Casa Hogar Los Angelitos

The unfortunate reality of the world is there are children suffering from unmentionable situations of abuse, neglect, sexual exploitation and poverty.  Casa Hogar Los Angelitos, an orphanage and children’s home in Manzanillo, Mexico, is working one child at a time to help children out of these desperate situations.

 

A magnetic, sincere and charismatic woman, Nancy Nystrom, founded Casa Hogar Los Angelitos after the tragic loss of her son, Freddy.  Nancy and her husband, Dave, had a winter home in Manzanillo.  Nancy was distraught over the loss of their son, and seeing a great need for an orphanage, she founded Casa Hogar.

 

At Casa Hogar Los Angelitos, children are given a safe place to live that offers them an opportunity to feel love, compassion and change the cycle of poverty through education and self-improvement.  The belief that while providing basic needs is important, it is necessary to help develop the whole child, guides the program at Casa Hogar Los Angelitos.  Through education, arts, sports, and other programs they try to truly break the cycle of poverty and ensure that children are given the opportunity to change their lives and become productive members of society. 

 

I first found out about Casa Hogar when Peter and I vacationed in Manzanillo several years ago and attended the Rotary Club of Manzanillo to do makeups.  Nancy was Vice President of the Rotary Club, and she had spoken about the orphanage.  After the meeting she took us to see it.  We were so impressed with the work that they were doing that we decided to support it.  The orphanage receives no money from the government.  They subsist only on kind donations of food and money to keep it running.

 

When we visited, there were 50 children living there.  Last winter, Ron and I visited the orphanage when the condo complex where we live, put on a Christmas party for the children.  Ron was Santa, and each child was given a present.  There are now 75 children there.  The other orphanage that was operating in Manzanillo by the nuns closed due to lack of funds to keep going and the nuns brought their 25 children to Casa Hogar.

 

All of the children attend public school, and some are now in university.  Casa Hogar provides tutoring for each child as well as programs that help develop self-esteem, skills and competence to become productive members of society.

 

One of their Expressive Arts programs is the Casa Hogar Ballet Flokloric program, which includes a majority of the older children.  They perform all over Mexico; have been to the United States.  In July, they are coming here to Alberta and will perform in Calgary, Canmore/Banff, Olds, then in Edmonton at the L’Uni Theatre on July 23^rd and Leduc at the Maclab Performing Arts Centre on the 24^th.  We have seen them perform several times, and they are fantastic. It is hard to believe, when you see these beautiful people, that they are orphans who before coming to Casa Hogar had suffered abandonment and terrible abuse.  Please mark your calendars to attend one of these fantastic performances.

 

As I previously mentioned, Casa Hogar does not receive any government funding.  Founded in 1995, the Children’s Foundation raises money in the United States and Canada to support Casa Hogar Los Angelitos.  On January 31^st, Ron and I attended, along with 300 other people, the Annual Benefit Dinner in Manzanillo. It was a night full of fun and inspiration.  There was lively music, a silent and live auction.  The children of Casa Hogar sang and Ballet Folkloric performed.  The highlight came when the four students currently attending university each thanked the attendees for helping make their dreams come true.

 

They are always looking for people who want to make a difference by sponsoring a student.  Several Rotary clubs and Rotarians are supporters, including Ron and I.  If you would like to know more about the amazing work of Casa Hogar, feel free to ask me.