March 2020 – Executive Director’s Reflections & News from El Salvador
Catholics will be familiar with the term, “Ordinary Time”. It refers to times within the Church’s annual liturgical cycle when there is no focus on a particular feast (such as Christmas). Rather, it is a celebration of our life with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each other in the Church, in its fullness. This has not been ordinary time.
COAR and COVID-19
At COAR: Wash your hands! Well, social distancing was a challenge for kindergarteners. El Salvador Given the current global situation surrounding the novel coronavirus, we felt it was important to post a short update on what is happening in El Salvador and specifically at COAR. As of April 16th there were 164 diagnosed cases with […]
June 2019 – Serving the Whole Child
COAR (through your gifts) Serves the Whole Child, Into Adulthood, Through Partnerships in El Salvador that Strengthen the Entire Society Beginning last year COAR entered into partnership with a Salvadoran charity called Across Mission. It is an evangelical organization that supports three projects in El Salvador. Because of their work with COAR’s director, Marta Calderon, […]
December 2018 – An Orphanage That Doesn’t Seem Like An Orphanage
This article was excerpted from NPR’s Goats and Soda ~ it shows that COAR has the ideal structure, and culture, for this kind of foster-care facility [excerpt:] Orphanages are falling out of favor. . . The big question is: Would he fare any better if he were living with his biological parents? Duke University professor […]
These Kids Have Talent!
In December of 2016, COAR decided to promote a new workshop at the Children’s Village: a drawing and painting workshop. Anyone who travels to El Salvador knows that the country is replete with talented artists. If there is a gene for artistic creativity, Salvadorans have been blessed with it in excess. The kids enjoyed the […]
COAR’s School chosen as Launching Point for Salvadoran Government’s Free Lunch program
COAR’s School was chosen by the Salvadoran Ministry of Education as the launching point for the government’s new initiative to combat child delinquency, gang recruitment and hunger. Throughout the third world, 7th, 8th and 9th graders attend school for 5 hours each day – usually in the morning starting at 7am. But, at noon, they […]
Paradise Down donates another free year of Down Syndrome services to support COAR child
Our cover girl for our 2017 Annual Benefit is Fatima, sporting a beautiful blue butterfly “tattoo” from Christmas 2016. Here is a story about her from 2015: Several years ago, COAR welcomed our first child with Down Syndrome. She is a wonderful girl with a bright and lively spirit who only wants to please. Thanks […]
Religious Retreats at COAR: Love of God, Dialog and Reflection
Besides weekly masses, religion classes, catechism classes, 1st Communion, Confirmation, and baptisms, COAR is working in partnership with the Sisters of Our Lady of the Pillar of Zaragoza to offer our teens religious retreats where they can be open, honest and reflective about God, spirituality, moral decision making and their own self reflection, fears, and […]
Leading the Way in El Salvador: Foster Care Must Adapt to Realities on the Ground
COAR and our generous donors have always responded to the needs of the poor, neglected and at-risk children of El Salvador. In the 1980s, COAR grew organically out of the reality. With the Salvadoran civil war raging in the countryside, war orphans were appearing daily at the Church in Zaragoza on the outskirts of San […]
COAR opens its own Art, Music and Play Therapy Center thanks to a generous Salvadoran Donor
When the Salvadoran Civil War was ravaging the country, destroying families and generating countless widows and orphans daily, our Founder, Father Ken, was focused on sheltering, protecting, feeding and clothing the growing mass of war-orphaned Salvadoran children. There was one clear over-arching goal: protect the children so that they could survive the war. 35 years […]