Empowering Foster Girls and Teens in Puerto Rico

2020 has been a year of great lessons, lessons difficult to digest but at the same time lessons that gave us great learning.  In Puerto Rico, we survived several earthquakes at the beginning of the year and keep dealing with a deadly pandemic.  Life changed suddenly and we have been forced to adapt to a new reality. 

In Hogares Teresa Toda the girls completed the semester online. They had access to quality internet and technological equipment needed to attend distanced modality school as a preventive measure for the COVID19. All of them ended the semester successfully but the distance modality represented a challenge to the smallest girls as well as to those who need special education. The institution hired teachers to provide daily support to the girls during the school hours having three teachers during the day and continued with the Tutoring Program in the afternoons.

Our Program was recognized by the Department of Family as we were part of the institutions that were able to continue operations in full during the pandemic. Strict preventive protocols were implemented and as of today, there have no zero Covid positive case in our institution. Regular tests clinics have been implemented being the last one in December where the Department of Health came to the Program and completed 75 antigen tests.

Given the pandemic, all outings and visits to the facility were cancelled. We implemented movie nights, game days and continued with recurrent recreational activities within our premises. It has been difficult to the girls, yet their resilience arouses. We had a small but beautiful Thanksgiving and Christmas Celebrations.

In Hogares Teresa Toda we thank God for all the blessings, the health, the girls that we serve, the support of our community and for Donors like you who believe in our cause and help us heal the life of many girls who suffered abuse or neglect but are leaning that their trauma does not define them just make them stronger.

Happy 2021!