Our home and base, Casa MARKED is located in a village where MARKED has been serving families and children directly for over eleven years. The kids that have gone through our programs during this time are now adults and some, even have children of their own. We are now seeing a generation that looks different than the last one.
This is the case for one of the boys who grew up coming to MARKED for meals and who enjoyed our sports programs. As a young boy, he was rough and pushed limits. He was someone our staff prayed for often and deeply desired to see him thrive. As time went on, he had ups and downs, sometimes falling back into the things he was familiar with- violence and drugs and other times, running to MARKED to escape and find something different.
Thankfully, he did find something different. If you ask him, he´ll tell you that MARKED gave him things he had never had and never thought he would experience. He calls MARKED his family and happily shares that it was in this new family that he found acceptance, unconditional love, and discovered what a healthy community looks like.
Now, that little boy is all grown up and though he mentions wanting to be able to stop by Casa MARKED more, his work schedule makes it complicated. So, we don´t see him as often as we´d like to, but now, we get to spend time with his son who he makes sure comes to Casa MARKED as often as possible. That wild little boy was marked by love and now, we are watching with such joy as he defies statistics and writes a new story for himself and his beautiful family.
We know that as we invest in this new generation, it will bring a brighter future for the next. It´s for this reason that we are focusing on the kids in these communities so much. They are the adults, parents, and leaders of the following generation. If they are empowered with meals, education, and a new mindset, they can help empower those that come after them which is exactly our prayer and desire- that damaging generational cycles are broken and replaced with healthy, restorative ones. It isn't a quick or easy job but we are already seeing glimpses of the impact this approach will have for the years to come.
If you aren’t partnering with us yet, would you consider? And if you are already a monthly partner, would you consider sharing us with a friend?