More People Important To Las Sonrisas de los Niņos, Thanks, and some misc. pics
As mentioned elsewhere, our lawyers in Honduras suggested the most proper way for us to purchase land in Honduras was to form a Honduran corporation, and the official name of the corporation is the Rural Community and Child Assistance Project, doing business as Las Sonrisas de los Niņos. We are fortunate to have Barry King and Dr. Jules Comeau on the Board of Directors.
Barry King is an experienced African missionary, master of aviation, and valued friend since the late 1980s. Barry also has significant computer abilities and, in addition to serving on the Board, generously donated the space for this website and patiently provided detailed instructions on how to set it up.
Dr. Jules Comeau is an extraordinary dentist and fellow former pilot; we were partners for 14 years in a Cessna 172 plus he built by himself an award winning Avid Flyer experimental airplane (subsequent fatherhood put a damper on his flying!).
Matt Rooks was the first person to contribute money to Las Sonrisas de los Niņos... a $100 cash donation which is a significant amount on its own, let alone the fact that Matt is a poor college student at SUNY Geneseo, majoring in philosophy. Below, Matt back in 2003; James and the commuting basket:
James Reilly is a young man who graduated high school with my son in 2004 and was looking to do something meaningful and a little different, so in Sept. 2005 he came to La Ceiba and remained for seven months. Initially he resided in the mountains south of La Ceiba, paying $25 a week for room and board in a sewing cooperative (to get there one must cross a river via a 200-300 yard long suspended cable/basket arrangement about 70 or 80 feet high). He was involved with several projects in the area of community development and activities for kids, including teaching music/singing classes and later he moved to town (La Ceiba) and worked as a voice teacher/choir director in a music conservatory. He is currently married, with children, and in the Navy!
More text below photos: Rick & Digna visit our rented house in Cacao; Miriam & Hector- where the Cacao Lagoon enters the ocean
We've already mentioned a number of people throughout these pages who have helped and supported us during the development of Las Sonrisas de los Niņos. Without concern for repetition (but with some concern for omission) we want to thank the following:
Rick and his charming wife Digna; Rafael Linares and the Central American Spanish School (www.ca-spanish.com); Miriam of the El Cacao Patronato and her esposo Hector; Jesus Peņa, master builder, and the construction crew; our neighbors in El Cacao Emilio and Don Julio Cruz (and his elegant wife Doņa Juanita); Kyle Heath (and her mother and sister) & www.utopiautila.com; Cindy Dodge; Susan and Paul Provost, Nissa Harvey; Liesbeth Groenendijk (Lizzy from Holland) & the three young people from Belgium who helped perform the demographic survey of Cacao; and the Rotary Clubs of both La Ceiba, Honduras and Tupper Lake, NY: 
Special thanks to Patricia's mother Patricia Clark Huenemoerder and her late father Harold Huenemoerder, whose generous gifts to their daughter, including a financial one, have helped lead us to where we are:
More text below photos: Patricia and her mother; kids playing under a tree at the project
This site is primarily written by half of Las Sonrisas de los Niņos, Reid. The greatest thanks of all go to the other half, Patricia, who has sweated profusely, walked endless miles, wielded the machete, stepped over end mounds of cow manure (caca de vaca in Spanish), and ridden for hours and hours on filthy buses over bone-jarring roads, but always with a smile, class, and infinite compassion for all those suffering and living in poverty.
Below: mountains with a waterfall a few miles south of La Ceiba; digging a well at the project site then driving a well after the dug well caved in; finally us, Reid and Patricia, on a cloudy day at the beach outside of the Cacao Lagoon
