Seven years ago, children living in the isolated Honduran mountain village of Guyamitas were forced to eat grass and leaves to survive.
Most left school after sixth grade. Boys worked in the fields or sweatshops, and girls quickly got married and began raising large families.
A cycle of grinding poverty had repeated itself generation after generation.
Although the government had a program to provide meals for school children, the village didn't have a kitchen where the food could be cooked, so the program was never developed.
That was before Robert Wamhoff and his wife, Diane, arrived.
She was doing volunteer work in Honduras with a church group when she became aware of the dire situation in Guyamitas.
Determined to make sure the village's children could eat proper meals, Ms. Wamhoff founded Just Because We Care in 2003 to help them.
Soon Mr. Wamhoff, president of Wamhoff Financial Planning and Accounting Services Inc. of Hazelwood, Mo., came on board.
“My wife inspired me with her courage,” he said.
Over the next six years, the Wamhoffs and their charity transformed the town.
First they helped finance and build a kitchen. Then they developed a food program independent of the government's to feed the children.
The next project that Just Because We Care tackled was improving Guyamitas' schools. The charity fixed up the elementary school and built a vocational school three years ago so that children and adults could learn a trade.
The elementary school now has an enrollment of more than 140.
More than 50 students have graduated from the vocational school and have gotten jobs in computer technology, carpentry, auto maintenance, sewing and baking.
“My biggest reward is seeing a child who has gone through the vocational school going on to work in their trade,” Mr. Wamhoff said. “A woman in the baking class asked if she could hug me, because her husband was very small and she had never hugged a large man.”
In addition, 19 students from the town are attending high school and one college on Just Because We Care scholarships.
The charity also helps provide families with clothing, books and sporting equipment, as well as a Christmas meal for each family with a child in school.
The Wamhoffs have built their own home in the village and visit five or six times a year.
“What keeps me going is seeing the children's smiles and [getting] their hugs, when we come to the mountain,” Mr. Wamhoff said. “It isn't because I have something for them; it's genuine love.”
When Mr. Wamhoff won the CLA Community Service Award last month, his gratitude was heartfelt.
“You can't believe what this money is going to mean for my children in Honduras,” he said.
