CU Students and Staff Serve in Honduras

During Cornerstone University’s spring break earlier this month, two students and two staff members traveled to Siguatepeque, Honduras, to serve with Casa de Esperanza, a nonprofit organization doing ministry work in Honduras.

Founded by Lori DeWitt, the university’s nursing coordinator, and her husband Bill, Casa de Esperanza has worked in Honduras since 2004. The organization seeks to provide hope and healing to those in need, offering dental services, construction and housing assistance, as well as educational opportunities.

During the week-long trip to Honduras, a team of fifteen volunteers, including two dentists, conducted mobile dental clinics in several rural areas of Honduras. Offering patients free services such as cleanings, fluoride treatments, fillings and extractions in partnership with Honduran dentists and volunteers, the group completed 367 cleanings, 307 extractions and 21 fillings and celebrated their 100th dental clinic. The group also worked on a few small construction projects and spent time with the church members and students that Casa de Esperanza sponsors.

Trip participants from Cornerstone included Allan Barrientos (B.S. ’22), Mikayla Walker (B.S. ’20) and Jordan Grooters (B.S. ’17, M.B.A. ’19). While the experience included an opportunity for Barrientos, a Casa de Esperanza scholarship recipient, to visit his family from La Unión, Honduras, it also gave students the opportunity to volunteer with an organization supported by Cornerstone Enactus’ International Artisan Market.

“Casa de Esperanza believes in sharing the love of Christ by building relationships with the Honduran people,” DeWitt shared. “It’s been great to see the graduates of our educational sponsorship programs come back and volunteer alongside the mission teams.”