Dear Visitors to stjoan.com:

This coming August, I will be leaving to spend a month studying Spanish at a language school in Guatemala before heading to Honduras in October for a 27 month volunteer commitment with Farm of the Child. Farm of the Child is a small, non-profit organization dedicated to serving the orphaned children and poor of Honduras, the most impoverished nation in Central America. The Farm consists of six orphan homes filled with children who are cared for in the home by a Honduran family or single woman as well as an elementary school and a health clinic serving the orphans and surrounding community. Besides caring for the children and administering the clinic and school, Farm of the Child does outreach work including agricultural projects in the local villages, women’s groups, and adult education. I will not know in what capacity I will serve until arriving at the Farm in October; however, possibilities include teaching, social work, and administration just to name a few.

While at the Farm, volunteers are provided with room and board. However, we need to raise money on our own to take care of expenses such as travel fare, language school, medical insurance, vaccinations prior to departure, and spending money. I have set a goal of raising $9,000 dollars for my time with Farm of the Child. Here is the budget that I have developed in order to set this goal:

Expenses	Estimated Amount	Description of Expense
Airplane tickets	$1,100	Airfare to Latin America and back home
Language school	$1,200	6 weeks of classes, housing, travel to Farm after school
Healthcare	$3,000	Insurance, prescriptions, needed lab work for prescriptions
Personal stipend	$1,800	$200 every three months
Vacation stipend	$500	$250 per year
Transition stipend	$1,000	For return to U.S. at end of service
Preparation costs	$400	Vaccinations, phone calls, mailings, bug spray, etc.
Total expenses	$9,000

I personally plan to put forward as much money as I can. I estimate that I will be able to come up with $3,500 between personal savings and a second job that I’ve recently taken on. However, that leaves me with $5,500 to raise from other sources. So, as you can see, I won’t be able to do this without your help!

Already I’ve had many people ask me when they find out about my need to fundraise why I would pay to volunteer. Well, in two simple words, the answer to that question is: the children! It’s corny, I know, but also deeply sincere. I hold a special place in my heart for orphaned children. I’m sure that some of this comes from the fact that my brother was an orphan in South Korea before my family adopted him. I have also spent time in orphanages in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. While studying in the Dominican Republic, I spent eight hours each week as a volunteer at an orphanage that cared for children (and some adults) with disabilities. The orphanage was incredibly understaffed, so many of the children would spend entire days lying in cribs, tied to beds, or stuck in high chairs. They had bedsores made worse by the dirty diapers they wore, many of the children’s joints had frozen and muscles had atrophied from inactivity, and some of the children were so undernourished that while many were over ten years old, they looked to be infants.

I can’t help but to get excited when I consider the prospect of working with orphaned children again, only this time in a setting where proper care is given. This is a real opportunity for me to live out my passion! I will not be going to Honduras in order to “save” anybody. Rather, I will offer my love, friendship, and compassion while accompanying the children and community members through a part of their journey through life. I will be there as much as a student as a volunteer, hoping to learn everything I can about their struggles and triumphs while attempting to do something more in supporting them.

Once again, I request your financial contribution to help make this opportunity possible. Please accept this invitation to become a part of the mission! There are two ways in which you can make a donation. You can make your contribution directly to Farm of the Child, in which case checks should be made out to “Farm of the Child” and sent to the following address:

Farm of the Child

c/o Julie Zackrisson

2616 Cardinal Ridge Rd

Charlottesville, VA 22901

I would request that you specify that the money is to be earmarked for my personal expenses by writing my name on the memo line of the check or by including a note indicating that the money should be directed to my volunteer account. Please note that Farm of the Child has tax exempt status in the U.S. as a 501 (c) 3 organization. Therefore, any money sent in this way is eligible as a tax deduction and you will have a receipt sent to you for this purpose. I will also not have unrestricted access to these funds and they will only be used to support my work at the farm (i.e. travel expenses, language school, medical insurance, person stipend, vacation stipend, stipend for return to U.S.). At the completion of my term of service at the Farm, all unused money in my volunteer account will be used for general project needs.

If for some reason you would not feel comfortable sending a donation directly to Farm of the Child, you could also choose to send me a donation directly by sending me a check in my name. The Farm will have no control over how I spend this money (though I can tell you that I would only spend it on necessary expenses). However, the drawback of this method is that you will not be able to receive a tax deduction on your gift.

Thank you for any support you are able to give (even if it is not financial)!

Peace,

Lindsey Anderson

869 5^th Street

St. Paul, MN 55106