7 News Belize

CEO Alpuche: You Can Help Hostel
posted (December 1, 2015)
That was yesterday - and today CEO Alpuche seems to have had a brainstorm. She wants to harness all that public outcry that's been ventilated on Facebook and other social media to try and make things better at the hostel. True enough, it's a place most of us would rather forget - until a tragedy like this occurs - and then everyone turns instant expert on what was wrong all along...

Well, Alpuche says the hostel needs that expertise and that energy - so she today made a call to action. Here's her pitch:...

Judith Alpuche, CEO - Min. Of Human Development
"And I was looking at some of the comments from social media and it struck me that I am seeing the outrage and the empathy and the sympathy and the sadness and it struck me that this is energy. And what we need is more energy, positively harnessed and directed constructed and on behalf of our children. We need more energy and I saw people commenting about the skill sets that they had - like they were psychologist with experience in dealing with this population. Lawyers, doctors etc., and that's what we need. We need more skills. We need more energy and more skills to accelerate this process that we are pushing towards and determine to see happen. And so I wanted to issue a call to action to the general public, a call to action on behalf of the children of Belize Hostel. We have been trying to throughout the years, engaged the public and it's been difficult. We've been more successful with other types of institutions, but for some reason maybe because of the population and some of the stigma that goes along with that - it's been difficult."

"I want to ask people to come and join us. Two ways; we need foster parents. We need foster parents for children who have completed their rehabilitation processes. They can leave the institution, but they have nowhere to go and so I want to call people to become foster parents for these children, so that you can help in guiding that young person and preparing them for adulthood. Providing that substitute family that they don't have right now and at the same time helping us to be able to focus on the other children who still needs the structure on the programming that we have at the Youth Hostel and we are continuing to build at the Youth Hostel. And the other way is through volunteering at the hostel. We need mentors, the girls need mentors, the boys need mentors. We need volunteers to come in especially on the weekends to help us run programs, to diversify the programs that we have and I think that there a lots of skills. Can you play basketball or volleyball? Are you good at gardening? We are putting in an agricultural program - sewing, crochet - whatever. Are you a good story teller or are you into drama and dance - whatever. People have skills that they can bring. But we would love to have people come. Come and walk with us. Come and help us to accelerate this program with and behalf of the children. So it is an outright call to action. Come in the name of Anna. Come in the name of Elizabeth. Come in the name of Shadisha to help us to achieve those goals to create the kind of institutions that we want to see for these children."

Those who want to help as a foster parent or volunteer can call 223-2948, 223-2716.

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