Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryan Cruz.
Hi Bryan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Project HOPE was born in the heart of a Honduran boy who experienced financial hardships that at the time he was able to overcome with the support of good-hearted people who helped him, for which he promised himself to help other less favored children and that they could have better opportunities in life.
Just like that little boy in Honduras, there are thousands of children who arrive at their schools without eating and without the necessary resources for their education. The problem of malnutrition due to lack of food affects their academic performance and the lack of resources or school supplies necessary to be able to go to public schools are the day-to-day problems of many children in Honduras and in several countries in Latin America.
These factors were what motivated its founder and president Bryan Cruz to create Project HOPE, with the support of his wife Linda Cruz and children Astrid and Yovani Cruz, they made the decision to bring this dream to life in September 2017 instead of residence in Humble, TX, United States; Started the task of supporting several children in the city of Olanchito, Yoro in Honduras through a Hope Children’s Kitchen, installed in the Libertad Public School of said city. Where 50 children were blessed to receive one free lunch per day, and at the time the program only had a budget of $300.00.
The year 2017 was a year of many challenges and lessons for the entire team of volunteers and donors, but it was also a year in which the scope that a team of people united hand in hand with God could have. It was also a year of victory and many innocent smiles full of hope and a future. In 2018, Project Hope forms for the first time a general board in Texas under the umbrella of Pastor Orlando Hernández and Centro Cristiano Roca Eterna, a church he pastors, with the purpose of being a missionary ministry focused on bringing hope and helping more children. in other communities and countries of Latin America.
As of today, Proyecto Hope had impact more than 3000 Childers and donate more than 2500 backpacks of Love.
In 2020, we were able to bring humanitarian aid to Honduras after Hurricanes Eta and Iota and we were able to impact more than 4,600 families with humanitarian aid
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been a roller coaster of challenges from the start and multiple obstacles in the way.
when I first started the Comedor Infantil Hope, I was not thinking to do it any more than one week, in my initial conversation with my wife, I told her that this was something that I has been dreaming about it for years, I told her that I knew that we don’t have the resources to sustain it, for more than a week but I wanted to do it anyway. At the time we only had $300 to use for this to use for this crazy dream, So my wife agree to do it for a week.
I talked to one of my sisters and asked her how many children can we feed with $300 and she told me that no too many, but she when to the local food suppliers in the small town and asked them for better prices to be able to buy week’s worth of food to feed 50 children.
After the first two days, the food began to run out because there were no longer 50 children as planned. On the second day, my mom and sister added 20 more children who stood at the door to watch the other children eat.
On the third day, the volunteers began to bring basic grains because they did not want the dining room to close without meeting our goal of one week.
It was at that moment that I decided not only to make an effort to complete the initial week, but also to make an effort to continue one more week but now for 70 children. So I downloaded the Uber app and decided to do Uber after work and dedicate that money for the Comedor. My wife initially got very upset with me because it was not what we agree on it. But after all she give me the whole support to continue with the Comedor and we were able to keep it run it for more the 18 months. Then the local church La cosecha take over the comedor so we can move to help other children.
If I need to recognize something it will be that our bigger challenge has been not been able to said not.
Since we founded Project Hope, we have always accepted challenges bigger than us, challenges that many of those who support us have initially been afraid of, but in the end, we have been able to say challenge completed.
Our Bigger Challenge has been to being able to manage donations, since we were founded with the idea of being able to work to obtain the necessary resources and we have not been very good at asking for donations. LOL
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a non-profit ministry that seeks to support the children of Latin American communities living in extreme poverty; providing them, through our social programs; food, education, medical care and psychological support, free of charge. A ray of hope for those children in extreme poverty, with an uncertain future. A light in the midst of the darkness of those little ones.
Our vision
To be an organization that provides the best technological tools in terms of education and thus strengthens the knowledge and skills of the most vulnerable children in Latin America.
Our values
Social responsibility, honesty, respect, solidarity, passion.
Our Specific Objectives
- Increase our children’s kitchens in all established regions, on an annual basis.
- Reduce illiteracy in Latino children who have less access to education.
- Develop a strategic plan that involves actions related to the physical and mental health of children.
- Minimize child emigration from Latin American countries abroad, through our social programs to support children.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Yes. We have taken many risks since we started Project Hope. But our biggest was sending 2 containers of humanitarian aid to Honduras in 2020.
When the first hurricane hit Honduras, we asked our friends and local church members to help us to collect clothes and food to be able to send a few aid boxes. But a week later, when a second hurricane hit Honduras, the idea of a few boxes turned into many boxes and without realizing it, in a few days we were already looking to fill two 52″ containers for humanitarian aid, one in Houston and the other in Los Angeles. By taking on this challenge, we soon realized the multiple risks that we were putting you into.
Logistic risk- not being able to raise enough aid to fill the two containers.
Economic risk- not being able to raise enough money to pay for all the logistics.
Pricing:
- With $25 per month we can feed a child
- With $50 we can send a backpack of Love
- With $50,000 we can build a School with free and height label Education
- $1 can you can help us change 1 life.
Contact Info:
- Email: b.cruz@proyectohope.org
- Website: www.proyectohope.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proyecto_hopehn/?hl=es
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/proyectohope.org/
