Bosnia-Herzegovina
Mother’s Hope Foundation’s mission is to raise funds for the Endowment Fund at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, but a small donation is given to Mother’s Village each year to honor the roots of the foundation, and Cathy Howe’s legacy there.
Мother’s Village – Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina
WAR DESTROYS EVERYTHING: Homes, Families, Hospitals, Business, Churches, Governments, Hearts and Hope
After Cathy Howe visited Bosnia in 1994, while the war raged on, she came home and was moved to begin helping children effected by the war. Father Slavko Barbaric of St. James Church in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, initiated the idea of organizing the formation of an orphanage called Mother’s Village in Medjugorje. Starting in 1995 Mother’s Hope Foundation began reaching out to the child refugees of Bosnia whose lives have been shattered by war by donating funds to Mother’s Village. All overseas funds were handed directly by Mother’s Hope Foundation’s Executive Director Cathy Howe to the Administrator at Mother’s Village. Cathy would visit Mother’s Village orphanage each year to see firsthand how the funds donated were truly touching the lives of the children and creating a home for them.
Below are the photos of the renovation of the All Purpose Building Mother’s Hope funded. This building serves as a preschool, kindergarten, administrative offices, and chapel of Mother’s Village.
Building and Restoring Hope in a Tangible Way
In 1995 a multi-purpose building was constructed in Mother’s Village to house a kindergarten, offices for the orphanage and housing for a number of the orphans. Because of the immediate need for this building after the war and, also because of the limited funds available, the construction was of poor quality. In the spring of 2010, Cathy Howe visited Mother’s Village and witnessed firsthand the urgent need for a new multi-purpose building for the children. The poor quality of the building was obvious in every way. The building was undersized, and additional space was desperately needed.
Father Svetozar Kraljevic assumed the role of project manager regarding renovations to the multi-purpose building. Over the years, Father Svetozar was able to raise funds for the project and in late summer 2010, Mother’s Village began construction on Phase One with the help of a $100,000 donation from Mother’s Hope Foundation.
Through the grace of God, donations continued and the pictures show the now finished mutlipurpose building which has become an Incredible Blessing to the children who have found a home, much love and new hope at Mother’s Village.