Alvaro came to our Nutrition Center last August when his teen-age parents abandoned him as a baby with no hope of a future. We instantly fell in love with him knowing that the promise of this precious life is only just beginning. He is such a responsive little guy who has opened up through the receiving and giving of so much love. He has brought so much joy into the lives of all those he's met while at our center.

During our March 14-23 trip, Alvaro received the surgery he needed to repair his cleft lip/palate. He captured the hearts of all who worked with him helping to recreate the new beautiful smile he has today.  In October, our Ortho team will assess his leg condition determining the best plan for his future. We are so grateful to all the medical professionals that volunteer with HIM and the many talents they possess to assist in restoring hope to those who would not have had the opportunity to receive this type of treatment.

- General Medical Clinic
- Educational Seminars
- Occupational Therapy

- Cleft Lip/Palate Surgery
- Plastic Surgery
- Dental Clinic
- General Medical Ciinic
- Firefighter Training
- Construction Projects

"I had the privilege of spending 12 days in Guatemala over Spring Break 2014. This trip was through WSU in conjunction with HIM. We traveled to Zacapa where we served local villages in clinical settings as well as doing surgeries. It was an amazing experience and has lead me to understand the importance of service as well as the love and gratitude of people throughout the world. The last 3 days I spent at the hospital. Not only was I able to help with my clinical experiences but I learned about charity, love and gratitude from the people of Guatemala. I had quite a few very special, tender experiences that I will remember for the rest of my life! One of the most amazing experiences I had was with an older gentleman who came in to have a giant mass taken off his neck. He came out of surgery just sobbing, which had us all worried about his pain level. The translator came in and asked if he was okay and she told us that she was going to have a hard time translating. We were concerned and confused. She then started crying and said that he is so very grateful for being able to finally have surgery. His mother and wife were in the room and they began to cry as well. The story came out through his mom and wife with the help of the translator that he had been suffering from ths for 12 years. He had gone from doctor to doctor and was always told that threre was nothing that could be done. He was living with this giant, gross, oozing mass on the back of his neck and people pretty much shunned him because of it. No one wanted to be around him, hire him to work, or anything. His life had been very hard because of this mass and now it was gone. By this time, mom was standing next to me and she was just sobbing. I reached over and put my arm around her shoulders and she sunk into me and began to shake with sobs. I comforted her and started crying myself. I felt so blessed to be a part of this moment. There was not a dry eye in the room! Mom then kneeled down in front of a chair and began to pray in gratitude to her God. This touched me so much and I started to cry harder. The gratitude and Spirit felt in that room was overwhelming to all of us and I really felt like my whole trip had just been accomplished in that one moment. It was absolutely breathtakingly amazing and something that I will always remember."

We are proud to announce that our Music In Motion program is up and running! We have hired an instructor who is teaching 6 students twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are so excited that our container will be arriving in Guatemala in the beginning of July carrying many instruments collected by Kayman Klaas for his Eagle Scout project. Kaymen will be traveling down to Guatemala this summer along with Alyssa Jerdon for the dedication of the Music In Motion program that was started in Alyssa's brother Ian's memory.

For the past three years Aurora Universtiy has done "A Day Without Shoes" where hundreds of students, faculty, and staff agree to spend the day without shoes on campus in order to raise awareness of global poverty. In conjunction with this day is a shoe drive. Hearts In Motion has been the recipient of the shoes for the past two years. This year 250 people participated in the day and over 500 pairs of shoes were donated. A special thank you to Kris Johnson for organizing this shoe drive to support Hearts In Motion.

We were so excited to have Purdue North Central nursing students with us again in March helping sort medications and medical supplies. Nursing students from the community health class also participated in a "Donation Day" where on April 11, Professor Peggy Rose and her students brought over the collected items consisting of pencils, paper and other miscellaneous schools supplies. These will be sent down to Guatemala to be distributed to the students involved in our School Sponsorship Program. Thank you  PNC! Your devotion to community service has made a difference not only in Indiana but in Guatemala as well!

April 24, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Naperville, IL held a painting party fundraiser to help support their trip to Guatemala this coming June. Our office staff had a great time . . . who would have known there would be so much talent in one room!

On April 2, HIM was invited to be a participant in the Altrusa International, Inc. Community Cafe where 25 local nonprofits are invited to share about their organization. Altrusa members are expected and encouraged to participate in volunteer projects and raise money for local charitable organizations. We are so grateful to have had this opportunity to enlighten them and others about the work of HIM and our current needs. It was also a great time of networking among other nonprofits. During that time we met Little Brothers, an elderly mentoring program, and are excited to start to working with them offering our Resale Shoppe as a place where they can have a weekly outing for fellowship in our Cafe as well as a shopping experience. Thank you Altrusa for inviting us to be a part of this event and for your support of HIM.

Saturday, April 26 Hearts In Motion participated in an Ice Cream Social Fundraiser to support Gabriel's Horn. Altrusa International, Inc. sponsored this event where we participated by having a table displaying Guatemalan jewelry, scarves and purses. HIM also donated a beautiful gift basket to be raffled at the end of the day. Proceeds from this event went to help support the ongoing work of Gabriel's Horn, a protected refuge for homeless women and children where they are empowered to become self-sufficient through education, counseling and efforts of the community. Gabriel's Horn is special to HIM and we were so excited to have had the opportunity to be a part of this day to show our support for this great program.

Annual Year In Review Mailing
On March 10, 40 volunteers gathered at our Resale Shoppe to seal, stuff envelopes and label over 12,500 Year In Review magazines. This is our biggest Year In Review mailing ever and they had the job finished in record time - totally completed by 2:00 in the afternoon They were amazing!