Growing Faith by Wyatt West

My name is Wyatt, I am 27 years old and I live in California.

This Summer I will be visiting Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage for one month to help as a homebuilding intern. I will be in charge of many tasks such as overseeing build sites, facilitating group activities and maintaining the orphanage grounds. My history with Project Mexico began in 2014. I took my first trip to Project Mexico as a member of one of the many Summer build groups. The week was filled with work, a lot of nerves and awkwardness and a lot of fun! This was my first time out of the country and a huge leap out of my comfort zone.

During introductions at the beginning of the week one of the icebreaker questions was why each of us had decided to visit Project Mexico. My response was, “My mom made me go”.

I returned the following year as part of a week-long build group, missed one year due to a surgery and then returned for a third time in 2017 as a Summer intern. Wow. That Summer was probably the most exciting Summer I’d ever experienced. It was filled with all manner of events! There were good times, hard times, crazy times and everything in between. I gained a lot of self-confidence through my experiences that Summer.

The following year (2018) I returned as an intern for a second time and got another dose of unique challenges and personal growth. 2018 was the last time interned for Project Mexico. During the last several years I have visited the orphanage during the off-season (Fall, Winter and Spring) and been a part of three Summer build groups with the same church. I also visited my best friend who moved there to take charge of homebuilding for two years.

I love Project Mexico. I love it so much that I have considered moving there and working for them on many occasions. As time has gone on, however, moving there does not seem like the right thing for me to do, at least not at this time.

My love for Project Mexico is still as strong as it has ever been and I miss spending time there. After a lot of thought and conversations with priests, friends, family and others, I have decided to dedicate one month this Summer as a homebuilding intern. With that decision and upon being accepted as an intern once again, there are certain obligations I am entitled to, one of these being the responsible party for raising $3,000 for my trip. $1,600 of this sum will go to me as a stipend and $1,400 will go to the internship program.

If the funds raised exceed $3,000, the excess goes directly to Project Mexico as a donation. God willing, with your help, I can reach the goal of $3,000 before my Summer journey! I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to be returning to Project Mexico as an intern! Getting to work, pray, attend services and meet many other Orthodox Christians almost every day is a dream come true!

I am eager to experience another Summer at Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage. I can’t wait to have those crazy, amazing experiences once again!

If you’d like to support my mission work this summer you can donate directly by clicking the button below.

Community Service Internships Abroad at Project Mexico

Open Application for Summer 2023 Internship

Every summer, Project Mexico invites many young adults to participate in our Home Building program. Their primary role is to guide and facilitate our volunteer groups as they build their homes. These passionate, caring and energetic leaders are very special and they represent shining examples of dedicated service in the eyes of our volunteers. Our interns live on the orphanage property and spend time with our boys and they embody all that is special about our commitment to service to others. In order to be invited, our interns must be 18 years of age or older, able to commit approximately 9 weeks during the summer, must have participated in at least one homebuilding event, and must pass our screening process. WE ARE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR 2023

A Role for Everyone by Anna Cunningham

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

My second summer as an intern I began site-leading. Previously each site I had worked on had been run by someone else and I was one of the assisting interns, but my second summer duty called and ready-or-not it was my turn to be in charge. To say I was nervous is accurate, but by the glory of God the house went up despite my mistakes and short-comings. That week was stressful for many reasons both internal and external and I was relived to be on-site building, but not in charge during the build week that followed.

A few recovery-builds later it was my turn to site-lead again. This time I knew the build far better and prepared thoroughly in an effort to correct my earlier mistakes. However, when the group arrived new worry struck me down again. One of my group members was a professional contractor, and had been for many years.

“Oh no,” I thought. “This guy will know I’m a phony.”

This group was interesting because instead of it consisting of one or two parishes that brought 10-20 people, it consisted of at least 4 parishes all mixed together. Among those volunteers from at least four different states, besides the contractor, there was a priest, two doctors, a handful of accomplished professionals in various fields, the wife of a construction specialist, and at least one person who had built homes with Project Mexico over ten summers in a row. That’s a lot to live up to. These people from all over the country took time out of their busy schedules and traveled to Mexico to build a home for a worthy family. They deserved excellent expertise and leadership, and instead they got me. Some 21-year-old from Ohio.

I studied, and I prayed and I prayed and I studied. Once again God blessed me with far more than I deserve, and the week went incredibly well. No one questioned my requests or disagreed with one-another. 30 strangers from four different states (6 different states if you include staff members as well) became a small family. As the outsider, I quickly forgot who came from which state and while I watched everyone work and interact, I couldn’t tell who had known each other for their entire lives and who had only met days prior. Two men who had only known each other for 48 hours were carrying on fluently in Greek and when I watched in amazement, a third man from a third group assured me not to worry because they weren’t talking about me.

The contractor took two kids under his wing and taught them all his tricks. The kids from all the groups laughed and took photos together. I walked inside at one point and found the priest, despite language barriers, working with the father of the home to install the door. In that moment and to this day I look back fondly on that week, and thank God for bringing that group of people together.

At the end of each build we come together to discuss and decompress. I sat in wonder as each of those accomplished, experienced professionals thanked us profusely for our work as interns. I had, and still have, so much less to look back on, so few years of experience compared to them, but it never showed. They treated me with the utmost respect and approval and I never felt as if I was lesser than anyone. They taught me humility, kindness, and servitude, not by speech, but by example. I hope and I pray that I can bestow the kindness and respect everyone that I meet that that group showed to me. I was assigned to be leader of that site, and through my experience on other sites and by watching them interact, I learned how to become a true leader from their examples, and their love.

Anna Cunningham is the Homebuilding Coordinator for Project Mexico and St Innocent Service Works

Everyday Saints: A Reflection by Faeli Heise

COVID and other life events made me realize how comfortable I had become with my life. Small things—perhaps even insignificant things—were pressing, panic-worthy, and rocked my world in a way they definitely didn’t need to. My endurance and my ability to have faith were barely being tested in the grand scheme of things. And yet, I felt like I was coming apart at the seams and like I had nothing to hold myself together with. I didn’t know how to even cry out for help...or rather, to Whom I should cry out for help. 

I’ve had a perspective shift since then, and I can look back and see just a few of the ways that I was being prepared for where I currently am. God was making room in my heart that I didn’t know I had.

My endurance—my resilience—is perhaps greater than it was because of that process and the work that was being done in me. Thank God! I know Who to ask for help, now. And while I have so far yet to come, I am convinced that St. Innocent Orphanage is the best place to learn by example. 

Have you ever met someone and then learned something shocking about them after getting to know them? A part of their history, something they’ve been through, something out of the ordinary? It probably changes your perspective of them. Perhaps you think of it every time you see them, or instead it just molds itself into their makeup and who they are to you. 

But have you ever heard something shocking about someone and then met them later on? Maybe without having known you would ever meet them at all?

These are two different scenarios. 

In my experience with the latter, the “shock factor” quickly wears off after you hear it. But then you meet the person it pertains to and you get to know them, and though it may take some time, it all comes back. And it comes back hard. 

This has been my experience with every one of these boys. 

It’s so easy to hear and say words like “abuse” and “institution” and “homeless.” It can even be easy to hear second hand stories about these things. It’s easy to watch the news, isn’t it? But if you ever live alongside those flesh and blood statistics and stories and they become like your family, things get very real very fast.

My experience has not been easy. I did a lot of questioning at first. I questioned my ability to be resilient in the face of these kids who have faced actual evil. As I have come to know them better, the mostly-faceless-mostly-nameless boy has become my neighbor, my playmate, my little brother, and my friend. The stories have sunk in deeper, stuck and sometimes I still question my own abilities. 

But I continue to get to know them, and I continue to hear stories every now and then. Mostly I continue to pray that I will--one day-- be able to emulate their ability to accept the grace of God and to be resilient in the face of evil. Without knowing the stories or the facts, you wouldn’t guess what they’ve seen and endured. And if you guessed, you simply wouldn’t know. It’s truly humbling: I feel like I’ve come so far in my own journey, but I know now that everything is relative because their ability to endure puts me to shame. These eighteen boys will never know how much they influence and teach me.

As I write this in all my brutal honesty, I realize that I am surrounded every single day by everyday saints. We share meals, inside jokes, a laptop for school.We share the Eucharist, a home, and a family. I dwell among saints. Yes...they’re everyday saints who wipe their hands on their shirts, say “no manches” and fall asleep during catechism. They’re everyday saints that I give a “mom look” to every now and then. But they’re also saints who have overcome more than I will see in a lifetime. They teach me while I muddle along teaching them. 

A wise woman who knows them well once said to me: “These boys are going straight to Heaven before I ever am. I will be asking for their prayers. After they’ve been through what they’ve been through...you just can’t blame them. For anything.”  And I don’t; because you can’t. There is nothing to blame. There is only room for learning resilience and accepting the grace of God who never abandons his children. 

Faeli Heise is a veteran homebuilding volunteer and current Project Mexico & St Innocent Orphanage Intern serving at St Innocent.

Orthodox Service Leadership Program - Summer 2020 (Mexico)

Thanks to George and Judy and the Marcus Foundation for their generous grant, the Service Leadership Intern Program was a great success at Project Mexico. This video documents the months of work and service conducted by the dedicated Interns at Project Mexico. The Interns provided critical support for the boys of St Innocent Orphanage during the mandatory lockdown, assisted staff and counselors and made a lasting connection to Orthodox service. On behalf of Project Mexico and St Innocent Service Works we'd like to thank George and Judy Marcus for making this summer's internship program possible. We'd also like to thank our incredible interns for their patience, resilience and flexibility.

Video by Luke Andruchow

COVID-19: A Letter from Executive Director Fr. Demetrios

Operating a Non-Profit During a Crisis

Remain Calm and Minister to Those in Need

Like many organizations, we are concerned and being proactive in our response to COVID-19. Like many non-profits, we are no strangers to crisis, especially operating a home building volunteer program and orphanage in Baja, Mexico. We are responsible for the lives of our boys and staff on the ranch as well as hundreds of volunteers who join us each summer to build homes for families in Mexico. With regard to the current world crisis, we will approach this as Orthodox. Listening to the science and experts, remain calm and minister to those in need and at risk.

First and foremost, the safety of all Project Mexico boys, staff and volunteers is paramount to the successful operation of the orphanage, ranch and our teams on our build sites. At the Orphanage, we are practicing and implementing strict hygiene protocols to limit exposure and contamination. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide additional updates to the trustees as it evolves. 

First and foremost, at this time do not anticipate any change to our summer 2020 Home Building schedule. However, we are preparing contingency plans in the event that travel restrictions and travel bans are still in effect in the summer. As of now, the restrictions seem to point towards a relaxing of restrictions around mid-May, though we know this is correlated to the containment of the virus. 

We are waiving our 90-day cancellation policy. You can, if necessary, cancel your home building work trip up to 24 hours on the day of your trip. In fact, with airlines waiving change fees, and lowering fares, now may be the ideal time to book your flights and retain maximum flexibility. 

Please understand that this is a dynamic and ever-evolving response to the rapidly changing situation around the world and in the US response to COVID-19.

If business returns to normal this will leave us in good shape for the summer home building 2020 season. As we develop contingency plans and opportunities to support our ministry in response to this crisis, we will release those as soon as possible for you to have the options you need to: continue to support our ministry and to address the safety and travel concerns of your group members and parishes.

As the stock market has reacted to the pandemic,  your financial support of the Orphanage is more crucial than ever. We have a loving and dedicated staff caring for 17 growing boys. Our Orphanage may prove more crucial than ever in the event of more children being orphaned due to the Coronavirus.  

We plan to continue our ministry and grow it to meet the needs. This will only be possible through your generous support, prayers, goodwill, and strength of giving to assist us in this time.  We are also coordinating with our partner ministries of the Orthodox Church to mobilize and assist them in their own COVID-19 responses.

While we are all focused on our loved ones and our own health and financial concerns, as Lazarus laying at the door of his neighbor, the poor, widows, and orphaned are always at hand awaiting whatever generosity and humanity we can give, even the widow’s mite makes a difference. In particular, with food kitchens and homeless shelters closing due to restrictions on crowd size, this leaves those most vulnerable at particular risk for exposure and hunger.  

Orthodox have been ministering to the poor, widows, and the orphaned since Pentecost and the Apostles appointment of deacons to minister to the needy. This is our faith, this is our response, this is our way, that in times of affliction and need, we respond by conquering our fear with the hope of the Lord who conquered death by trampling down the ability of death to determine our lives. He freed us from the fear of death and gave us the hope to live more abundantly, both in this world and in the world to come.  

Therefore, it is important that we muster our strength and keep those values and work even harder than before, renewing our efforts through the ministry to those in need in times of great crisis. 

I ask that you please keep all of the boys and staff and missionaries at Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage in your prayers,

With the love of Christ, 

Fr. Demetrios

Executive Director

Project Mexico Gap Year Internship

Project Mexico is happy to announce its first formal year-long internship program.

The program will be held in Eagle River, Alaska and begins September 15, 2019 and will conclude in August 2020 in Mexico. Interns will go to Mexico in early May to prepare for the summer home building season.

The program will be done in conjunction with OCMC and Saint John Orthodox Cathedral, which will provide a loving, supportive church community for the interns during their stay in Alaska. OCMC missionaries Michael and Jennifer Saur are bringing their immersive missionary experience from Project Mexico to Alaska to help set up and run the program.

Learning service development will include work at the Downtown Hope Center in Anchorage in addition to other social service agencies in Anchorage, Eagle River, and Wasilla. Work with the OCA Diocese of Alaska will be done as well as it becomes available.

There will also be opportunities for Alaskan adventures (i.e. snowboarding, skiing, hiking,etc).

Tuition for the program is $15,000. This covers the entire year and includes travel costs, rent, and a living stipend.

Space is limited, so apply immediately!

To Apply:

Contact program overseer Fr. Matthew Howell FrMatthew@ProjectMexico.org.  

Love Your Neighbor by Anna Cunningham

Home building season is upon us and we started our first week with a training build to teach our summer interns the ins-and-outs of the construction. Because this is the first build of the season, we chose the family with the most immediate needs. In this case our “family" was an elderly woman, her dogs, hens, and plants. 

She makes cookies and sells them in the market for money. All of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren live in southern Mexico and do not have the funds to visit her very often if at all. Because of this, she relies on help from friends in the community and refers to her dogs as her, “familia.” She has limited mobility in her knees and recently had surgery to regain movement in the fingers in her left hand.

She was living in a quaint apartment in Rosarito for years, but the landlord decided that he didn’t want to rent out that unit anymore and told her she had to leave by mid-April. Through the glory of God she had a lot of support from friends in the community who saw her through this difficult time. A friend she works with in the market told us about her situation, so we decided to build our first house of the season for her. Another friend owned property near where we were building the new house and let her stay there during the 45 day transition. Someone else has been looking after the dogs.

Her friends constructed temporary housing near the new home out of left-over wood, boards, and bricks. Tarps were stretched over the top to create a roof. The space was well-constructed, and she was able to adjust her routine to acclimate to it. But each time we went to see her there was a new leak in the tarp roof. 

The land she bought is in a beautiful, peaceful area out in the hills on the outskirts of town. The owner of the land gave her 200 cinder blocks to use as she wished. Similarly, when we arrived on the first day there was a water tap conveniently located near the build site. She told us that a neighbor had put it in the night before so that we would have water during the build. She also prepared the land by hiring out a man with a machine, as many families do, striking a deal with him to exchange a chicken for his work.

Her community stepped up and helped her every step of the way above and beyond the services we provide. Project Mexico arrived with the gifts we are able to offer, built the house, and secured her living space. Project Mexico survives and thrives by blessings from God in the form of donations, interns willing to give their summers building homes, volunteers who work with us, and the local community that has welcomed us since 1988. 

“Let a friend be with you on every occasion, and let brethren be useful in necessities, for they are begotten for this reason.” (Proverbs 17:19, Orthodox Study Bible)

Glory to God for help from friends! 

2019 Summer Internships Open!

Introducing 3 exciting new internship roles for Summer 2019!

Anyone who has been involved in a home building trip with Project Mexico knows that our faithful and hardworking interns are at the heart of everything we do. Interns from across the nation dedicate their entire summer to living in basic conditions in Mexico. They work diligently alongside our home building coordinator to facilitate 600+ volunteers to build homes for impoverished families in Mexico.

They become part of daily life on the ranch, helping maintain and prepare all that is needed for the arrival of volunteer groups. Not least of all, they become family to the boys of St. Innocent Orphanage. Our internships can be a milestone of spiritual growth and maturation. For many it has been both a transformational and life-defining experience.

If construction isn’t your thing but you desire to serve with us next Summer, then we have some great news for you! In addition to our homebuilding intern positions, we have expanded our program to include the following new positions:

Group Facilitator (must have youth leadership experience): Your main responsibility will be to mentor, supervise and facilitate the other interns, conducting debrief and processing groups, provide one to one guidance, assisting in coordination of intern activities and trips and facilitate volunteer group discussions.  Seminary, teaching, youth work, camp staff experience would be very helpful. This position may suit school teachers or seminarian students/graduates.

Media Intern: Your main responsibility will be to document through photographs, video and writing: the volunteer groups, home builds, families, events and activities of the boys of St. Innocent Orphanage. You will also be responsible for hospitality of Volunteers both on the build site and ranch.  Depending on your skill you will be assigned to a media role and work with Project Mexico’s marketing team. You will also work in other areas as needed.

Medical Intern:  If you have medical training, such as first aid, CPR, EMT, Nursing, please indicate the experience, any certifications, experience, or training you have.  We hope to have several trained individuals on staff each summer.

The positions above may overlap depending on a volunteer’s skills and experience and the number of suitable candidates who apply.

We are now accepting applications, please submit your applications before November 30th, 2018.

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Striving for Good By John Touloupis

I pulled out a greasy old aluminum pan and kicked on the stove. Searching the fridge, I finally found my eggs. I tossed a little bit of butter into the pan along with two slices of white bread. For the past two months, whenever I wanted a little alone time in Mexico, I cooked a small breakfast for myself. I found peace and harmony in the kitchen amidst the morning chaos as my nine roommates ran around brushing their teeth, checking tools for the worksite, and looking for missing work boots.

However, I wasn’t in the 800-square-foot intern house in Mexico cooking up my favorite breakfast meal, but rather back in my sweet home state of Alabama. There were no early morning shouts for keys to cars or people asking to borrow a pair of socks. Only silence and the sound of eggs frying in the pan.

I thought going home would be easy. I was wrong.

While I missed my family and friends dearly, I found comfort in my life in Mexico.

I got to go to church twice a day, a rarity for a college student like me. I spent time getting schooled in soccer by the boys on the ranch. A local man befriended me and helped show me the ways of construction, culture, and life in Mexico.

I saw poverty I’ve never seen before. People living in shacks made of scraps of plywood and garage doors. People living in holes on the side of the highway. Children with special needs peddling chocolate bars in the streets.

In the midst of all of this though, I saw some of the purest happiness I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ll never forget the excitement on a four-year-old’s face as we finished painting his new red house.

Words cannot do justice.

Each and every week when we started leveling the rocky terrain to pour a concrete pad we gave families hope. As I learned during my time in Mexico, we were not simply building homes, but building futures.

The houses we built for people like a loving grandmother, hard-working factory employees, or a mother trying to build a better for her four children were going to be more than a home to them. Not only did their new house allow them to stop paying rent on other's property, they now had a safe, secure place to protect them from weather, diseases, and intruders. Finally, the families had somewhere to build the rest of their lives.

I’ll never forget the joy a tough, young construction worker shared with me as we put the finishing touches on his roof one day. Through a crooked smile and soft tears in his eyes, he exclaimed how much he loved his new big house (Project Mexico houses are 13 feet by 26 feet).

Every single week, no matter the family, I saw tears of joy. They were tears of relief, comfort, and peace. While we served the families, they would serve us, cooking meals as an offer of thanks for our work.

It took seeing with my own eyes to learn happiness doesn’t come with material things. Since returning home, I have been living in a totally different world. But just because I’m home doesn’t mean my mission is over. I’m still learning the importance of our Orthodox faith to navigate these worlds.

While I’m not building houses anymore I know I’m going to take the importance of service and humble leadership I learned in Mexico and apply them to my life in the United States. I know just because I’m in a different world now doesn’t mean I have to change my lifestyle. The world is a pretty messed up place.

As Orthodox Christians, we should all strive to do just a little bit of good.

Opportunities for volunteering are now available