Latest GO Fund News.

(sign posted inside the old building we just purchased)

Been a while since our last post.

Things never seem to get boring around here or in our ministry. The GO Fund is in the midst of a transformation. For 7 years we worked closely with orphanages assisting in funding and constructing projects. As of December 2009 we have decided to work independent of other organizations. Nearly two and a half years ago we opened up a home to help young men aging out of orphanages so they could continue their studies. During the first year we assisted three young men from orphanage backgrounds. In every case, we were able to help them in their transition to independent life, but they fell short of acquiring a career through our program.

At the same time, we began working feeding programs in rural poor communities and found many poor teens and post teens who had to stop their studies due to lack of funds, yet still had the desire for higher education or vocational training. As a result, we modified our transition homes to become student homes. The focus of these homes now is to offer educational opportunities to the motivated poor. We presently have six young men and 5 young women in our program, with new candidates being screened for the 2011 school year.

As a result of all the changes that have transpired in this ministry, we are in the process of changing our ministry name and official focus. We are presently called the GO Fund, which stands for Global Orphan Fund. Since we are neither global nor do we work with orphans specifically any more, it is time to upgrade our name to match the work we do. Or at least to be less restrictive by name. Our board has been mulling over name ideas and we hope to have a new name registered before the end of the year. Along with the new name we will update our bylaws which will then allow us to register properly in the country. These are things we didn't have to do before since we always partnered with other organizations. Now it's time.

We recently purchased a half acre of property within the city of Jinotepe. On it we hope to build a facility which would serve as a ministry center, a library, a student resource center, and a teaching facility. It would become ground zero for our students and an outreach to the local community. We could eventually offer classes including, english, mathematics, and sex education, as well as bible studies and Christian leadership training.

Also on the property we hope to build a visiting team facility for short term missionaries and longer term volunteers, a directors house, and round out the property with a greenhouse and fruit trees and bushes. This property will be home base for the ministry, but the work needs to be reaching out into the local communities, like the feeding programs that we support. We presently supervise meals for 400 children and elderly people daily in three local towns. We would like to expand that number in the future. We would also like to host dental and medical teams that would visit the rural villages and provide much need care.

The fundamental program under our watch is the student homes. This is where we believe we can make the biggest difference in Nicaragua. It is because the young people in our program, given the opportunity, can impact the lives of their families and friends in their home communities much more than we ever could. Over the next few months I will try to highlight each one of our students, provide a picture and some background. We are very proud of these young folks. We hope you will be too.

To those of you who have supported this ministry through donations and/or prayer, or are considering partnering with us, thank you. We hope you will see value in the work we are doing.

Blessings,

Doug and Julie Effinger
Global Orphan Fund, Inc.
Jinotepe, Carazo, Nicaragua.



Donations to the work:
GO Fund, Inc.
PO Box 67 Bingen, WA 98605