Posted by dcarnill on Aug 03, 2010
Summer is work team season for Extreme Response. One of the ways we can best help our partners is to provide them with teams willing to help out for a week or two and bring the funds needed to get the work done. The teams really get to know our people and projects personally. We have 16 teams scheduled for Ecuador during the summer months (June, July and August). Although we do work teams in other locations, Ecuador is the number one destination this summer. Here’s a list of who they are and who they are working with.
- Avery Coonly School 8th grade Class - Quito dump project
- Fair Lawn Church - For His Children Orphanage
- Kensington Community Church - Por Amor Foundation and Montañita Children’s Home
- Woodside Bible Church - Buen Pastor School
- Wellesley Village Church- For His Children Orphanage
- North Point Community Church - Haven of Love & Por Amor
- St. Paul’s - Por Amor Foundation
- Good Shepherd Lutheran Church - For His Children Orphanage
- Providence Christian Academy - Quito Dump daycare center
- University South Carolina - nursing students helping at various Ecuador projects
- Calvary Church in Souderton - New Friends (Nuevos Amigos)
- Fountain of Life Lutheran Church - Bread of Life (Pan de Vida)
- Water’s Edge Bible Church - building a home for a dump family
- Westside Church of Omaha - building a home for a dump family
- Glenkirk Presbyterian Church - For His Children Orphanage
- Lifetree Adventures - Quito Dump project
Thank you, teams, for all your hard work and encouragement!
making friends with one of the children from the dump daycare center
North Point Community Church Team
painting the dump daycare walls
fixing the steps to the playground at the dump
Providence Christian Academy Team
handing out food to the night workers at the dump
Posted by dcarnill on Dec 01, 2009
It’s that time of year again - time for the annual Extreme Response Christmas parties. This year we’ll be holding parties in Quito, Ecuador and Cape Town, South Africa. The parties will run from Dec 2 - Dec 11th and we’re planning on celebrating with over 14,000 people between the two countries. Keep checking back for more updates!
Posted by dcarnill on Oct 28, 2009
Extreme Response welcomes Calvary Church of Pennsylvania to Quito this week! A team of 18 adults is here working in partnership with the El Inca Church. This group is building a 120-seat auditorium for a new church in the La Paz community, just north of Quito. Each day the team is busy mixing and pouring concrete as well as welding the steel roof trusses. A team of nationals will continue with the roof structure and corrugated panels once the team has finished their week. A special thanks to team leaders Steve Kirsch and Norm Emery, as well as each of the team members for serving in Ecuador!
Submitted by Bill Hedrick- Teams Coordinator
Posted by dcarnill on Sep 12, 2009
For His Children is an orphanage which has been operating in Quito, Ecuador for 19 years with over 550 orphans having been cared for in the home. There are currently 45 children in the Quito home. A new home has been opened this year in the city of Latacunga, Ecuador, about 1 ½ hours from Quito, in order to help the orphans in that area of the country. Children are brought to the home by various means such as the police, who often find them abandoned in the parks, from hospitals, where the mothers give birth and leave the children, or from the court systems. Schooling is provided for all the children, including the many special-needs kids. While the new building is still under construction, the first floor is in use with 19 children. They expect to have 35 – 40 children eventually with room to increase up to about 70 children if needed. Work teams are coming from the US and Canada to help with the ongoing construction of the house. Extreme Response is offering to help them with the teams and short-term workers who desire to serve at the home. This will take a lot of the burden off the directors and give them more time to concentrate on the needs of the children. That’s what we do at Extreme Response.
by Mike Bishop
Posted by dcarnill on Sep 08, 2009
Student Home for Quichua Indian Students
Reaching out to the Quichua Indian communities of Ecuador, Casa Nicodemo provides a place for students (ages 13 through 18) to live while they attend school in the city of Ambato. The majority of the Quichua communities only provide school through grade six, and in order to continue their education the students have to leave their communities to study in the nearest major city of Ambato. Many of the Quichua villages are isolated with no transportation to and from the city so the students are forced to search for a place to live while studying. Casa Nicodemo provides a safe place to live with good meals and help with studies during the school week. Most of the students return to their communities on the weekends.
The director of Casa Nicodemo has left Ecuador and the work is undergoing some changes. At present there is a core group of young men who have already completed their studies and are continuing to work with Casa Nicodemo and the Quichua communities with humanitarian aid and support.
A new director for the work will soon be coming through Extreme Response to run Casa Nicodemo. This couple will once again organize and open a house for students who wish to continue their education. The most urgent need is for funding for the program and for a good location for the house. Casa Nicodemo depends solely on outside contributions to maintain the house and provide food for the children.
The effect of Casa Nicodemo on the lives of those who live there is very apparent as we spend time with them and see their hearts to serve their own Quichua communities providing hope and help. They are a great example of the partnerships of Extreme Response International as we seek to provide relief and support to people living in extreme, often life-threatening conditions.
Posted by dcarnill on Sep 02, 2009
On August 30, six people from the Extreme Response Quito office went to the coastal town of Manta, Ecuador to help with a fundraiser 
for the Montañita Verde Children’s Home run by our partner organization Por Amor. A favorite Ecuadorian dish called Fritada (fried pork) was served with hominy and a salad. It was truly a cooperative effort between the orphanage, Extreme Response, Mr. Chancho (providing the pork), about 30 students from a cooking school, the local Howard Johnson’s Hotel and a local TV station, Manavisión. Everyone worked together to raise funds for the orphanage which cares for about 25 children. Over $3,000 was raised.
Posted by dcarnill on Aug 24, 2009
We welcomed a team made up of three families from The Chapel in Akron and Green, Ohio, to serve with Extreme Response in Quito, Ecuador from July 22nd to August 6th. The team arrived in stages. Dr. Dave and Linda Hoff flew in on July 22. Dave and Linda are dear friends of ours from Akron, and having them here was like welcoming family. This was their sixth trip to Ecuador, and they handle it like pros! For six days we put them to work doctoring patients at the nursing home, working at the medical clinic at the dump.. On July 28th, the rest of the team arrived. The Lingenhoel and Miller families arrived prepared to conduct a Kids Program at Pan de Vida, a local soup kitchen serving about 1000 families in the Quito area.
The team was prepared for 100 children (Now where have we heard that before?) and we actually ended the week with 70 children in regular attendance. This was a good thing, as it allowed us to connect with the children (and maintain some semblance of control!). We ventured into new territory with this team, taking two field trips during the week. These are street children who would never have the opportunity to do anything like this. Both were to local museums…one of them was positively amazing. There is a new interactive “water museum” here in Quito. We arrived with 70 children and 15 adults. The guides were excited to see us. They talked to the children like they were real people. Our guide got down on her knees so that she could look our little ones in the eyes…at their level. Our kids were engaged from the moment we entered the building until we boarded the bus to go home. Throughout the rest of the week, the kids in my group chattered endlessly about how much fun they had at the water museum.
Many thanks, to The Chapel, for serving those in need here in Ecuador!
Submitted by Dan Maloy
Posted by dcarnill on Aug 07, 2009
A team of 24 from Omaha, Nebraska is hard at work in Quito, Ecuador helping out with many ER projects and partners. Half of the team is doing construction - building a house for Maria, Segundo, and Diana. They are a family that has been working at the Quito dump for many years. The home will really impact two families. 
The new home will allow the second family move into Maria, Segundo, and Diana’s existing house. Maria said each day seems like a dream. Their grandchildren are having fun with the team and are pitching in on the work. The house dedication is set for Monday the 10th of August. The team plans on buying beds, stove, sofa, dinning room table, pot & pans, and food for the dedication.
The non-construction part of the team has done a program at the Betania Old Folks Home, taken the children from the Zambiza Day Care Center to the Zoo, and will be doing a Kids Program at Nuevo Amigos. The team is being joined by the boys from Casa Gabriel (home for former street boys). These boys are doing a fantastic job serving with the teams; two are with the construction team and seven are with the non-construction team. The non-construction team will also do some painting at the Casa Gabriel house. It is awesome to see the boys impacting lives.
Posted by dcarnill on Jul 28, 2009
Pan de Vida (Bread of Life) started a micro-business pilot program a June. The program aims to train people in the program to start and maintain their own business that would eventually generate an income for their families. They are making beautiful aprons and mittens to sell.
