How it all began...
“I remember asking him... can I adopt these kids?”
In 2017, Jon Lyons (founder of Give 30a) travelled to Leon, Nicaragua with a local group of FCA students (mission team) from Seacoast Collegiate High in Santa Rosa Beach to serve alongside the Nicaraguan NGO, Twelve Churches/Doce Igesias. After seeing the needs, opportunities, and cute kids... the rest was history.
Yessica (Jessica) and Wendy ~ The Short Story.
One day during in a Nicaraguan morning church service, a cute little 6-7 year Spanish old girl and her friend began playing peek-a-boo during service with me. Afterwards, during games and mingling, she was leading me around by my pinkie finger as a new found friend. After getting back together with just the gringos, I remember asking him (the leader)... can I adopt these kids? (the answer was no. Namely because they already have parents. Fair point.)
Later in the week, before departing back to the US, I had the privilege of meeting her oldest sister, Yessica (also pictured above) and hearing about their family and where they live.
Infatuated with the idea of helping these little girls, and as many others as I could - I "knew" I was coming back to Nicaragua. After research and a few months of asking questions, we learned that "the girls" (Wendy and her sisters) lived in what they call a "plastic house", or a home made from scraps - and the family lived in extreme poverty.
After a year or so of meeting the girls, doing a little light reading of "When Helping Hurts" (highly recommend) -- We offered the family private education for the girls at CEPAD Christian School in the city (also the school we later renovated), and began scheming to build them a new home...
In 2020, we completed our first Nicaraguan project with the contributions of many friends and family to bless these girls and their family with a safe and sturdy home.
Not long after dedicating the home, our next opportunity to bless came into focus... Read more about the JCM Nica Children's Home Impact Project