SOFTLY Speaking
Spring 2007 

Love, Lift and Sustain
The future depends on what we do in the present.

After ten years of service, growth and a steep learning curve Softly International continues to develop and carry on projects reaching thousands of children.  Our primary means of serving children is lifting them up and off the ground. Our program in Costa Rica in 2006 placed 3,600 children into beds.

It is your continued financial support that has made this possible! A key factor in our program is to sustain, we not only bring beds, but it is frequently necessary to   provide medicine, food, and school supplies.  This summer forty volunteers will travel to Peru to participate in a humanitarian project and help the Red Cross of Peru deliver medicine.  The volunteers will support the medical team, carry  mattresses up the mountains into isolated mud huts. Our Softly program is not complete without The Magic Dream Pillow Program where volunteers and the children themselves create images of a better future. Generous ongoing contributions can increase the number of children we love, lift, and sustain.

Support Softly Today

  • Please consider making a regular donation to this ongoing and growing program.  A monthly, quarterly or yearly donation will help tremendously.

  • It is your support that will love, lift and support more children in the future.
  • Volunteer to travel to Honduras, Peru or Costa Rica.
  • Support a volunteer bed builder
     

Jose Luis and Jose Alfredo, twins from Roatan, Honduras were referred to Softly five years ago by the local police. They had been severely burned in a fire at the age of six months.  Alfredo’s arm was severely damaged and he has had several corrective surgeries. Softly is in the process of arranging another extensive surgery that can only be preformed in the USA. We are currently working with the Cleveland clinic to explore the possibility of bringing him here for the procedure. Your contributions can help Alfredo.

Bed Building Project on the Island of Roatan

Twenty people from Fairfax VA went this March to the island of Roatan, many to experience their first bed building project.  For everyone it was a life changing experience.  After the group returned home they focused on all they had received in this process of giving..  Jeff Johnson noted he had not seen such severe poverty since his military days in the Philippines. Jeff’s wife Stephanie was utterly amazed at how clean the children were with mud and filth only  inches away.  Amy Levine found the children totally loving and said she would hug differently for the rest of her life due to the hugs she received from these children..  The children expressed such warm loving gratitude for their beds.  Giving a child a bed does dramatically change their life.

Mayumbumba, Peru

In Mayumbumba, Peru three hundred families are living at fourteen thousand feet. The living conditions are extremely primitive and one has the experience of stepping back centuries in time when visiting this isolated community. At this altitude the temperature range is extreme. With direct sun in the day and freezing temperatures at night the people are affected by skin damage and frostbite.  Living above the tree line malnutrition is also a major concern.  These conditions are not unique to the families in Mayumbumba and the Red Cross asks that we support them in providing assistance for similar communities.  In July Softly international, the Peruvian Red Cross  of Cusco, and forty volunteers will be delivering 240 mattresses and medicines provided by Crosslink International.  Typically Softly would provide bunk beds, however the mud huts are to small to accommodate them.  The mattresses will be put on the floor at night and leaned against during the day..  Delivering mattresses, pillows, and blankets is an ongoing project for Softly International.
Children's Centers
Roatan, Honduras and Chuitito, Peru
Softly has created two child care centers which are now being primarily supported by their local communities.

In Peru we established the center in order to feed one hundred and twenty children one meal a day and to provide the mothers a place to work producing native crafts. To sustain the center the mothers organized into a long standing Incan tradition called The Mothers Club.

On the island of Roatan there are now 28 children receiving care and two meals a day while their mothers work. This program was initially funded and created by SOFTLY donations , but now it is primarily supported by local business’ and the municipality. It is run by a board of directors in the local community. During the March bed build Softly volunteers toured and delivered twenty five sleeping mats to the center. The center is thriving and has enabled mothers in the community to work on moving the entire family into a better lifestyle.

To Donate Online

Make all checks payable and mail to SOFTLY International
 2702 Stadium Drive * Durham, NC 24407
Phone 919-620-1616
Visit us on the Web: www.softlyinternational.org

Our mission is clear and easy to understand
--we provide beds to children who have none.

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