Infrequently Asked Questions
1) Who are you?
We are a Christ-centered ministry serving families that have more than one child in which one of the children is chronically, severely, or terminally ill.
2) How do you serve these families?
Our Family Bridges program consists of intensive weekly workshops for a period of 10 weeks. These day-long workshops are hosted by a partnering healthcare organization which is in relationship with the families. The objective of our program is to facilitate the ministry of healing and reconciliation in relationship to God, self, and one another.
3) What makes the Family Bridges program unique?
We focus the family’s attention toward the special needs of the unintentionally neglected “healthy” sibling/siblings of the child living with a chronic, terminal, or severe illness.
We serve to affirm this absolute truth: Every child is specially created in the image of God. Every child, in every family, has special needs.
4) How do you follow up?
Participating families organically form support groups from the friendships established through the program. We provide each family with a daily devotional and encourage shared growth together with God’s Word as their center.
We are currently in the process of creating a virtual space, filled with faith-centered resources, to encourage sustained spiritual growth within the families we serve.
The effectiveness of our program is further strengthened by the sustained care of the hosting partner organization with which the families have a long-standing relationship.
5) Who leads the Family Bridges program?
Our field team is a small, but mighty, group of three talented women in Mexico City. They passionately promote, organize, and implement our Family Bridges program. They report weekly.
6) Who are your partners?
La Gaviota, Centro de Atención a la Discapacidad Infantil I.A.P., is an institution in Mexico City founded in 1996. It offers inclusive preschool education and rehabilitation (physical and speech therapy) to children aged 1 to 10, mainly from low-income families. The institution focuses on inclusion and supporting child development.
APAC (Asociación Pro Personas con Parálisis Cerebral, I.A.P.) is a well-established nonprofit organization in Mexico City, founded in 1970. It provides comprehensive specialized care—including physical rehabilitation, education from preschool through high school, therapies, and inclusion programs—for people with cerebral palsy and related disabilities, serving around 500 individuals daily from babies to adults.
Aquí Nadie Se Rinde I.A.P. is a nonprofit organization in Mexico City founded in 2005 that provides comprehensive support to children and adolescents (0-18 years) with cancer and their families, mainly from low-income backgrounds.
Through four programs, it offers emotional accompaniment, economic aid for bone marrow transplants, recreational/educational activities, and holistic care in partnership with major public hospitals across Mexico.
7) How are you funded?
Laughing Child International is a registered 501(c)(3) organization.
Last year we received a total of $58,276 in tax-deductible donations. This amount represented approximately 65% of our fundraising goal.
Due to the success and growing demand of our program, we pray to reach 100% of our full budget of $90,000 this year.
8 ) Why do you not raise funds in Mexico?
Our program is offered to families exclusively in partnership with national healthcare organizations. These partner organizations rely on donations from Mexican sources. Not being in competition with them for funding grants us greater access to the families they serve and opens the possibility of deeper and more sustainable cooperation.
9) What is next?
We are currently conducting our second Family Bridges program of this year with a great group of 15 head-of-household participants (15 families). Our partner APAC asked us to offer another program just weeks after having completed our first successful set of workshops with them in January through March of this year.
We are actively planning for our third program with our partner Aquí Nadie Se Rinde which cares for pediatric cancer patients.
10) How can I help?
Please pray for our team, the families we serve, and the essential partners that make it all possible.
Having immense gratitude for the amazing 21 donors that enable this ministry, I ask that you pray for others to join our family of donors to sustain and expand this important little ministry.
