Jesse and his baby sister Maria 2005
Our little boy, Jesse, turned 7 in March of 2004. For his birthday party, instead of presents, he asked his friends to bring money for World Hope, an international aid charity. His goal was to raise enough money to buy a pig for a family in Africa. He and his friends raised $92. Jesse bought a pig.
Jesse died in an accidental drowning in June of 2005. After an outpouring of donations flooded World Hope, they dedicated their annual gift catalog to Jesse’s memory. In March of 2006 we decided to celebrate Jesse’s birthday the way he would have, so we threw a “World Hope Birthday Party” at our church. We handed out Jesse Jar labels to all our friends, family, soccer teams, classmates, colleagues: anyone who would gather their spare change in a jar in memory of Jesse. We all gathered on a Sunday near his birthday and emptied our Jesse Jars into one big barrel. We raised $5000 that day.
In February 2007, Mike and Drew traveled with a missions team from our church to an orphanage in Honduras. After a week working on the facilities and getting to know the kids, Mike knew that Casa Hogar was the place to invest the funds from future Jesse Jars. Casa Hogar is a home that cares for 24 children. Since then our church has sent down one or two short term mission teams a year and we have seen the kids grow in love, knowledge and confidence as they experience the security and hope at Casa Hogar.
CWC 2011 Missions Team with the kids of Casa Hogar
The children are now each sponsored individually by families in our church allowing them to attend school. We have had prolonged and personal contact with the orphanage and its staff and we are completely certain that all money raised for the children goes only for their direct benefit to meet their needs. 100% of donations made through Michael-Molinet.com go directly to Casa Hogar handled by Community Wesleyan Church at 112 Downer Street • Baldwinsville, NY 13027.
Our family has been blessed to see Jesse’s simple example of generosity become an opportunity to change the lives of children far away in Honduras. We welcome your partnership in this experience!
Thank you,
The Molinets- Mike, Kelly, Drew, Sydney, Liam, Maria, Bella and Sam