Hi! My name is LaVon Kennell. My wife, Julie, is a native Paraguayan. We wanted our daughter to be exposed to the local people, language and culture. Thus, we came down several years ago and enrolled her in the local school here in central Paraguay.
We enjoyed the area and found there was a need to help. For instance, it all started when we observed that the local elementary school had a well the children drew water out of hand-over-hand - an obvious inherent safety hazard. With the help of a local church we purchased a well pump and acquired a holding tank. Also, with the help of several locals, we built a small tower platform to hold the water so the children could wash hands and drink water safely without the threat of falling into the well.
We also started helping her school when we saw the state it was in to effectively teach. We started by painting the chalkboards - which were in horrible condition - with chalk paint and helped with acquiring additional school supplies. Over the next dozen years, we started making yearly trips bringing sundries for the school children, the poor and the indigenous.
Fast forward to 2022 where we became a 501(c)(3) non-profit as The Natalia Foundation. This is also where we began taking donated clothes, school supplies and the beginning of a plan to construct our current Mission House. Today, we have advanced to organizing our ministry towards focusing on our three primary missions: building, sewing and community outreach.
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
We are a grass roots mission working in the heartland of Paraguay presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ through our humanitarian efforts. We strive to build block housing; offer sewing classes at our Mission House and provide community outreach to the needs of the local community.
OUR PURPOSE
With the acquisition of an interlocking building block machine, our mission has encompassed building simple 18x20 ft housing units put together over the course of 4 days. Building one is your primary mission trip project.
A real need found in the local community is the means to make their own clothing. Through donations of equipment, material and mission volunteers with sewing skills, we've made real progress with teaching the locals in this critical area.
We try to ship three times a year from our Sarasota, FL base with donated clothing, equipment and other items that make the local population's life better. The majority of our monetary donations cover shipping from Miami.
