Amor Now in 25th Year of Building

Millions of Mexican families will receive hope this year from a San Diego based non-profit organization that will build homes, orphanages, churches and schools, according to a recently released statement from Amor Ministries.

Nearly 25 years after its founding, the need is still overwhelming, co-founder and president, Scott Congdon stated in the release. "4.5 million people are suffering in Mexico-they live without running water, without a bathroom. They have no heat and no shelter."

Co-founder Gayla Cooper Congdon adds to his statement, "We are more than a house-building ministry. Amor Ministries is committed to bringing the Gospel message to Mexico and there is no better way to show a family the love of Jesus than through providing a home for their family."

The best thing that results from the ministry is difficult to say, Congden told the CP, because the volunteers' lives are changed as well. "Meeting the needs of the poor is great, but the people who come down are also changed. 20,000 kids who come down are touched by serving the poor," says Congden.

These high school and college students then go home and make a positive impact on their neighborhood and get their churches "involved in missions," says Condgen. "We get calls from moms and dads who say, 'What did you do to my kid?' They come home, and they're so appreciative of what they have."

Amor Ministries was formed when Gayla Cooper and Scott Congdon saw "firsthand the devastation of people living in extreme poverty. Cooper and Congdon determined that building individual homes could help keep families together and reduce the number of children in orphanages," according to the Amor statement.

"Amor Ministries built its first house with a small team in 1985. By 1992, more than 5,000 participants participated in short-term construction efforts. In 1997, that number doubled to more than 10,000. And in 2002, that number doubled again, bringing the total number of Amor participants to more than 20,000 each year." Surprising to the founders, 75 percent of participants return to build again.

"Now with volunteers from Canada, the United States, Australia and around the world, Amor plans to build nearly 1,300 homes in its anniversary year. Still, Scott Congdon urges an immediate mobilization of volunteers to help," according to the statement.

"A typical Amor home is 11' x 22' with two-bedrooms, a slab floor, stucco-finished exterior, two windows and a door," according to the statement from Amor Ministries. "Depending on the needs of the community and the number of trip participants, building projects may also include a double house, schools, churches, and medical clinics."

"We need people willing to give their time, willing to cross the border and pour concrete, hammer nails, and literally be a part of our construction teams. And we need financial support, to fund the building of these homes," Scott Congdon shared with Amor.

"This kind of poverty, where people die daily from cold, disease and hunger, is not something we should chip away at, slowly, whenever opportunity arises. We need an insurgence of volunteers to step forward. We want to do more than offer a dent of hope, we want lasting change," Condgen states.