2026 Community Development Trip Report

Faces, Places, and Hope: Recent Work of the Community Development Team

At Friends of Honduras, our work in Honduras takes many forms. While our medical team continues to provide healthcare services, this report highlights the recent efforts of our Community Development Team. Working with our remote villages in the Department of Intibucá, the team focused on projects such as expanding food access and delivering clean water. But our work goes well beyond this to include creating networks of support, building relationships, and supporting long-term sustainability. What follows are moments and reflections from the journey—faces we met, places we reached, and the hope we shared together. 

On the Ground in Honduras: Clothing Distribution and Humanitarian Aid

Our In-Country Coordinator, Miguel Manueles came to us with a request for clothing for the communities of Guanacaste and Aguacate. We could see for ourselves that this was a pressing need and a reasonable request. But how would we collect enough clothing for everyone, and how would we get it there?

The solution came from local outreach efforts in St. Louis to collect gently used clothing, and supporters came through for this project with overwhelming enthusiasm!  We sorted, packaged, weighed, and labeled over 2000 pounds of clothing and other humanitarian goods. With our partnership with the Denton Humanitarian Assistance Program, the US Air Force delivered our cargo to Honduras free-of-charge.

“By the Numbers”

Key partners:

Denton Program/ USAF – Air cargo transportation to Honduras
Maritz Corporation – Cargo warehouse space
St. Vincent de Paul Society – Cargo transportation to Scott AFB

Flowing Hope: Women and Clean Water

Homes in our villages are scattered throughout the steep, mountainous region of Intibucá, where access to clean water is very difficult. Through a partnership with the nonprofit Water by Women, we have been able to provide over 100 in-home filter systems and user training to women in these rugged areas. With our funding, Water By Women provided a simple solution for rural homes that included Sawyer 0.1-micron reusable, long-life filters designed for indefinite use with proper cleaning and maintenance.

Food Outreach

We have been so fortunate to have been able to recently distribute 12,552 pounds of dried, prepared meals to our communities. The meals are prepared by our partners Rise Against Hunger and Feed My Starving Children. The meals come in packets of six servings. Each packet provides 212 nutritious calories consisting of rice, soy protein, dehydrated vegetables, 23 essential vitamins and minerals, and a chicken flavoring. Together the food will provide over 87,000 meals and serve 5 villages. As the photos show, these meals bring happy smiles!