A missionary priest, an impoverished country in Central America, a mission to help underserved children and youth get out of poverty…this all sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Except we’re not talking about Padre Fabretto in Nicaragua. In 1992, only two years after Padre Fabretto passed away and without having ever known each other, Padre Patricio Larrosa began a similar mission in Honduras after a group of students asked for help with access to scholarships to continue their schooling. The organization he founded, ACOES, has since grown to serve around 12,000 students with education programs, scholarships, and more.

Here are a few ways your contributions to Fabretto translate into meaningful impact for the students we serve through ACOES:

Nutrition

With the understanding that providing school meals is essential to ensuring education program retention rates, as of mid-2022, Fabretto has secured and shipped one million meals thanks to a long-standing partnership with Feed My Starving Children.

Capacity Building

A key component of our partnership also includes strengthening local capacities. Fabretto is providing a 16-hour virtual training-of-trainers for 20 ACOES youth leaders to strengthen their facilitation and training techniques. More than 20 ACOES volunteers also participated in a 2-part photography workshop to help improve the organization’s communications efforts. Fabretto remains committed to walking alongside ACOES and is in constant communication with the administrative, programs, and engagement teams to help them implement best practices across the board.

Grants

Fabretto and ACOES are joining forces to apply for project funding that best meets the needs and the strengths of both organizations. Some of the grants secured so far include scholarship funds provided by Zemurray Foundation, a grant from Fundación ADEY to support early education efforts, and a sub-grant to strengthen the Maestro en Casa program, a distance learning initiative for rural youth. Additionally, Fabretto has redirected funds to help sustain ACOES’s nutrition program. We look forward to working together to secure even more funding in 2023.

Child Sponsorship

ACOES and Fabretto are partnering to grow the Child Sponsorship Program by matching current Fabretto donors with children in ACOES programs. We have already launched a pilot program in 2022 and are planning to expand in 2023.

Engaging US Audiences

ACOES has traditionally engaged supporters in Padre Patricio’s native country, Spain. Fabretto is now helping introduce ACOES to individual and institutional supporters in the United States, helping broaden the organization’s audience and reach.

The power of partnerships: Eliza Brennan, former Fabretto Volunteer Coordinator and now Senior Program Officer for Education and Migration at International Community Foundation, visits ACOES programs.