For over 17 years, St. Luke’s Burlington has been helping an Episcopal (Anglican) School for children in underserved communities in Honduras build a path out of poverty for the children and their families. This has been one of the major outreach projects of the church, not only because of the life-changing work the school does in Honduras but also because the involvement of parishioners has expanded their view of the world and their role in it. Hundreds of volunteers have been part of this.
The school, commonly referred to as El Hogar, is a project of the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras but is supported by individuals, churches, and service clubs all over North America. It has both an elementary school and a technical high school with about 250 students. Some students are day students, and some are residential if they do not live in the area or do not have a safe home environment.
St. Luke’s has organized many fundraising projects in support of El Hogar, plus organized 13 one-week team trips to El Hogar over the years, with another planned for February 2026. In 2024, Bishop Mariann Budde from the national cathedral in Washington joined the St. Luke’s team for the week to see how she and her diocese could be part of the El Hogar community. We have teamed up with several United Churches in the Toronto area to run joint fundraisers and form El Hogar Canada as a registered CRA charity.
In 2025, our team of volunteers has sold 400 chocolate Easter Eggs, 411 packages of chocolate bark, and 146 gingerbread house kits, all made by our volunteers. We have sold Honduran coffee, invited donations of old gold coins and jewelry. Many parishioners donate to our El Hogar fund or directly to El Hogar Canada.
Why has this school in faraway Honduras captured the enthusiasm of St. Luke’s when there are so many worthy local needs? St. Luke’s strives to approach our outreach in a spirit of abundance, and we have many local outreach projects we are proud of. With all the attention immigration is getting these days, with people fleeing very challenging living conditions in impoverished countries, particularly in Central America, our church does its best to welcome immigrants, but it does not solve the basic problem. People need to believe they can build a good life in their home country. That is the focus of El Hogar, and the many inspiring examples of success keep us hooked. Our team trips focus on a cultural exchange, building an understanding of what life is like in the poor districts of Honduras, and how teachers, students, and parents are all working hard and effectively to build a better life for themselves and their country.
Recent Examples:
• Two girls came to El Hogar in grade 3 after struggling in the under-resourced and overcrowded public school. They could not read or write. By grade 5, they were caught up and doing very well thanks to the extra attention of their teachers. Not surprisingly, they both decided they wanted to be teachers. One had a dream one night that they had started a school like El Hogar. She told her friend, who said, “Let’s do it”. These grade 5 girls now operate a school with 15 children under a mango tree in their poor neighbourhood to tutor 15 kids four days a week from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. after their El Hogar day. They follow the same agenda as El Hogar, use some of the materials, and have recruited another El Hogar student as their physical education teacher.
• Two high school students were part of a “STEAM” training class with the help of an outside agency supporting this across the country. They so impressed their instructors that they were invited to join the Honduras robotics competition team at a world competition event in Greece. On their return, they made a presentation to a group of regional leaders and were offered university scholarships that day.
Association with the inspiring work of El Hogar also has a profound impact on each of us. People come back from the team trips with a different, much more informed view of the world outside of Canada, similar to Western countries. They are very grateful for the “luck” that they were born in Canada with all it has to offer, and are compelled to ask themselves, “What responsibility do I then have?” They also have great admiration for the people who work so hard to overcome their challenges and are dedicated to helping their families and others in their country to have a better life. Students here have changed their direction on university studies, others are ardent supporters of our outreach, and one woman from St. Luke’s volunteered at El Hogar for a year and then was hired. She has worked there in Honduras for 10 years.
In an impoverished country like Honduras, second only to Haiti in the western hemisphere, seeing students of El Hogar believing in themselves and what they can accomplish inspires us in our faith in the church and what it can accomplish. www.elhogar.org
Resurrection of Hope in Thundering Waters