Honduras Threads: Successful Partnerships Transform a Community

The last decade has seen a growing trend among philanthropists and foundations to restructure their giving patterns from downstream charitable aid to upstream structural change, whereby donated monies are not used to ameliorate social problems but rather to solve social problems, ultimately benefiting communities over the long term.

Calvary Church, Summit invites the community to hear and learn from the extraordinary story of M’Lou Bancroft and her call to found Honduras Threads, a fascinating sustainable-giving success story. Ms. Bancroft will be the featured speaker at the 9.30 a.m. Forum Series on Sunday March 26 at 31 Woodland Avenue, Summit.

Honduras Threads starts and supports embroidery cooperatives in rural Honduran villages to enable its women to earn money in their own communities, helping themselves and their families by making beautiful products in a safe environment. The main mission is to strengthen the fabric of lives through work, pride and faith.

In 2002, Ms. Bancroft and a mission team from Dallas, started the first co-op in Santa Cruz Arriba, Honduras with the goal of providing work for the village women where the average annual household income is $1,800. Bancroft and her team enlisted an artist to design pillows and table runners for the women to appliqué and embroider by hand. The goal was to sell these goods in the United States, bringing much needed capital to the village community.

Today, Honduras Threads has expanded to 60 women working in five co-ops, teaching embroidery and sewing techniques, high quality standards, business skills, basic computer literacy, cost accounting and leadership. The larger goal is to help move the cooperatives towards sustainability, realizing that it is also a mission and will need an ongoing presence in the United States.

Honduras Threads has sold over 7,000 items and returned $342,582 to the co-ops in Honduras. The impact is building! The women have become self-confident leaders in their communities, and embroider extraordinary pieces of art. After the Forum, many of these unique pieces, including pillows, table runners, placemats and and napkins, will be for sell in the Guild Room until 11.30 am.

To read more of Honduras Threads’ incredible journey and view their products, visit www.hondurasthreads.org. For more information on Calvary Church, visit www.calvarysummit.org.