Our Story
More Than an Orphanage. A Family.
In Barahona, Dominican Republic, Helping Hands provides children with a safe and loving home, an education, daily care, and the opportunity to build a hopeful future.
Growing Christian leaders through faith, education, and entrepreneurship.
How It Began
A Need That Could No Longer Be Ignored
Helping Hands began when Pastor Pedro and his church saw children sleeping on the streets—and realized that prayer had to be followed by action.
After the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, many Haitian families crossed into the Dominican Republic searching for food, shelter, and work. Among them were boys who had lost their homes and families. Some slept beside open fires or directly on the road, surviving however they could.
Pastor Pedro and members of his church passed these children every day. They prayed for them and talked about their suffering, but gradually came to understand that compassion required more than concern. They dreamed of a home where children could be safe, receive nourishing food, attend school, learn the Word of God, and experience the freedom to simply be children.
“We could not keep watching and calling it faith. We had to move.”
Pastor PedroFaith Made Visible
From a Vision to a Home
What seemed as though it might take many years was made possible through the generosity, obedience, and hard work of people who believed that these children deserved a home.
God Provided Through Ordinary People
The dream began to take shape when Bill Hayes, a visitor from Kentucky, asked Pastor Pedro what more he could do. After hearing about the vision for a children’s home, he returned the next morning with a gift of $35,000.
The church brought the gift before its engineer, and construction began. Volunteer teams came from Florida, breaking ground, laying the foundation, and moving dirt by hand beneath the Dominican sun.
While the second floor was still under construction, another visiting supporter asked what it would take to finish the building. A $50,000 donation was followed by the remaining funds needed to complete the home.
A project the church believed might take six years was completed through the faithful response of people who chose to listen and act.
In 2012, the doors of the mission house opened for the first time. Six boys entered—not simply into a new building, but into a place of safety, belonging, faith, education, and hope.
Life at Helping Hands
More Than an Orphanage. A Family.
Helping Hands was never intended to be only a building where children receive food and shelter. It was created to be a true home.
Every boy deserves to know that he has value, dignity, and God-given potential. At Helping Hands, the children are surrounded by people who know their names, celebrate their accomplishments, guide them through difficult seasons, and remind them that they are deeply loved.
The care they receive reaches into every part of life. The boys have good mattresses, adequate clothing, quality food, healthcare, educational opportunities, meaningful celebrations, and adults who continue to show up for them year after year.
“Our goal is not simply to provide a place to live, but to create a true home where the boys feel loved, supported, and valued.”
RebeccaLoved
The children discover that they are valued, remembered, and surrounded by adults who remain present through both joyful and difficult seasons.
Growing
Education, Christian discipleship, responsibility, and life skills help each child develop confidence, character, and a sense of purpose.
Preparing for the Future
Helping Hands prepares the boys to become independent, godly men who can support their families and lead in their churches and communities.
Building Lifelong Success
Preparing Each Child for the Future
The mission of Helping Hands extends beyond meeting immediate needs. Every child is encouraged to grow in faith, pursue an education, develop practical skills, and discover the gifts God has placed within him.
Care That Leads to Independence
A safe home gives a child stability. Education, guidance, and opportunity help him build a future.
Helping Hands works to prepare the boys for life beyond the orphanage. Along with attending school, they are encouraged to develop responsibility, character, confidence, and a strong Christian foundation.
As they grow older, the young men are introduced to practical trade, technology, business, and marketing skills. These experiences help them recognize their abilities, explore possible careers, and begin thinking seriously about college, employment, and independent adulthood.
The Helping Hands online store also serves as a real-world classroom. Students help create designs, source products, prepare listings, and learn how an e-commerce business operates.
The goal is not simply to help the boys survive childhood. It is to prepare them to become capable, responsible Christian men who can lead, work, serve, and support families of their own.
Faith
Christian teaching and daily guidance help the boys develop character, purpose, compassion, and a lasting relationship with God.
Education
School, continued learning, and encouragement to pursue college give each child a stronger foundation for lifelong success.
Practical Skills
Technology, trade, creative, and marketing experience helps students explore their abilities and prepare for meaningful work.
Entrepreneurship
Through the teaching store, students participate in product creation, sourcing, listings, and the operation of a real online business.
Every lesson, responsibility, and new skill is another step toward a future in which these young men can live independently and make a positive difference in their families, churches, and communities.
Serving Together
Leadership Rooted in Calling
Helping Hands has grown through people who accepted different responsibilities while remaining united around one purpose: loving the children, leading them toward Christ, and preparing them for a better future.
Pastor Pedro
Vision and Spiritual LeadershipPastor Pedro helped turn the church’s concern for children living on the streets into a practical response. His vision was a home where children could receive safety, food, education, Christian teaching, and the freedom to simply be children.
Rebecca
Relationships, Advocacy and SupportRebecca and her family began serving in the Dominican Republic in 2012. Her role grew from building relationships with the boys to fundraising, advocacy, securing important documents, improving daily care, and helping create a true family home.
Yeudy
Daily Leadership and DevelopmentYeudy began by helping Pastor Pedro communicate with visiting teams and coordinate ministry work. As trust and responsibility grew, he moved into leadership and officially became director of Helping Hands in January 2016.
Raising Godly Men Who Can Break the Cycle
The work of Helping Hands is not centered on creating lifelong dependence. It is centered on transformation. The boys are taught to take responsibility, care for their home, pursue education, participate in church, learn practical skills, and prepare for adulthood.
The hope is that each young man will one day be able to support a family of his own, serve his community, and give the next generation opportunities he may not have received himself.
Become Part of the Story
The Story Continues With You
Helping Hands began because ordinary people saw a need, listened to God’s calling, and chose to act.
That same spirit continues today. Through financial support, purchases from the teaching store, prayer, encouragement, and sharing the mission with others, people around the world help provide the children with a loving home, an education, practical opportunities, and hope for the future.
Give Hope
Your financial support helps provide food, education, clothing, medical care, staffing, maintenance, and the daily necessities involved in creating a safe and loving home.
Support Helping HandsShop With Purpose
Every product in the teaching store gives students practical experience in creativity, sourcing, technology, product listings, marketing, and e-commerce.
Visit the Student StorePray and Connect
Pray for the children, staff, leadership, and future graduates. Share the Helping Hands story with your church, family, and friends so more people can become part of the mission.
Connect With UsTogether, we can help each child know that his past does not have to determine his future.