Greetings Friends!
As another year wraps up, I want to take some time to share some of the amazing things happening at Eternal Anchor.
The global pandemic created a lot of challenges for non-profit organizations around the globe. Donation revenue dropped significantly while demand for critical services increased. Many organizations were forced to reduce operation services or close their doors to the public. In light of this, we are grateful for our international supporters and financial partners who gave us the capacity to continue providing life-changing disability services. While the pandemic and global economy resulted in lower donations for Eternal Anchor, our local leaders responded innovatively to reduce operation budgets and find creative solutions to address the growing needs of individuals with disabilities in our community. Here are some of the highlights of how Eternal Anchor’s holistic interventions are changing lives and manifesting hope in spite of recent economic struggles:
Residential Care
Almost 8 years ago, Eternal Anchor was founded to offer a loving, safe home for children with disabilities. In the last year, Eternal Anchor’s staff have taken this vision a step further. We are thrilled to share that 5 children have been placed with staff families through foster care or adoption this year! Eternal Anchor is leading Baja California in the transition from institutionalization to foster care, a necessary change in the state with the highest number of children in the system than any other state in Mexico. Eternal Anchor is committed to continue championing the rights of children and adults with disabilities to ensure that each of them ends up in a loving, safe home. These 5 precious children are just the start of an organizational strategy to unite children in the system with permanent families.
Education Programas
Eternal Anchor’s special education school has undergone a lot of changes this year, but it remains the largest education program for children with disabilities in the state. Every day, 50 students receive a quality, individualized education from a team of multidisciplinary educators. The school garnered international recognition when in September, one of our education coordinators was invited to facilitate a Mexican Sign Language workshop for Micron Technology, a global tech company with more than 40,000 employees. We’re proud of the quality of education our teachers offer their students. We are also proud to walk alongside families to promote inclusion and acceptance in our community. This year, Eternal Anchor staff marched alongside students and their parents in the annual Mexican Revolution Day parade, allowing the students to show off their sign language and dance skills to the community.
Community Development
The Community Development team builds capacity in our community by addressing the physical and attitudinal barriers that deny individuals with disabilities access to work, education, and medical services. This year, one of our goals was to distribute 100 wheelchairs in the community to facilitate mobility and community accessibility. With more than 210 wheelchairs distributed, we’ve doubled that goal! Another exciting project completed by the team was the installation of a ramp and changing station at Ian’s elementary school. Ian, a five-year-old boy with spina bifida, now has a new wheelchair and an accessible classroom where he can learn and grow alongside his peers. As Eternal Anchor’s reputation grows, the demand for mobility and therapy equipment grows, as well as the demand to make community spaces more accessible. As these requests come to us, we are committed to utilize every resource available to intervene and lead our community into an era of accessibility and inclusion.
Ranch
For the last five years, the Ranch has been our center for equine therapy where on average, 40 clients a week receive individualized therapeutic riding sessions. The quality of our services greatly increased this year after Ranch Director Isaias Peña completed his Master’s in Equine Therapy. We are excited to operate the premier horse therapy center in the entire state. In addition to that, the Ranch has expanded its focus to incorporate vocational training for adults with disabilities. It has become a place where adults with a variety of special needs arrive and learn about gardening, craft work, animal care, and general job skills, such as communication, punctuality, flexibility, and team work. While our program capacity for vocational training is currently 10 clients, our waitlist continues to grow as more adults seek employment opportunities. Eternal Anchor is leading the community in inclusive employment practices and hopes to soon partner with the Department of Labor to find placements for community clients at local businesses.
We want to thank each and every person who has donated, prayed, and volunteered to make Eternal Anchor what it is today. As you’ve read, we have so much to celebrate this year. So many lives are being impacted and our community is being changed through the dedicated efforts of our staff and volunteers. However, these remain to be challenging times economically. In the last few months, donations have decreased once again, requiring local directors to make difficult budgetary and staff cuts. Our hope and prayer is to see Eternal Anchor grow to meet the needs of our community. We want to see more children united with forever families, but that requires more administrative staff in our Residential Care Program; we want to grow the capacity of our school to take in more children from our waitlist, but we need to hire more teachers; we want more families to receive mobility equipment, diapers, and social work support, but we need more resources; we want our vocational program to grow so that every adult, regardless of their disability, has access to wage employment, but we need your help.
A loving home, an education, access to community and medical services, and access to a job are not luxuries; they are basic human rights. Eternal Anchor is standing in the gap, fighting to ensure hundreds children and adults have access to each of these rights, but we need your help to do more. If you are able to sign up to give monthly, we invite you to join us in growing this incredible organization and its capacity to impact more lives. If you are are already giving and you are able to give more, we invite you to increase your monthly giving and watch your donation transform into life-changing disability services for hundreds of families. If you are able to come to Mexico and work alongside our local staff, we invite you to come and see firsthand the amazing things being done in rural Baja California.
Thank you all for your faithful love and support. Together we can continue partnering with our community to change the narrative of disability in Baja California. Together, we can continue to manifest God’s hope and love to hundreds of families each week. Please hold Eternal Anchor in your prayers as we seek to expand our network of partners in order to grow our capacity.
Austin Robinson
Executive Director
