On January 9, members of several Rotary clubs traveled to La Paz, Honduras, to help people in need.

The FishHawk-Riverview Rotary Club has traveled to Honduras for the last six years to help families in need. On January 9, it returned again with 11 volunteers from three other Rotary clubs (Brandon Eco South, Rotary Club of Brandon and Chanhassen Evening Rotary Club). This group offered aid to those in need in La Paz, Honduras. The project was led by Honduras Compassion Partners, a service organization located in Maryland. It has a mission house in La Paz.

This group of 11 volunteers (Dr. Kimberly Tyson, Katie Tyson, Bree Tyson, Christopher Jones, Debbie Meegan, Paul Enberg, Debbie Odom, Tammy Barta, Ed Odom, Deborah Amlaw and Robert Leydon) accomplished a lot within the week they were in Honduras. They built a house for a family within three days, built four latrines for four different families and installed and instructed on the use of 12 filtration systems within 12 separate homes. They also fed the poorest community within La Paz, twice, over an open fire. They built one pila, which is a water collection unit, so that families could have access to plumbing. They helped with a clothing giveaway for a community in the mountains of that area in conjunction with the Rotary Club of La Paz. They painted the inside of an elementary school. They also began construction of a school on the property site of Honduras Compassion Partners.

A group of Rotary volunteers feeding some in the La Paz, Honduras, community with nutritious meals.

Dr. Tyson; her partner, Jones; and Dr. Tyson’s two daughters, Katie and Bree, were some of the volunteers on this trip, and they felt it was important to participate as a family to help those in need.

Dr. Tyson said of this trip, “My family went on this trip together not only to do something meaningful but also to connect with one another and have fun. It was a lot of hard work but very rewarding to help my daughters see and understand how fortunate they are and that there is a greater good in the world to be done for those that are not as fortunate. Our FishHawk-Riverview Club is continuing to collaborate with the Rotary Club of La Paz in Honduras with another grant through Rotary International for this year to raise a total of $67,000 for needed supplies to construct a water well for a high school in La Paz, 100 water filtration systems, 60 pilas and 60 latrines.”

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Ashley Abene
Ashley Abene
Ashley Abene has written for the Osprey Observer since 2023. She has a master’s degree in writing and literature and a bachelor’s degree in professional writing from the University of South Florida. She has taught college-level writing and literature at USF and Southeastern University for over nine years. She’s a blogger at Peace Filled Family and enjoys writing children’s books. She’s also a mom to three kids, and her husband has been serving in the military for over 20 years.