RSSFrom a child, a mission grows
Baby's plight leads Valley family to set up special-needs ministry in HondurasYakima Herald-Republic
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YAKIMA, Wash. -- It all started with José.
Just 6 pounds at 6 months of age, born with Down Syndrome and club feet, his family couldn't afford to keep him.
So they packed him in a cardboard box and abandoned him.
He came precariously close to dying. But it wasn't meant to be.
"Mom, I have a baby," said the voice over the telephone.
Brenda Young was startled, as any mother of a young, single daughter might be.
It was 1995, and Brenda and Mark Young's 21-year-old daughter, Amber, was calling from a church camp in rural Honduras where she was working. She had found little José alone in a nearby home and was seeking advice from her parents on how to help him.
And that's how one little boy, and a phone call, blossomed into Little Hands, Big Hearts, a ministry for disabled children in Honduras, the third poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, after Haiti and Cuba.
As for José, the Youngs, who were living in Ellensburg at the time, raised enough money to bring him to the United States for surgery.
Now 14, he lives with a foster family in Honduras.
Mark, who is executive director of Little Hands, Big Hearts, and Brenda have devoted much of their lives since 1998 to building a family center in Trujillo, Honduras, a remote area along the Caribbean coast accessible only by boat or plane.
The mission provides nutritional, educational, spiritual and therapeutic assistance to children with disabilities and their families.
On Sept. 30, they'll lead 11 volunteers from around the Northwest to Trujillo on a 12-day mission.
The Youngs' church, Summit View Church of Christ on North 72nd Avenue, is overseeing the mission. When he isn't volunteering or raising funds for the mission, Mark works as the hospice development director for the Memorial Foundation. The couple moved to Yakima three years ago.
The Youngs -- Brenda is 60 and Mark is 59 -- are well aware of the recent political unrest in Honduras, which began in June when President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a military coup.
In fact, the Youngs canceled a trip in July because of the turmoil, but now they're determined that politics won't keep them from their mission.
"As the group leader, I always worry about everything," Mark acknowledged. "But I believe if we're doing God's work, God will protect us."
While there, they'll act as aides for the physician traveling with them. They'll also distribute beans and rice to needy families and give out nutritional information and vitamins.
In addition, they'll help in the preschool and oversee several classes, such as Bible study, character building for teens and a sewing class to teach a marketable skill to girls and women.
The Youngs established the mission several years after they first visited Honduras in 1998. Although they were drawn in by the plight of José, they initially had no intention of doing anything permanent there.
"We were satisfied being middle-class people with good jobs, but that's not what God had in mind," Mark recalled.
When they visited the impoverished country, they saw firsthand that services for disabled children were nonexistent, with food and shelter scarce for everyone.
The Youngs decided that they would devote themselves to helping families see that special-needs children aren't a liability.
The first step was quitting their jobs -- he worked at Central Washington University, she at a preschool -- going to a Spanish language school and settling in Honduras from 2002-'06.
They found a run-down, former orphanage building to begin their mission. At first they arranged for children to be flown to the United States for treatment. But that proved prohibitively expensive, with the added disadvantage of separating children from their families.
Now, medical personnel travel to the Little Hands, Big Hearts center in Honduras at least once a year.
A team of four Florida physicians has made the trip twice, and a medical and dental brigade from Mississippi has also visited. The mission's medical director is the Youngs' daughter, Dr. Amber Figueroa -- the same Amber who rescued little José 14 years ago. She's now a family practice physician in Yakima.
In addition to Amber, the Youngs have three other biological children, who are adults, and a 19-year-old adopted son.
About 300 people have traveled on Little Hands, Big Hearts missionary trips through the years. Each one pays $1,200 for the 12-day experience.
Once in Honduras, they don't exactly face luxurious conditions: There's no hot water at the center, no air conditioning and often no electricity, but there's plenty of humidity and mosquitoes.
Still, it was a life-changing experience for Cherrie Picatti of Yakima, who joined a mission trip in 2006. She taught Bible classes to children in both English and Spanish, handed out medications and helped out in the kitchen.
"It made me more grateful for what I have," she noted.
It was also uplifting to be part of a group that ranged in age from 30 to mid-70, all with different talents and all working on the same goal.
"It was inspiring seeing people from Washington, New Hampshire and Georgia, who didn't know each other, come together to help children," Picatti, 60, said.
Since 2002, Little Hands, Big Hearts has helped 30 children with serious problems get medical treatment or undergo surgery. More typical illnesses seen in the clinic include infections, parasites, malnutrition, complications from HIV and wounds.
Funding comes not only from members of the Summit View Church of Christ, but from seven other churches around the country that contribute monthly. Another 34 ministry partners also give money. It costs about $3,000 a month to operate the mission.
Even though the Youngs receive no salary for their mission, they describe being compensated in many other ways.
"It's all to the glory of God," explained Mark. "The satisfaction comes from knowing we help families and children."
* For more information, contact Mark Young at 509-388-9357, e-mail TrujilloHearts@yahoo.com or visit www.LittleHandsBigHearts.net.
* Jane Gargas can be reached at 509-577-7690 or jgargas@yakimaherald.com.
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