It's been four months since Belkis Reyes, her husband and her children survived back-to-back hurricanes that killed thousands in Central America. Like many families, they continue to live in a crowded shelter with little more than the clothes on their backs. They lost everything to the storms, and their future remains uncertain.
Yet Belkis can be certain that she and her family are at least a bit safer from COVID-19, thanks to your needle and thread. The shelter where they spend most of the day is crowded, and it's challenging to maintain social distancing and stay safe from coronavirus and other infections. That's where you have made a huge difference.
Belkis Reyes with her infant daughter at a COVID-19 prevention kit distribution co-sponsored by ChildFund at a family shelter in Santa Barbara, Honduras.
Your generosity reaches around the globe
Not long after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic last March, many of you responded to our urgent call to sew face masks for our brothers and sisters around the world. The response was overwhelming, and collectively you sewed more than 123,985 face masks — beating our goal of 75,000 in record time!
Those masks have made their way to some of the world's poorest communities, where families fear a COVID-19 infection but have little means to protect themselves from it. Right now those masks are protecting families like Belkis' who are living in shelters for hurricane survivors in Honduras and Guatemala, as well as in the slums of Haiti and the tent-filled displacement camps of Mali. And soon, they'll reach communities in Angola, Georgia and other areas where people remain vulnerable.
Your masks are protecting the vulnerable and providing a bright light of hope in the face of immeasurable darkness. Thank you for answering the call!
A COVID prevention kit distribution co-sponsored by Lutheran World Relief and ChildFund at a family shelter in Santa Barbara, Honduras.
Thank you for responding to the need
To everyone who took to their sewing machines to make masks for families across the globe, even as you worried and prayed for your own families' health and safety: THANK YOU.
Perhaps the best thanks of all comes in the form of Belkis' smile. Your face masks were included in locally-assembled COVID relief kits that are helping to keep her and her family safe in their shelter. Because of your love, she knows she is not forgotten in the midst of this global pandemic.