Tri-City people hope to raise funds for new Guatemalan orphanage

Local business owners Stacy Kidder, Scott and Yvette Tudury are hosting a fundraiser 6:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Petroleum Club to build a Love the Child orphanage in Guatemala. Kidder and Yvette Tudury are current volunteer board members.
Scott Tudury is a former board member.
Love the Child founders Steve and Shyrel Osborn provide refuge to abandoned, abused, and orphaned children in Guatemala.
Fifty children live at the orphanage. Forty of them are under 2 years old, and 20 are 12 months or younger.
When the orphanage opened, most of the children it took in had special needs.
“There were a lot of kids who were falling in between the cracks, and the government didn’t know what to do with them …,” Kidder said.
The founders are currently renting a space that houses the orphanage. Rental costs were affordable but the property owner’s death presents a slight problem.
Descendants of the former owner listed the property for sale. The selling price is too expensive for the Osborns.
Hannah and Jose are two orphans unable to walk due to bone deficiencies. They move around on small roller seats.
The present space is not the most safe and handicapped accessible place for children.
“It’s on an extreme grade on the side of a hill,” Kidder said. “And kids with motor skills dysfunction could easily fall off the backyard, literally. It’s that steep.
“It’s 75 steps from the top where babies eat to the bottom of the steps where the babies sleep.”
Orphanage employees “haul about 30 children upstairs in the morning and then they haul them back downstairs for naps and sleep.”
Not long ago, a landslide came within 50 feet of the back end of the house.
In an area with heavy rainfall, Kidder is afraid the next landslide will take out half the building.
“I’m very motivated to get them out of the building.” Kidder
The construction cost of the new orphanage is estimated to be around $800,000.
The land has already been purchased. It’s right across the street from the place being rented.
The land is fairly flat.
Almost all of the architectural work is done. They are paying for the building project as they go so they will not incur debt.
“Over the next two years, we plan to complete the construction and have raised the funds as we go so that we will not incur any debt,” Kidder said.
“The orphanage self-funds month to month fairly well now, but there’s no way we can throw a note on top of that to pay for the facilities. We’re trying to have a grassroots effort to pay cash going through the construction process.”
Weather conditions permitting, they hope to lay the building’s foundation by January.
“I know this is a reach out of our community. But the reality is if someone from outside the Guatemalan community doesn’t reach in, they don’t get any help,” Kidder said.
Yvette Tudury is leading the fundraising campaign in the Tri-City area.
Tickets cost $75 per person, which includes dinner, a presentation, a silent auction and an opportunity to meet orphanage founders. Table sponsorships are available.
Don Rich will be performing before dinner during the cocktail hour.
“Our group attempts to keep our life on the positive, but realize that many in this world are not so fortunate,” said Scott Tudury.
“This is the reason we feel so strongly and commit to a worthwhile cause which God has blessed.”
For more information about the orphanage or fundraising goal, contact Yvette Tudury at 985-312-1592. Contributions can be mailed to Love the Child, 108 Venus Road, Morgan City LA 70380.
This story was written by Shea Drake. She can be reached at sdrake@daily-review.com.