Our Roots

The roots of the Honduran Children’s Rescue Fund come from Lorn Snow S.J. and the Gesu Catholic Community in University Heights, Ohio. As a Jesuit scholastic, Lorn Snow spent time in El Salvador working with poor and needy people. While there, he visited the neighboring country of Honduras and met Sor Maria Rosa Leggol, OSF who had established a multi-faceted social service organization named Sociedad Amigos de Los Niños (SAN) or Society of Friends of the Children. The thrust of her work was to help the many poor, neglected and sometimes abandoned children in Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras.

After he was ordained, Fr. Snow was assigned to Gesu Parish in the Greater Cleveland area. As part of the Parish Council, there was a Social Concerns Commission. Remembering the very effective social work of Sor Maria Rosa, Father Snow led a group of about ten interested parishioners on a mission trip to Honduras to learn and work in her varied ministries. The first group returned, told others about their experience, and more people wanted to go. Within a few years, over one hundred people had visited and worked with the poor children supported by Sociedad Amigos de Los Niños.

It was obvious that lack of money was a limiting factor in the ability of Sor Maria Rosa to help children in Honduras, although everyone was amazed at what she could accomplish with so little money. People were donating some money to Sociedad Amigos de Los Niños through Gesu Parish, but there was no organized effort to establish regular funding.

A small group of Honduras “alumni” decided to explore the feasibility of establishing a Tax-Exempt Charitable Corporation to raise funds that would establish a reliable income stream for Sociedad Amigos de Los Niños, and possibly others who could participate in the support of Honduran children. This was accomplished with the incorporation and registration of the Honduran Children’s Rescue Fund in 2004. Through 2017, this organization has sent over $3,000,000 in humanitarian aid from the U.S to Sociedad Amigos de Los Niños, and has been instrumental in large donations of pharmaceuticals, medicines, clothing, books, toys, and even bake oven equipment for one of the micro-businesses operated in support of children. We have also arranged for the servicing, upgrade, and shipping of medical equipment to the Santa Rosa de Lima Clinic, which serves a Sociedad Amigos de Los Niños community in rural Nuevo Paraíso, Honduras.

The Honduran Children’s Rescue Fund raises money through charitable benefits, solicitation of grants and donations, and social awareness projects.