Liberty Children’s Home Celebrates 15 Years

The Liberty Children’s Home offers abused, abandoned, neglected children and other vulnerable minors a safe and loving environment. While the home provides food and shelter, it also nurtures its residents through its development programmes.  Over the years, the home has helped many children to form healthy relationships and lead happy and healthy lives.  After it opened its doors, the home also started a low-cost pre-school and day-care for children.  Today, to commemorate its fifteen-year milestone, the Liberty Children’s Home held an open day to showcase some of its services offered to its residents, including a newly launched sponsorship programme.  Reporter Andrea Polanco tells us more in the following report.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

Fifteen years ago Liberty Children’s Home opened its doors in Ladyville. Today, the non-profit home displayed its services to the public in an open day showcase. Liberty Children’s Home provides a safe space for thirty children who are ages two to twenty years old.

David Sobers, Operations Manager, Liberty Children’s Home

“We have a variety of kids from a variety of backgrounds, from neglect, physical, emotion, sexual abuse. So, here is a safe haven. We promote a safe space, a protective space.  We want the larger community to buy in to the whole saving our kids and protecting our kids. So, that is why we want the support to make them live normal lives and make sure they grow into productive citizens.   So, we just want to highlight what we do to build our relationship with our local community and business community and other individuals to let people learn more about Liberty and what we do.”

David Sobers

For its anniversary, Liberty Children’s Home launched its “sponsor a child” programme. Operations Manager David Sobers explains how you can help to sponsor and mentor a child at the Home:

David Sobers

“We are trying to get a minimum of a hundred and fifty dollars Belize for each child to help with school; their housing and clothing to help with their everyday activities; as well as a mentorship programme because some of these kids have gone through a lot of trauma and they need that support. So, we want to have persons sign up and be mentors and just come in spend an hour or two a week with them per week or per month to talk to them, be a listening ear, help guide them through  the tough years and tough times.”

Sobers says that the home needs even more help to expand its academic tutoring and counseling support programmes. The non-profit organization depends on corporate sponsors, fund raising activities and financial support from the government to keep the home running. But looking back on its fifteen year history – Sobers says Liberty Children’s Home has come a long way.

David Sobers

“We have gotten the buy-in from government and we are really glad that in 2011 they put us on a subvention after so many years. So, we really appreciate that the government has seen the need to support us.  More and more different organizations have supported what we do.  We have had kids come and go. We have ad adoptions – while it is a long process- we have had successful adoptions over the fifteen years. But we want to see more adoptions locally because a lot of the adoptions are foreign based. So, we want to see more individuals from Belize adopting and fostering children.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.

If you’d like to assist, you can reach Liberty Children’s Home at 225-2158 or email at contact@libertychildrenshome.org