Our
History
The origin of our corporation goes back to 1994 when a group of friends who had no other interest but to help children, decided to begin a beautiful but difficult task: to create an orphanage.The objective was to house toddlers and infants who were in irregular and risky situations.
Misión de María Corporation was set up on March, 30, 1994 and obtained its Legal Status by Decree N° 1208 from the Ministry of Justice dated August 29, 1994 and published in the Official Gazette on September 23 of the same year.
Without having completely resolved the financial aspects to cover all of the basic children’s necessities, we were able to rent a house, rehabilitate it, hire personnel and start working. Fortunately our activities have been successful. From its initiation, the Corporation has maintained a strong relationship with SENAME, initially as a helping institution and since 1995 as a branch institution, always tied up to its technical supervision.
The Corporation has 12 employees who work different shifts to cover each day, taking care of the children.Amongst them, a social worker who has close links with the children’s families hoping to reunite them or otherwise, setting the children up for adoption.Likewise, we count on the help of many volunteers who generously donate their time to play and satisfy children’s needs.
In the course of these years, we have received important contributions that have helped us maintain the orphanage. Since the initiation of activities the Municipalities of Providencia and Ñuñoa and since 2001 the Municipality of Las Condes have provided funds, as well as many private corporations. The Ford Foundation endorsed an important project, one that permitted us to improve the orphanage, to buy new cribs with sheets, a computer, and cover operational costs, for a total of US$10,000.Our own resources are provided by members, events, donations, and the sale of Christmas cards.
A future project is to build our own home, especially designed and equipped for children under the age of 3, with a capacity for 30 children.After a long search, the Municipality of La Reina finally granted us a plot of land. At present, we are negotiating to obtain the necessary funds that will allow us to fulfil this goal.