Our Little Roses (OLR) is an organization dedicated to rescuing Honduran girls from situations of risk, including abandonment, neglect, and/or abuse. This ministry began in 1988 as an initiative by Dr. Diana Frade, who at the time was spearheading various programs with her husband Leo Frade, then Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras. With education as the cornerstone of her vision, Diana created a place where girls could live together and attend school in the community. There, she and her staff cared for, empowered, and educated girls so that they could grow up surrounded by love and have options in the future.

To this day, OLR is a Honduran-run, externally-funded non-profit organization, comprising a residence for 65 girls of all ages, a co-ed bilingual school, a mountain retreat center, a medical clinic, and a dental clinic. Although the faces of the girls have changed over the years, the goal of empowering and transforming the lives of the girls born into abject poverty remains the same. When a child is granted shelter, food, and education, she can start to entertain the idea of a different future for herself and her peers. In a country with a high school graduation rate of 13% (Education and Policy Data Center, 2018), 99% of the girls at OLR graduate from high school. Many go on to attend university and even graduate school. College graduates include teachers, business women, bilingual interpreters, a dentist, a mechanical engineer, a psychologist, and the current coordinator of the home.

Since 2010, St. Mary’s By-the-Sea in Pacific Grove has supported Our Little Roses Ministries through fundraisers, weekly prayers, and visits. On five occasions, our parishioners have traveled to San Pedro Sula to live on the property for one week and volunteer in any capacity that is needed. In July 2020, we hosted the inaugural virtual summer camp since we could not travel in person due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Parishioner Kirsten Matsumoto works full time for OLR, spending several months a year there. For more information, contact Kirsten at matsumotoeducation@gmail.com or visit www.ourlittleroses.org.