OUR LITTLE ROSES

On March 10th 2007, Integrity of the Palm Beaches hosted a Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser for Our Little Roses Ministries. Dr. Diana Frade spoke about this great ministry she started in Honduras in 1988 and Bishop Frade attended as well.

In Honduras where poverty is rampant, abused and neglected children frequently are homeless, starved and oftentimes, ill. For years this is a serious find themselves the plight of abandoned girls ignored.

The wife of the Episcopal Bishop of Southeast Florida, Dr. Diana Frade saw the tremendous need and the ministry of Our Little Roses began in 1988. The ministry started in a small rented house with 26 girls.

In 1990 government officials of the city of San Pedro Sula saw the success and changed lives in the girls at Our Little Roses. They gave some land to the ministry on which two buildings were built and where 76 girls now live.

In Honduras, there is no other facility dedicated to helping abandoned and homeless girls through elementary school through college to break the cycle of poverty and give these girls the opportunity to have a better life. Their education and health care are provided for by the donations of great folks in the U.S., Europe and other countries. This is so important because girls with no skills have little to no opportunities to escape poverty level circumstances.

The Little Roses girls graduating from high school who attend university also hold jobs to help offset some of the expenses of their education. Other ministries housed within the walled campus include Holy Family Bilingual School, chapel and B and B hostel.

There are no governmental social services or funds for Honduran children who become victims of violence, poverty, disease and oppression. The need was desperate in 1988, and it is even more compelling today. Children are often forced onto the streets to fend for themselves when their families cannot or will not care for them. Poverty produces abusive situations for many pre- adolescent girls who are deprived of an education by being kept home to take care of younger siblings, with no adult supervision or oversight.

In 2003, when the Diocese of New Hampshire elected Bishop Gene Robinson as their new Bishop, some Floridians were furious with Bishop Frade for voting in favor of Bishop Robinson. Some donors decided to punish Bishop Frade for his vote by cutting off their pledges to Our Little Roses. But this unchristian act didn’t punish Bishop Frade. It punished the little girls at Our Little Roses.

You can learn more about Our Little Roses at http://www.ourlittleroses.org/