Dear John and Elaine, 

I hope this letter finds you well. There is much to share with you. First and foremost, thank you for including Comunidad Connect in your charitable giving over the past several years. Families across Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic are better off due to your support. Their loved ones have medicine and access to specialists like Drs. Ben and Karen Thrower. They now have safe shelter, sleeping in their own beds for the first time in their lives. They do not worry about food anymore. Most importantly, they know they are not alone. That is 100% because of you. 

Comunidad Connect “connects” people who want to make a difference in the world with opportunities to do so. Since 2019, your gifts to CC total $143,424. This is equivalent to covering our entire Together For Health program for 3 years! Last year, you gave $55,175 and an in-kind donation of liquor for our fundraiser that raised over $100,000 for our humanitarian programs that directly impact thousands of people in Nicaragua and the DR every year. 

Of those thousands of people, Eliezer Hernandez epitomizes how your support creates transformational impact. I met Eliezer with Ben and Karen two years ago in Los Robles, Nicaragua after he had been hit by a car. He was three years old and could not sit up, talk, walk or eat without help. There was no food in the house, his mother and siblings wore tattered clothes and it was apparent that the family was on the brink of total collapse.

We returned the next day with food, clothes, pampers, and a promise to help if Eliezer’s mother committed to caring for him daily. He entered our Together For Health program and began receiving year-round assistance for his rehabilitation. Your financial support helped us get Eliezer to therapy, food in their pantry, and clothes on their back.

With time, Eliezer showed progress and to our surprise this June when Ben and Karen were there visiting – he took his first steps with the aid of a pediatric walker. He is going to make it, because you have provided the means with which we surround Eliezer, his siblings, and his mother with social support and resources so that they can go to school, work, and care for each other. 

Families caring for loved ones with physical and cognitive challenges can fall through the cracks of any society, but isolated families like Eliezer’s are at the highest risk in countries like Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. There are many others that we hope to reach by bringing more physical and occupational therapy, educational enrichment, and mental health services to their local communities. Your support in 2022 can change the paradigm for hundreds of families in Los Robles, Nicaragua and Constanza, Dominican Republic.

Our 2022 fundraising goal is $150,000, which will cover the cost of year-round care for 20 families caring for loved ones with special medical needs. It will staff a clinic that conducts over 3,000 consultations annually. These funds will also build 10 houses, modify 50 homes, staff our youth development program with 500+ athletes, and help us expand our Cultural Connections program to reach more communities in 2023 and beyond.

In addition to a financial gift this year, we would greatly benefit from your support of Placita Latina – our celebration of Hispanic Heritage in downtown Decatur on September 17, 2022. We expect 1,000 people and we are the sole vendors of beer and wine. A local brewery is donating beer, but we could use some help with the wine. All proceeds are earmarked for our health and humanitarian programs in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

As you can see, your impact is transformational for people like Eliezer and organizations like Comunidad Connect. We could not do so much without you.

Thank you,

Jon Thompson
(404) 444-9147
jon@comunidadconnect.org