Project for Hope

I created a PowerPoint presentation, including a custom branded template, to tell the story of the Project for Hope, a Guatemala-based ministry to help fatherless families become self-sufficient.

Fund-Raising Presentation

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Presentation Text

Project for Hope

Sharing the life-changing love of Christ with fatherless Guatemalan families through—

• Vocational training, adult education and fair-wage employment for mothers
• Education and child care for their children
• Essential health care for the entire family

Project for Hope

Our vision is to be a self-sustaining ministry that helps fatherless families become self-sufficient.

About Guatemala

• Guatemala is in Central America, bordered by Mexico, Honduras, Belize and El Salvador. The country lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
• Magdalena, Milpas Altas, is a rural town in Guatemala’s central mountains.
• Agriculture is the primary economic activity, with most people working as farmers or laborers. The average wage is $6 per day.
• There is a great disparity of wealth in Guatemala. More than half its people live in poverty, struggling to provide basic needs for their families. Hardest hit are fatherless families.

Who We Are

We are Holly and Chris Steed—missionaries who, in 2011, answered God’s call to leave our “ordinary lives” in Jacksonville, Florida, to live and work in Guatemala. Since then, we have made our home among the people we serve, along with our children Jon, Jed, Angela and Kendy. Our eldest son, Jackson, now attends college in the U.S.

Why We Are Here

• To provide hope to fatherless families living in poverty
• To help single and widowed mothers develop job skills and earn a fair wage
• To provide children from single-parent households a superior education
• To provide essential health and dental care
• To live and share our Christian faith

Project for Hope, Inc.

We were first called to Magdalena to manage the 12×12 Love Project, Inc., building homes for 210 families living in extreme poverty.

We observed the greatest, most urgent needs among fatherless families.

To address those needs, in 2014, we established Project for Hope, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Project for Hope Campus

• Project for Hope occupies a 5.15-acre property that was formerly home to an orphanage. The entire campus is securely surrounded by an 8-foot concrete wall.
• There are 6 buildings on campus totaling more than 15,000 square feet.
• There is a 4,200-square-foot covered, lighted sports court and an outdoor soccer field.
• More than 2 acres of the property are currently open and undeveloped.

Our Project’s Reason for Being

At the heart of Project for Hope are the families we serve.

We currently have 15 single mothers learning job skills and earning a fair wage while their 30 children are being educated and mentored at our on-campus school. All are receiving essential health and dental care.

These families are our reason for being.

The Difference We Make

Single mothers must choose between leaving children unsupervised at home while they work, or staying home to care for their families without income.

Project for Hope welcomes the entire family to our campus where mothers spend the day learning job skills and earning a fair wage while children are in school. All return home together at day’s end.

The Difference We Make

Single mothers and widows typically lack the education and skills to get and keep a good job.

Project for Hope offers a comprehensive job training program, teaching the women we serve the necessary skills to succeed in our program and beyond, in the outside world.

The Difference We Make

The Guatemalan education system is inadequate and few students stay in school past their early teens, often dropping out before finishing elementary school.

Project for Hope offers on campus a high-quality, age-appropriate education for children from all the 15 families we serve.

The Difference We Make

Religion in Guatemala is fairly complex, with traditional Mayan spirituality still very much a presence, along with Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity.

As a Christ-centered ministry, Project for Hope faithfully shares the teachings of Jesus through word and deed with the people we serve in hopes they will come to know and love Christ as we do.

Our Vision for the Future

As we look to the future, we must meet 3 immediate, essential goals to prepare our ministry to serve more families while becoming self-sustaining:

• To purchase our campus property
• To secure funding to continue operations already underway
• To secure funding to build a greenhouse

The Hope Campaign

Property Purchase

In August 2015, we occupied our current campus, intending to purchase the property immediately. After more than 3 years devoted to negotiating and clearing legal obstacles, we recently signed an agreement enabling us, at last, to move forward with the purchase. Originally offered at $1.1 million, our negotiated price for the property is $600,000, of which we have secured $250,000.

Our first, most urgent priority is to raise the $350,000 needed to complete the purchase.

Operating Expenses

As with most service organizations, staff salaries and benefits are our greatest operating expense. We have 10 full-time, paid Guatemalan employees. Several local doctors provide services at discounted fees.

Other operating expenses include food, school and office supplies, building and vehicle maintenance, furnishings, fuel and utilities.

Our founders and board members receive no compensation for their services, which they freely donate.

Current monthly operating expenses average $12,000, of which we have $4,800 already covered by generous donors. The remaining $7,200 per month currently comes from reserves. We seek to fund 2019 operating expenses fully through monthly and annual pledges to the Hope Campaign.

Greenhouse Construction

The key to our future as a self-sustaining ministry is the construction of a 70,000-square-foot commercial greenhouse on two undeveloped acres on our campus. Construction costs will total $375,000.

Cut flowers, in high demand in the United States, will be grown for profitable export.

Once completed, the greenhouse will employ 20 or more single mothers who will learn the agricultural skills needed to staff the operation.

Over the next 10 years, the greenhouse operation will support approximately 50 families.

In the meantime, we are training single mothers in leather crafting for our Esperanza Handmade brand of fine leather goods for export.

The Hope Campaign

• Property Purchase 42% of $600,000 raised
• Greenhouse Construction 0% of $375,000 raised
• 2019 Operating Expenses 40% of $144,000 raised

Naming Opportunities

Our board has approved a number of naming opportunities to recognize exceptionally generous gifts. As you plan your commitment to the campaign, you and your family may consider which of the opportunities would be most meaningful to you.

Greenhouse $375,000
School and Child Care Center $60,000
Feeding Center $60,000
Health Care Clinic $60,000
Emergency Housing Center $60,000
Sports Court $60,000
Soccer Field $50,000
Sustaining Hope Sponsorship for those who sponsor a family for a year $9,600

Your Response

The projects and priorities supported by the Hope Campaign are essential to our mission to serve impoverished fatherless families of Magdalena, Milpas Altas.

With your gift to the campaign, you will enable us to finalize the long-awaited purchase of our property, continue our operations throughout the coming year and build a commercial greenhouse that will ultimately make our ministry self-sustaining.

We encourage you to consider the urgent needs the campaign addresses and, with your generous commitment, to affirm their vital importance to the mission of Project for Hope.