A Place To Bloom

Puerto Rico is a beautiful place; everything here is colorful. The mountains, valleys, and even the sea waters have different shades of colors. It feels as if it is summer all year round with flowers blooming everywhere. As an islander, I wish my description of my homeland would end here, but the truth is that we also have serious social problems like government corruption, a large number of single moms and grandmothers raising their grandkids, child abuse, an abandoned elderly population, lack of fair salaries, a very fragile power grid, et cetera. Still, amidst all these social issues you can find people fighting against our broken system. Many are willing to look beyond their personal needs and become a blessing to others in need. People like Luis from the campsite Camino, Verdad y Vida (The Way, Truth and Life), Amarilis from Techos Pa’ Mi Gente (Roofs For My People), Carlos from The Happy Givers, Kevin from Forjadores de Esperanza (Hope Builders) and Tina from Blooming House. They're all helping people around them either by sharing a hot meal or literally putting a roof over their heads. Amoveo and a group of youth from Medway Community Church will be working with some of them in the following weeks. We will keep you posted on the work that will be done. However, today I would like to point out Tina’s work at Blooming House and how you can be part of it.

Last November, our staff got a chance to visit Blooming House, a foster home for girls specialized in mental health directed and founded by Tina Tirado. As Tina showed us around the house she told us that after working as a psychologist for children in different orphanage and foster homes and seeing first hand the precarious conditions in which the children were living she decided to establish her own foster home so girls who have been removed from their families by the government could have a beautiful and safe home to grow and bloom to their fullest. As Tina kept talking we could all see how passionate she was about helping girls without homes and how proactive she had been regarding this matter. At that moment I remembered when I first met Tina, we were both in our teens, she used to talk about helping people with the same passion that she showed that day. Though Tina is a hard working woman and all her family has pitched in to make Blooming House a reality, if you listen carefully to her full story you can see between the lines how God has put people around her to help her achieve this goal of having a safe place for girls without homes. It is my belief that Tina needs people sent by God to stand next to her once again.

I have recently learned that, because of the constant power outages on the island, one of the refrigerators at Blooming House broke and are in need of a new one. At the time of our visit last November, there were no girls yet in the house, but as of today, they have nine girls living full-time in the house. To replace the refrigerator Tina would need to raise around $1,673. Please consider donating to this project. Also, pray for the girls so that amidst their difficult situation they can find comfort and healing in the Lord, and for Tina and her staff as they keep working to provide a safe place for girls without homes.

Evianly Lamboy

Amoveo’s Site Coordinator in Puerto Rico

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