In 1998 hurricane Mitch devastated homes and villages across Honduras.  Traveling to Honduras with a relief team, Bill Gass was moved to help the poor when he visited the village of San Juan Pueblo.  There he found 65 extremely poor families that lost their homes and property to flooding caused by the Hurricane.  They lived along the banks of the river which flooded removing not only their homes but their land as well leaving a rocky area which would flood during even small storms.

The families were living in temporary shelters made of sticks and plastic sheeting on the public school grounds.  They were given until February, when school resumed, to evacuate the property.
Bill promised these families that he would return and help them to rebuild their homes.

In December of 1998 Bill and Ellen Gass returned and purchased 5 acres of land just outside San Juan Pueblo to build new homes. The families named the project "Mission De Esperanza" or translated to English it reads  "Mission of Hope".Bill & Ellen Returned in February 1999 with volunteers from the United States to begin work on the project.

The homes built by Mission of Hope were constructed using  pole barn construction methods with the preferred Honduran walls, cement block.

Mission of Hope required that families receiving homes work daily through out the construction period.  The village families worked along side the volunteers for four months to complete the first Mission of Hope-Honduras community.

Even the children pitched in to help where they could.  They carried rocks, water and cement needed for the projects.

Since the families were working with us and they had no money for food, Mission of Hope-Honduras had to provide for these families during the construction period.  We see here the kitchen area which was set up during construction of the Mission of Hope-Honduras village.  The women prepared corn tortillas, beans and rice on their adobe stoves made from mud.

In May of 1999 343 proud Hondurans began their new lives in their new homes. This mission has truly helped to restore hope and dignity to a people who thought they had lost everything.

This is the family that moved into house number 4.  Bessy seen in the center of the picture is 13.  The others all decked out in the new clothes they were given from a MOH-H clothing drive are her siblings.  Bessy's mother passed away shortly after the flood and Bessy assumed the responsibility of head of household.

This aerial view shows the original Mission of Hope-Honduras village on the outskirts of San Juan Pueblo.

Mission of Hope-Honduras continues to build homes for the desperately poor of Honduras.  One such family they found living in deplorable conditions had a wheelchair bound daughter Angelica.  On their first visit, Bill and Cristian had to literally lift the wheelchair out of the wet mud floor of their dwelling so she could get outside.

Today Angelica lives in a dry and secure new home with a cement floor and even a ramp for her new wheelchair.  Her home is shown here while under construction.

In 2003, Mission of Hope-Honduras helped a farm co-op composed of very poor farmers living on land discarded by the Dole Company which was nearly a swamp.

A few families had acceptable living structures but others lived under unacceptable living conditions.

Due to the muddy conditions, materials had to be carried in over 1/2 mile.  Cement blocks for homes were also in short supply near the co-op.

Mission of Hope-Honduras set up a cement block making machine near the main road to make blocks for the new homes.

It was a wonderful group of people with the best work ethics we have encountered.  In spite of the harsh building conditions, Mission of Hope-Honduras was able to build six new homes in the co-op that year.

Another large on going home Mission of Hope-Honduras project began in 2004 with the donation of a large tract of land to Mission of Hope-Honduras in the village of Verdun.

Not only was this a good building site but it was also located very close to a school, church and grocery store.

In our first year at Verdun, we surveyed roads and lots and were able to build the first five houses in the development.  Since then we have been able to add new homes to the development as desperately poor families are found that can be relocated to the area.

Since it is often is difficult for families to relocate to new areas, if possible we try to build on the site where they presently live if they possess legal title to the land.

While a new home is being built, families often continue to live in the old structure.  Since the poor own very small lots if fortunate enough to own anything at all, space can  be extremely tight.  Here is an example of the extreme situation on the right.

If you would like to be part of a Mission of Hope-Honduras construction team, check out the "How Can I Help? " page.