The following article appeared in The Winchester Star on January 26, 2006. It appears here with permission of Christopher Rocchio.

While the El Hogar Project has been providing a home and education for abandoned, orphaned and poor boys in Tegucigalpa, Honduras since 1979, it may come as a surprise to residents that a piece of the organization has also found a place to call home — right here in Winchester.

El Hogar's North American headquarters are located at Parish of the Epiphany on Church Street, and Ivy Circle resident Liz Kinchen has been the program's North American executive director for the past four years.

"El Hogar has been in existence for 26 years, and its longevity is a strong statement about its success," said Kinchen. "It has an excellent reputation in Honduras."

A little history
Kinchen provided a bit of background on El Hogar's humble beginnings.

In the 1970s, she said Val and Connie de Beausset traveled from Minnesota to Honduras so Val could work in Tegucigalpa as an engineer. The couple would frequently walk the streets of Honduras' capital, and could not help but notice the large number of homeless children, especially boys, said Kinchen.

"Some were sleeping under a piece of cardboard, and there would be small families living under a bridge," said Kinchen. "The poverty was devastating."

The de Beaussets were also attending an Episcopalian church in Tegucigalpa at the time, and with the help of several other church members, rented a small house and collected five boys who had been living on the street. The house was offered to the boys, along with food and clothing, and the group began to regularly attend public school.

This was the simple beginning of El Hogar, which in English means "the home."

"Over the years, El Hogar has incrementally grown," said Kinchen. "We're at the point now where there are more than 200 boys in the program, but it has also expanded in other ways."

Living and learning
Rather than having boys enrolled in the El Hogar program attend public school, the Home of Love and Hope was opened, which acts as the elementary campus that spans roughly three acres. Upward of 75 young boys make their home there and attend school through sixth grade.

Kinchen said initially, El Hogar's programming ended after sixth grade because that is the oldest mandatory age of public education in Honduras.

"El Hogar realized that at the end of sixth grade, the program was just turning these kids back onto the street, and that wasn't enough," said Kinchen.

This was when El Hogar introduced two schools for older boys that offered different three-year programs.

The St. Mary's Technical Institute provides those El Hogar students interested in continuing their education to do so by studying carpentry, welding or electricity. Kinchen said the academic and vocational training the students receive is superior, and the three-year program also includes an internship.

"They graduate with a marketable trade, and almost always they have a job in hand," said Kinchen.

The technical institute had been operating out of a small space until recently, when Kinchen said El Hogar launched a capital campaign to raise $1.5 million. She said most of that goal has already been attained, allowing El Hogar to purchase 10 acres of land outside of Tegucigalpa in an emerging industrial area.

"It's perfect for these guys with a technical trade," she added.

Higher learning through El Hogar can also be found at the Episcopal Agricultural School and Farm, located several miles outside of Tegucigalpa in the Honduran countryside. Kinchen said students here could study animal husbandry or agriculture on a 40-acre farm abundant with various livestock and crops.

"They're learning things relevant to life in Honduras," said Kinchen. "The farming and sustainable agriculture techniques are suitable to the mountainous countryside, and directly usable by the students."

Other than providing a home and education, Kinchen said the staff at El Hogar makes it a priority to create a loving environment for the boys.

"So many of the boys have come from difficult conditions, at El Hogar they're taught everyday that they are special," she said. "We teach them they are not discarded, and are deserving of the chances they have been given."

Kinchen said this environment also helps foster a sense of self-esteem for the students, which is especially evident upon graduation.

Interactive support
Other than giving undesignated donations,'Kinchen said El Hogar has a sponsorship program, in which a group or individual can sponsor a boy. She said the donator is assigned a specific student, one that they will hopefully stay paired with throughout his education at El Hogar, and correspondence is often a part of the sponsorship program, with letters and pictures acting as a means for communication.

"In some cases, the relationship is so strong that the sponsor will go to Honduras to visit," she said.

There are also work teams, and Kinchen said sponsors can sign up, travel to Honduras, live at El Hogar and work on specific projects, such as painting or ground maintenance. She added another important piece of the work teams' job is to interact with the students, getting to know them on an individual level.

"The boys are quite impressed, and realize these people are giving up their time to go there, help out, and spend time with them," said Kinchen. "It's one of the ways we make the boys feel special."

When sponsors visit El Hogar, Kinchen said they are also taken into surrounding neighborhoods to see what life was like for the students before they were enrolled in the program. She said this helps sponsors understand what the program does on a more personal level.

Kinchen added the opportunity the boys receive also translates into them developing a sense of generosity before graduation. She said this is demonstrated in a variety of ways. When Hurricane Mitch devastated much of Tegucigalpa in the late 1990s, Kinchen said El Hogar's campus remained relatively unblemished, and displaced Hondurans could be seen outside the school's gates. This touched the boys so much, many of them donated their own personal clothing to people in the surrounding community.

The boys have been recipients of so much generosity, they appreciate it, and it continues to build in them throughout life," said Kinchen.

El Hogar has been so successful there is currently a waitIng list for boys to be enrolled, according to Kinchen.

"The program works with the extremely poor population of Honduras," she said. "The boys really understand the extraordinary opportunity they are being offered."

El Hogar Ministries, Inc. made a home in Winchester four years ago with the purpose of supporting the organization's project, which is the actual school and home for the boys located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

El Hogar Ministries, a Massachusetts nonprofit organization, supports El Hogar Projects through fund-raising campaigns, communications and donor support. Liz Kinchen has been North American Executive Director of El Hogar Ministries since its inception, and she also works closely with the organization's Board of Directors.

"We're basically able to keep the doors open for the school," said Kinchen.

While El Hogar has internationally been in existence for 26 years, former Parish of the Epiphany Rector Rev. Robert O'Neill introduced it to the Winchester community only several years ago. Kinchen said O'Neill was involved with El Hogar, and realized the all-volunteer network of support that was in place was just not enough to support the growth of the program.

"The program needed something with more stability and centrality," said Kinchen.

It was then that El Hogar was incorporated as a nonprofit, which Kinchen said also aided in fundraising for the organization. O'Neill also asked Kinchen if she would be interested in leaving her position as a development manager in the software industry to become El Hogar's executive director.

"I knew how to manage projects and people, which was largely the kind of skills I was called upon to use when I began working for El Hogar," said Kinchen. "I manage a network of volunteers, as well as institute programs that make communication and fund raising more effective."

Part of Kinchen's job is interacting with El Hogar Projects' Executive Director, Rev. Richard Kunz. She said Kunz lives in Honduras and oversees El Hogar's day-to-day operations. "He also travels around North America telling El Hogar's story," said Kinchen.

As for her involvement with El Hogar, Kinchen said she couldn't be happier. "I absolutely love it," she said

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