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.