FRIEND SHIPS ACTIVITIES REPORT

Park West Children’s Fund, Inc. P.O. Box 1056 Galveston, Texas  77553 Tel: (409) 762-6060 Fax: (409) 762-5665  http://www.friendships.org   frndships@aol.com

January - February 2003

NEW HEADQUARTERS!

What exciting news we have to share this month!  The Lord has blessed Friend Ships with our own home base in Lake Charles, Louisiana!  This is a long-time dream come true for us.   We are now the owners of 17 acres of land on the Calcasieu River, with 1700 feet of deep water frontage, enough to house our own ships and even host other mercy vessels.  The property already has three warehouses, an office building, a drive through truck wash and a large multi-purpose building.  There is plenty of land to grow and we have good access to the interstate highway and railway tracks in order to receive deliveries. The acquisition of a permanent headquarters is a major step for our programs and will greatly improve our ability to operate effectively and increase operations.   

At the present home base, aboard “Spirit” in Galveston, the personnel department has processed applications for many wonderful short term and long term crew who are joining us in Galveston and Roatán.  The resource development department has been busy procuring donations of parts and supplies that we need. The audio-visual team is working on new videos and updating the website.

Friend Ships has been offered another beautiful new ship.  We are praying about the possibility of taking this vessel and expanding our operations into Asia.  We have the opportunity for a ½ hour weekly television show on a Christian cable station in the US and an entire 24-hour a day broadcasting station in Roatán, Honduras. 

GALVESTON

SPIRIT: The great ship “Spirit” is currently instrumental in providing support services for the “Spirit of Grace” crew and in making our move to the new headquarters in Lake Charles but we are also considering requests for “Spirit’s” next humanitarian voyage.  We have received proposals about taking the ship to Haiti and to Argentina.  Both are experiencing severe crises in their economies.   

SPIRIT OF GRACE:  We have received and loaded many truckloads of beautiful brand-new supplies for the mission to Israel including building material, dishes, paper products, food and clothing.  We also received confirmation that the port authority in Israel has agreed to waive all fees for the mission there.  The “Grace” crew continues to prepare the ship for this exciting journey.  We are still in need of some supplies to fill the remaining space in the holds and 200,000 gallons of #2 diesel fuel!   

HOPE: As the start of hurricane season approaches in late June, we are working on obtaining equipment and supplies in order to have “Hope”, our Disaster Response Vessel ready to quickly respond.  We would like to acquire a truck to transport 20 foot shipping containers, mobile communications, food preparation equipment, medical units, generators, medical and food supplies, paper products, new clothing and emergency gear.

LOS ANGELES

The team in Los Angeles continues to collect and distribute food to many organizations including those who assist the homeless, mentally ill and elderly in the Los Angeles area and an outreach to prisoners, orphans and the sick in Tijuana, Mexico.  We are helping to establish a new food outreach program in San Diego. In addition, the team continues to organize supplies for shipping and in January sent a boxcar to “Spirit of Grace” consisting of more than 140,000 pounds of window glass, toys and clothing for Israel.  We also were happy to be able to contribute toys to a missionary outreach in Argentina.

ROATAN, HONDURAS

In January, our team of artists completed the initial stage of research and development for the Arts and Crafts Trade School in Roatán.  In the first phase of research the team found that in our targeted villages, about 50% of the households are single mothers with an average of 2 to 6 children.  They have extremely limited income and most are able to provide only one meal a day for their families.  These are the women we intend to serve with training that will enable them to produce quality souvenirs to market to the island’s many tourists.  

In phase two of the research and development the team gathered items readily accessible on Roatán such as clay, flowers and stones.  They experimented with items that Friend Ships has available, creating prototypes of pottery, paintings, wind chimes, greeting cards, batik, musical instruments, decorative bottles and other items. 

Finally, they developed plans for a curriculum to teach students art theory and composition, ceramics, batik, pressed art, pit firing, drawing and painting, basic sewing, making wind chimes, wood sculpture, mosaics, mold making, casting, sand blasting glass and tile.  The team also planned for courses in small business operations, marketing and last but most importantly, Biblical principals, work ethics and “dream building” to create goals for the students to plan their future and care for their families. We are awaiting the arrival of the proper personnel to begin the next phase – test-marketing items and bringing in the first of our students. 

In addition to preparations for the Arts & Crafts School, the Roatán team continued visits to the local hospital, talking and praying with patients, distributing toy computers, balloons and beanie babies to the children and copies of the Gospel of John to the adults.  In mid February, we sponsored an eyeglass clinic with hundreds of people receiving vision testing and eyeglasses.  We look forward to March as a medical team arrives for the entire month to minister to people physically and spiritually on the islands of Roatán and Guanaja and on the mainland.

Previous Report

Updated March 2002  

Friend Ships Unlimited

P.O. Box 1056  Galveston, TX  77553  U.S.A.   Tel: 409 762-6060 Fax: 409 762-5665

E-Mail: frndships@aol.com Website: www.friendships.org

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