Many exciting and wonderful opportunities opened and are happening for the street children of South America. Here are just a few from 2008.

Sunflower Home:
· Thanks to all our wonderful sponsors and donors we have consistently sent between $9k-$11k in monthly costs to Peru in addition to project and expedition expenses. Funds have been used for food, education, medical and psychological care, tutors, self-sustaining projects and more.

·Leo Gavancho continues to strive toward self-sufficiency and is currently working to find local support within his country. We are excited to see them become more independent, as part of our stated mission is to find ways for our homes to become self-sustaining. We continue sending sponsor-a-child funds to the Sunflower home to ensure food, clothing and shelter needs are met, while supporting the work to become self-sufficient.

Partnerships/Funding Futures:
In the past few months many doors have been opening for Southern Cross at home and abroad which include:
· International Study Programs for the International Development Internship at BYU, Provo, UT. - helping to provide interns to work with children in our homes as well as assist in marketing strategies within our U.S. office
· Loyola University's Center for the Human Rights of Children in Chicago, IL. - helping to provide child rights partnerships and strategies for our new homes and Drop-in Centers
· Universidad Privada Del Norte in Truijillo, Peru, & businessmen, political contacts and entrepreneurs - helping to provide career counseling, contacts & opportunities for our children who age out
· Porcon - World's most successful cooperative & self-sufficient community has agreed to allow our children to do internships within their community - helping our children work and develop skills in numerous industries
· Miami, Florida radio & business connections - helping to creating a board donor base for Colombia
· Charity Anywhere - helping our work in Ecuador through contacts and projects

Ecuador:
In November Southern Cross met with the mayor of Otavalo and local leaders to determine the true needs of the community and surrounding areas. Although their needs did not include an orphanage, the need for a Drop-in Center was stated over and over. For our willingness to create a Drop-in center, we were given a site within a newly remodeled structure and it should open by April. In addition, contacts made on the Galapagos Islands have asked for specific humanitarian services during our Expedition next summer. If you are a medical doctor or social worker who speaks spanish we could sure use you! This summer will be exciting!

Reorganization of Colombia Drop-in Centers:
Last winter Southern Cross began establishing and maintaining Drop-in Centers in Colombia and put in over $30k for the start-up effort. After the initial set-up, our Colombian centers were requesting over $8k/month. This was far above the $500/month established as part of our stated goals on our website for sponsoring Drop-in Centers. By August, after carefully considering our donor base and the amount of overhead each center required, we decided we needed to coordinate an effort where we could still serve street children yet be more financially pragmatic. We felt such a large monthly commitment should be more focused on providing sustainable longer-term solutions for street children, which is why the cap is part of our goals and mission.

We were able to with Rosario, our former Colombian Director, in Oct. to find a way to fund Drop-in Centers at the $500 a month support level stated in our goals. Rosario felt she would be able to find domestic funding if we could contribute $1500 a month for the three centers.

In mid December, Rosario informed us she was stepping down as President to pursue a new political opportunity and her VP, Rosario Meneses, was taking her place. She also told us she needed to close two Drop-in Centers during December, but had leads on domestic funding that would allow them to open, as usual, in January. We agreed on the two homes that are in smaller towns with community support for the children and few of these children are in, or of, the street.

We are excited to continue working with the SXHU Colombia team in the south with the Espinal center, which does serve street children. It remains open along the re-opened Trubaco center, located in Cartagena, which had a re-dedication celebration last month.

Our new contacts in Northern Colombia, along with Henry Ponnefz, are working with us to create a base of donors to establish new Drop-in Centers in Colombia. Our philosophy is to procure a foundation of donors, and local volunteers, already committed to help children in their own communities before opening a Drop-in Center.

Thank you for working with us to be the change you want to see in the world.