On the top right, is a map of the State of Puebla showing several cities and towns that are key to our ministry there:

Zacapoatzla (Top Right) - City where medical mission team stayed when working at the Tatoscac Clinic.

Cd. Serdan - Town where original Casa Hogar La Familia Orphanage was located for over 25 years.

Palmarito - Town where the new La Familia children's home is being constructed.

Tacamachalco - Town where hotel is located where mission teams will stay when visiting La Familia in Palmarito.

Tehuacan (Lower Right) - Location of temporary housing for the children of La Familia.










City of Puebla Bus Station

Second Largest Bus Station in World

(Largest is in Mexico City)

History of Casa Hogar La Familia

The purpose of this blog is to keep the donors, mission team members and friends of Casa Hogar La Familia up to date on what is happening at this home for orphaned and abandoned children.

Casa Hogar La Familia was founded by a Mennonite pastor in the early 1980s in Cd. Serdan, a small city in the State of Puebla about four hours east of Mexico City by bus. When the Mennonites pulled up stakes and left the area, they persuaded the Methodist Church of Mexico to take over the home, so the Mexican Methodists provided directors to oversee the home until 2007 when Amigos de La Familia, the group that had historically provided 100% of the financial support of the home, signed a lease with the Methodists to rent the facilities and provide its own directors.

In 2007, Amigos de La Familia reached an agreement with Robert Sawyer of Grupo de Amor Y Proteccion del Ninos in Colima to provide directors. Robert Sawyer chose Juan Francisco and Silvia Hernandez, directors who were trained at the orphanages Robert operates in Colima.

On June 30, 2008 our lease with the Methodists expired and we were asked to relocate the orphanage. The directors found temporary housing in Tehuacan, a city of approximately 250,000 about four hours southeast of the City of Puebla, but still in the State of Puebla. In the meantime, Grupo de Amor was gifted land in Palmarito, a much smaller city about one hour east of the City of Puebla, where a new casa hogar is currently under construction. Funds have been raised for the first phase of this new home, which will provide housing for the 30 children presently under the care of La Familia.

In July of 2009, we are scheduled to move into the new home in Palmarito. Once this home is fully built out, we will have capacity for 96 children. For this larger ministry to become a reality, however, we must raise another $200,000 which is challenging in the current state of the US economy.

Embrace the Dream Foundation along with Pennsylvania-based Caring Action for Children and several churches in Texas, Tennessee and Virginia provide both the operating funds and capital funds for La Familia.

Embrace the Dream Foundation Mission Statement

The Embrace the Dream Foundation, Inc. (EDF) is a nonprofit, Christian mission organization that provides love and care for orphaned and abandoned children in Mexico. EDF supports ten orphanages in Mexico. The primary home EDF supports is Casa Hogar La Familia in Central Mexico, which is currently located in temporary quarters in Tehuacan, about four hours east of Mexico City in the State of Puebla. At the present time, La Familia provides support for 28 children ranging in age from four months to 18 years.

Bill Lee, president, founded EDF after spending eight years leading mission teams to Mexico. In 2009, EDF has set a goal to raise $100,000 to complete construction on a new orphanage that will be built in Palmarito, a small town in the State of Puebla. This new facility will include a two-story main home with younger children on the ground floor and teenage girls on the second floor, a home for teenage boys and a home for infants. When completed, the estimated capacity of the new orphanage will be approximately 96 children.

Prostitution is the source of approximately 40% of the children EDF currently supports, so one of the greatest needs we currently face is a place to care for one of the products of prostitution ― abandoned infants.

EDF not only provides lodging for the children, but in addition strives to ensure that each child has a better future. The children begin learning English at an early age and are taught from childhood that to support a family, they must finish high school and go on to either technical school or college. Academic and Christian education are integral parts of each child’s daily regimen.

For more information about The Embrace the Dream Foundation, Inc., you may email Bill Lee at Blee3paris@aol.com. EDF’s address is PO Box 5558, Greenville, SC 29606.