7News stopped by to find out a little about their journey as an NGO looking after children who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected. Here's what the Operations Manager had to say about their successes and their current challenges:

David Sobers - Operations Manager, Liberty Children's Home
"So, Liberty was established in August of 2004, and so, we're trying to promote Liberty. This is is our 15 year of existence here in Belize, and we have a lot of support internationally, and we want to know garner that supports locally. So, we want the business community and local persons to come out and see what's up - see what's up with Liberty. What we're doing here at Liberty, we have 31 wonderful residents, and we're trying to launch our sponsor a child program, as well as our mentorship program."

Reporter
"Has it been challenging? We know that resources are always an issue for any organization."

David Sobers
"So, that's one of the reasons. We went to try and have more local partners because it's actually very expensive to run something like this. The day to day expenses are really high, getting food, clothes and [other] stuff for the kids is expensive, and times are really hard. So, we're looking towards getting more support, both with financials, as to help with time to help with whatever we need to get done here at Liberty."

"We actually have 31 kids who, a lot of them have been abused physically, emotionally, sexually - neglected, and so, we're trying to help these kids because these kids go through a lot of trauma, and they deserve a normal life. And so, that's what we're trying to provide here at Liberty."

"So, we're setting up different booths. We have the mentorship program, where we're trying to get persons to give of their time to just build a relationship with the kids, give an hour or 2 a week or a month. As well, we have our sponsorship program, where we're asking both businesses and persons to donate and sponsor a specific child. We have their profile there, so you can choose which child you would want to sponsor, or a monthly basis, if it is short term or a long time. That's what we're trying to promote. And then, we have our partner, the Ministry of Human Development here, to talk about the processes of foster care as well as adoption."

The ministries hope that bringing awareness of wellness practices to young people will encourage them to start to maintain a healthy lifestyle while avoiding the major pitfalls that can lead to poor health.