated a cow to a family so they would always have milk.

My family planned our next service trip to Guatemala for July 2008. This time I came up with the idea to collect soccer balls. Futbol, as it is called in Guatemala is as popular as base ball in America. I knew the poor children would love a soccer ball. Again, using emails, letters and personal contacts I was able to collect 80 soccer balls. I delivered them to 2 schools and many other children. The children were thrilled beyond belief.

My family and I have built 2 homes for the poor in villages surrounding Antigua in Guatemala. We raise the money by sending out fundraising letters and telling everyone our plans for our summer vacation is a Mission Trip to Guatemala. This year I sent out a letter titled, "Buck A Block." I was asking for $1. It takes 700 blocks to build a home. The total cost of the home is $1500. I figured with this small request I could build at least 1 house. The result--I raised $2,250.00. It was a great success.

FHTH is currently fundraising to construct a new school for the CHANGING LIVES PROJECT in Pastores, Guatemala. At present, the school is in a poorly constructed rental space.

I am also trying to raise funds so children in other schools have all the necessities that we in the United States have, things it takes to receive a quality education. The cost for school registration and school supplies is approximately $40 per child per year. Please note that if you cannot pay the registration and buy the school supplies, you CANNOT go to school. Can you please help me, help the kids of Guatemala?
Here are some ideas:
Lemonade Stands
Fun Fairs Bake Sales
Car Washes
and any other great ideas you have.

Never forget though, our most powerful tool is communication. Send letters or emails to everyone you know. Tell everyone about the exciting project you are working on. I am here to support you! You may contact me at Info@fromhousestohomes.org. Thanks. Sam Baker.

 

 

Adam Richman

June 11, 2009

My name is Adam Richman and I am currently working on my Bar Mitzvah good deed project. Since we adopted our little sister from Guatemala 3 years ago, we have been sponsoring children in the country, so they will live a better life and have food to eat. I was trying to save up enough money so that I could buy a family a cinderblock house, some beds, and other necessities.  I was able to raise this money because I held a huge garage sale selling a lot of our old junk, as well as donations of items from others. It was a huge success. I was able to raise $900. I am also a balloon artist who makes all different kinds of balloon animals. You can’t believe the number of different animals I can make and I can even blow the balloons up with my nose!! Over the last few months, I have donated my pay, and all the tips I have made, ($600) to From Houses to Homes. Within 3 months, I was able to raise enough money to build a family a home with bunk beds and mattresses. I am happy to be able to help. You can contact me through my mother @ richmanjs@msn.com.

Grant Gardner

September 2, 2009 

I spent a week in Guatemala building a house and I saw the amount of poverty and tremendous amount of need among the Indigenous Mayan people. For example, the house next door to where we were building had a huge family that was also living in a tiny dirt shack. They sat there sadly as they watched us build a house for their neighbors wishing that they would get the same. It made me want to help even more. So I thought of a way to raise money. I purchased bracelets made by the Mayans and sell them here in the U.S. Every dollar I make I will send back to Guatemala to From Houses to Homes. My goal is to raise enough money for a couple of houses - but who knows, maybe I can keep going with this. So far, I have raised $2,280. I have been selling at school, at big gatherings, at my religious school and over the summer at outdoor markets. 

Jody Gardner, mother of Grant Gardner, email address is jkozgardner@mac.com.

 

Jordan Fernandez
November 7, 2008

Jordan Fernandez has raised $901.00 to date. It all started on a car ride down to liberty state park. I was in the car with my mom and my mom’s friend Dina; we were going to see a concert. Dina and my mom were talking about Africa and what it was like to travel there, Dina then brought up the fact that Guatemala is another place that needs help. They started talking about going to Guatemala to help out. Hearing this made me wanted to go also. So my mom told me that if we both organized fundraisers to get enough money to build a house with an organization call From Houses to Homes we would go next summer to help out. I immediately agreed.

School started and I thought that the best thing to do would be to organize this concert to be in the first couple weeks of school, when the weather is nice enough so that people can still leave their homes. I invited a couple local bands to play the show. The bands were The Tactics, Soft Serve, Jumbaliah, Chasing Windmills and The Urgents. I also had to notify the police about the noise and notify all the neighbors with a letter apologizing about the noise ahead of time. I also made flyers and handed them out at school. I had the bands and the permission of the neighbors so now all I needed was the P.A. I asked around if anyone had a P.A and the Singer of the Urgents referred me to one of the Tech guys at Glen Rock High School. He kindly brought the P.A and set it up for us to use free of charge.
The show was a hit we raised about $900 towards our goal of 1,500.

Jordan Fernandez, son of Beth Fernandez (973) 420-0079 Beth Fernandez's Cell