Shekina Christmas project aids sister church damaged by Hurricane Ida

a report from Shekina...

Our Sister Church - Iglesia Bautista Discipulos de Cristo - in the outskirts of San Martin suffered dangerous and tremendous damage in the night of Nov. 7/8th 2009 because of Hurricane Ida.  There were 2 dead in the congregation.  Members of the church lost all fields of beans and corn, which went down into the valley, 300m deep. The church terrace was damaged as well, and they will have to move before the rainy season 2010 (May).

On December 22nd, the Shekina Solidarity Committee (comite de solidaridad) delivered a much appreciated Christmas present of food baskets to 38 families at Iglesia Bautista Discipulos de Cristo.  We got to know each other better and celebrated an improvised thanksgiving church service with the pastor.

Updates about the Orantes Family

We recently received the disturbing news that Ruth's teaching job at the Colegio Bautista (the Baptist school in Santa Ana) has been eliminated as of January 1st.  Ruth's position in the Christian Education department was one of 20 jobs eliminated across various departments.

This puts added pressure on the family budget, especially since Victor Hugo's school tuition was a benefit of Ruth's employment. Happily we can report that a donor to the Cielo Azul Fund has designated funds to cover all of Victor Hugo's school expenses for 2010. 

The loss of the teaching job leaves Ruth free to spend herself in her pastoral work at Iglesia Bautista Shekina.  But while there is full time work to do at this growing congregation, the congregation can not match the salary she has lost from her teaching position.

Your continued support will help to give the family a stable economic base for their service to the community.

A new partnership with The Simple Way!

We are happy to announce that the Cielo Azul Fund has completed our recent transition and we are now financially sponsored by The Simple Way, a multi-faceted not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization in North Philadelphia. 

Over the years, there have been many mutual visits between the Orantes family and members of The Simple Way, so we are very happy to deepen this connection between people whose ministries are rooted in service and accompaniment of the poor and marginalized.   Visit The Simple Way website at www.thesimpleway.org to learn more about this exciting community!

The Cielo Azul Fund is now featured on the TSW website as one of their global projects!  Find us under the "friends and partners" section of their website. 

All contributions to the Cielo Azul Fund will be processed by The Simple Way, which means that we are now able to accept secure on-line credit card donations designated for Cielo Azul through our blog at www.cieloazulfund.blogspot.com.