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Humanitarian Work

John 21:17

Making a difference

Feed My Sheep

When Kasey and I started telling our friends and family members about our plans to possibly purchase a small business in Belize the reactions came from all over the spectrum. Some flat out told us we were crazy. Others said it sounds adventurous. Many thought we were simply looking for a way to diversify our real estate investments. A few simply asked, “Why?”.

Why? That is the question. Buying a resort in Belize and moving our family here for the winters was hard enough. Having Covid-19 wreck the international travel market a few months later makes us look downright crazy. But the why is the same, and it is all that matters.

We decided we wanted to make a difference in the world. And more importantly we wanted to do that with our children. Kasey and I had often discussed someday taking a step back from business work and focusing on humanitarian needs. The problem with our plans was it was always phrased with “someday”. We often discussed various scriptures where we are taught to “love one another”, or “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God”, and “unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required”. Our problem wasn’t that we didn’t want to give, we didn’t know how to give. And we were somewhat afraid. We worried that the time wasn’t right and even asked ourselves, “what if we stretch ourselves too thin and lose what we have now?”.

One day, while reading in the scriptures, I read a passage I had read numerous times-the Parable of the Talents taught in Matthew. Two things struck me different than previous times I read the passage. One was that all three servants are expected to do the same thing-invest everything. Second was that they were expected to do so, because everything had been given to them by the Lord. After some deep soul searching, Kasey and I knew this was us. Yes, we had worked hard to build up a small business in Minnesota. And no, we didn’t want to lose that. But we knew we had been helped numerous times along the way and to us the business was a blessing from God. At that point we knew we needed to stop being fearful, get out and help others. So we did. We went to our bank and asked to refinance our business so that we could use the money to purchase a business elsewhere and be able to work and help other people who weren’t as fortunate as us. We were turned down. We asked another bank, and another and another. After 5 rejections we finally found a bank willing to work with us.

This is why we are in Belize, why we spend part of our time here working in the jungle. This is why we work the way we do. Why we have pushed through difficulties and kept going even when things have seemed insurmountable. We are driven by the why. The why is simple, we feel we need to help others. To serve others. Some may look at Cotton Tree Lodge and not realize what is really going on here. Yes, this is a beautiful resort. And yes, we hope to someday operate the business in a manner that makes it self sufficient financially. But what is going here at CTL is bigger than merely a jungle lodge. This is our family’s personal mission to make a difference in life-with our lives. This is our story, our passion and what gets us up out of bed, even on difficult days.

Who is our neighbor?

Our family has never shied from helping someone else. And we have always tried to “love our neighbors”. We want our children to understand that everyone is our neighbor, we are all children of God. So, rather than simply focusing on “getting ahead” or being comfortable, we decided to focus on helping people who not only need help, but are people we won’t know if we don’t make an effort to get to know them.

School Supplies

Starting Small

When we first thought it might be possible to dedicate a significant amount of time to helping people we immediately felt overwhelmed. Where do we start? How do know who needs help? Will we offend them? What if people try and take advantage of us? These were the sort of questions we talked about and worried over. We decided to start small and see where that takes us. After all, the most important step in a journey is the first step.

Our first step was to get involved with collecting and distributing simple things to village children and women. This was somewhat easy because Cotton Tree Lodge was already part of the Pack for a Purpose project. You can learn more about this below, including how you can get involved. Guests often bring things with them they wish to donate to local school children. The local villages are always needing things like notebooks, crayons and pencils. Initially, we simply took the supplies to a local school. However, we learned some hard lessons. We found out that some of the schools didn’t give the kids the supplies. They turned around and sold the items to the kids. Now we simply take the supplies and walk around the village and give the supplies to people. This has been fun for us. People are so happy and grateful and their smiles convey so much! We have also been able to expand what we distribute and now bring things to single moms and others who might be needing something. Now, along with school supplies, we often encourage people to bring toys, books and other simple items to give out. If you are thinking of staying at Cotton Tree Lodge and have some extra room in your suitcase, please feel free to contact us with any questions on things you can bring. We are happy to hand them out on your behalf.

Valerie distributing school supplies to local school children

Kicking things up a gear

In late 2019 we had a Canadian group contact us about helping them plan a humanitarian trip to Belize. They asked us to check with local villages if there was something they could do. Specifically they wanted to donate money and labor to build something for a village.

We sat down with the San Felipe village council and asked what they would like to have if funds could be raised. With tears in their eyes, they asked us to help them with a medical clinic. So, working with the group, we raised money to purchase all the building material and set about to build the village a medical clinic. We were scheduled to build the clinic in March of 2020. Sadly, the ensuing Covid-19 pandemic made this impossible. Kasey and I made it a priority to see this project finished, so in February of 2021 we donated our time and the labor of our maintenance staff at CTL to build the clinic. What a great moment for our family and crew at CTL!

covering a basic need

The San Felipe Medical Clinic

In Belize there are several hospitals throughout the country. These hospitals provide much needed services for things such a delivery of a newborn baby, some surgeries, setting broken bones, stitching a wound and more. However, not everyone has easy access to a hospital. To offset this, many local villages build a small clinic. If they provide a clinic, doctors can visit the clinic a few days a week to assist local people. Some villages even go so far as to hire their own full time medical person. But if they don’t have a clinic, they won’t get anyone to come and help people. San Felipe village council told us they needed a clinic.

We raised about $7,000 USD with help from the Ecole mission secondary school in British Columbia and donated $5,000 USD ourselves for materials. From there we put in a concrete foundation, framed walls, built trusts, put up a roof, installed windows and added exterior walls. At first the staff, particularly those who don’t live in San Felipe questioned why we needed to go to San Felipe and build them something they didn’t pay for. We simply smiled. After a few days working together and hearing us talk about some of our goals to help people, they were smiling too!

This year we will only be able to finish the main shell. The building is divided into two parts. The front half is a waiting room and the back half is an examination room. Next year, we plan to convert the front half into a part time library. We will simply add shelves and books so that when the building isn’t being used as a medical clinic people can get a book. Literacy is a major problem in the villages and we hope to help with that too! Also, in the future we plan to add electricity, running water and more to the building.

Cotton Tree Lodge crew building medical clinic for San Felipe Village
Together we can do more

Getting involved

Cotton Tree Lodge is located between two Mayan villages, San Felipe and Santa Ana. Many lodge employees come from these villages, and Cotton Tree Lodge strives to be a good neighbor.

Both the lodge and guests have made donations of sports equipment and school supplies to the local primary schools. Several tours visit Mayan homes and farms in these villages, giving guests an unusual opportunity for cultural interaction and understanding, as well as sending money into the local economy. Cotton Tree Lodge partners with Pack for a Purpose to manage the donations.

Many guests have asked how they can give something back to the communities near Cotton Tree Lodge. You can also donate school supplies to the local primary schools in the villages of Santa Anna and San Felipe. The most requested items include math workbooks, notebooks, pencils, and any other general school supplies. Please do not bring anything requiring batteries or replacement parts. Please pack your donations in your luggage and do not mail them – the recipients of international packages are often taxed on the contents. It is sometimes possible to arrange a brief visit for you to personally deliver your donations to the local schools. Please e-mail us stay@cottontreelodge.com for more information about appropriate contributions.

Into their homes

Other work

Helping people is awesome. We love it. We would love to have more people involved. Sometimes we have people who ask us how can they get involved. Can they donate money to a cause, or help us as we try to make a difference here? We are honored when others want to join us in our efforts. Along with the medical clinic and village supplies there are other things we have helped with.

Another thing we find ourselves often getting involved with are medical situations. There are so many people who have had some problem, and they are struggling to find a way to pay for a needed surgery or procedure. We have helped several families when they have had a medical problem. Recently we have had the opportunity to help with bills and transportation for medical problems including…

  • complications from a motorcycle accident for a 22 year old male
  • complications from child birth that led to an emergency c-section
  • emergency appendectomy for mid 20s female
  • bone infection for 55 year old male
  • specialty doctor and blood tests for 8 year old boy
  • complications, including amputation of leg, for 11 year old boy bitten by venomous snake

If you would like to be involved with something like this please feel free to contact us. There are many needs here in Belize.

(913-593-1781)

stay@cottontreelodge.com

Cotton Tree Lodge Moho River | San Felipe, Toledo - Belize

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About Cotton Tree Lodge

Surrounded by raw uncut tropical rain forest jungle. Nestled at the foot of the Maya Mountains. Banked by the slow-moving Moho River. Howler monkeys, parrots, flowers and more. There is nothing like Cotton Tree Lodge anywhere in Belize.

(913)593-1781

stay@cottontreelodge.com

Cotton Tree Lodge Moho River, San Felipe, Toledo, Belize