Heart's Home USA

Save the Date! September 15 - Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Compassion!

Natalia — 2012-05-17T02:35:31Z

Heart's Home invites you to begin the year by entrusting the new start to Our Lady of Compassion.

Join our Annual Pilgrimage to the Shrine at the ICCC, Woodbourne.

More information to come soon!

Before packing for your holidays, Save the Date to your Google Agenda!

Meet Our American Volunteers 2012!

Natalia — 2012-05-17T02:21:41Z

From Wyoming to Peru;
From Washington to El Salvador;
From Louisana to Thailand;
From Missouri to Brazil and Argentina;
From California to Chile;

From the States to the World! Meet those who have decided to give a year out to serve those who need it most!

We are All Ambassadors

Natalia — 2012-05-17T00:34:10Z

Fr. Thierry de Roucy, Heart's Home Founder, addressed the following words to our supporters attending our Annual Gala the past May 3. We want to offer them to you, who in one way or another, are also supporting our mission:

We are all ambassadors.
We can be ambassadors of a country, or a family, a company, a political party, a non-profit, or even of a soccer-team !
Each one of us stands for, and represents, many other people.

There are groups we did not choose to belong to. And yet, we have to come to terms with this responsibility.

But there are also groups that we freely chose to belong to.

Therefore, we should ask ourselves three questions:
• who do I want to stand for ?
• what do I want to stand for ?
• what kind of ambassador do I want to be ?

As far as I am concerned, tonight, I stand for all those who decided to become witnesses of the dignity and beauty of each human being.

I stand for those who believe that the primary human need is the need to love, and to be loved.

I stand for those who want to be a balm on their neighbors' wounds. It is a very courageous and demanding mission!

Despite the opening of new houses, despite the growing number of volunteers, each year I cannot help crying: “We need more!”

We need more love. More tenderness. More generosity.

We need more, because there is always more poverty, loneliness and despair. Like a tsunami, they overwhelm our cities!

Tonight, I represent all those who take part in our mission.

On their behalf, I am happy to present you some of the beautiful fruits of our mission.

On their behalf, I also want to thank each one of you.

Thank you for making it possible for them to be who they are.

Thank you for allowing so many suffering and lonely people to receive their visits, and to become their friends.
Your generosity makes their compassion possible.

Thank you for being here, with us, tonight.
Thank you for your friendship, which I am glad to say, goes far beyond this night.

Panel III organized By Heart's Home on Human Rights Education in Non-Formal Settings

Natalia — 2012-05-16T22:27:43Z

The third panel, organized and moderated by Heart's Home, jointly with the NGO"Al Hakim Foundation" aimed to highlighting various initiatives and strategies in human rights education using non-formal tools such as: arts, social medias, discussion groups, games etc ...

Ms. Rosslyn Noonan, Chair of the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), evoked a Human Rights Education and Learning (HREL) Program designed for Aboriginal communities. (...) ► continue

“I want to die” ... “But we love you, Naa!”

Natalia — 2012-05-16T22:11:12Z

by Katie Kustusch

There I was, a year ago, on the other side of the world, listening to my friend say:"mai mii phyan, jaak tai." ("I have no friends, nobody loves me, I want to die.")

I met Naa in Khlong Toei, the slum where I lived in Bangkok, Thailand as a Missionary of Compassion. I never expected this. I never expected that I would leave a great job, my family, and everything I've ever known to go and become friends with people in a slum. But when I first encountered Heart's Home here in Brooklyn, the joy I saw captured my heart.

When I first met Naa, she was stopping for lunch at our house in Khlong Toei. She's like any other 17 year old in some ways. When I first met her, I wasn't sure why she needed our friendship so much. There are so many others who do. Every day in our neighborhood we encounter so many people who are lonely and forgotten. Each week we go to visit prisoners in an immigration prison, and people dying in a nursing home. But Naa? She calls us probably 5 times a day, sometimes obnoxious and melodramatic. She will tell us she loves us, then not talk to us for months. As I got to know her, beneath her facade I discovered a lot of pain. She began to trust me, just a little. She would call more often late at night, crying: "I have no friends, nobody loves me, I want to die."

These short conversations leave me powerless and aching in front of her raw pain. What can I possibly say to her when she tells me this? She has grown up in a slum, unwanted by her mother, and despised by society.

But I do reply with the simple words: “But I love you. We love you – all your friends from Heart's Home, and we don't want you to die.” And I hope she hears it. Sometimes we are given the privilege of saying these words directly to her. Most often we say it in much smaller ways. And so when she is losing hope, she comes to us to be reminded of her own beauty and dignity.

It's hard to explain in a few short words the depth of our friendship with Naa, or my experience with Heart's Home in Thailand. How do I explain that my heart aches more, because it is full of so many more beautiful and broken people like Naa? How do I share this seed of compassion, planted in my heart, that is blossoming in ways that I never expected? It is what compels me to begin a second mission with Heart's Home in El Salvador in just a few days. I know that I'm not going there to do extraordinary things. But if I learned anything from my friends in Thailand, it is that we don't need to do extraordinary things, only ordinary things with great love. This is how we build a civilization of love, and become ambassadors of compassion.

Ambassadors of Compassion Gala Dinner

Natalia — 2012-05-16T22:05:32Z

By Renee Kurz

The Ambassadors of Compassion Gala held on May 3^rd in Manhattan was an event very different from many typical festivities of Heart's Homes. The fourth floor of the National Bohemian Hall is a grand ballroom with ornate chandeliers and a frescoed ceiling. The guests were greeted in the welcoming foyer, their coats hung up, and champagne awaiting them as they exited the elevator and ushered to the cocktail. The tables were beautifully prepared, dressed in turquoise and adorned with candles, flowers, and the testimonials of American volunteers. Everything was perfectly in its place — china, silver, glass — staying true to Heart's Home's emphasis on love in the details, in accordance to those whom you are serving.

However, though the outward appearance of the evening was strikingly different than other more simple Heart's Home events, say in Bangkok or India… what was not different at all was the welcoming of friendships and the love with which they were received. With camera in hand, I was struck to not only capture the beauty of the décor, but more importantly the smiles, and embraces, and the laughter between our friends. The room was full of the joy of seeing old friends and coming to know new, which the piano accompaniment of Bach performed by Evan Shinners was so fitting. Our guests then sat in wonder as they listened to the touching story of the development of the Broadway Housing Projects and acclaimed with honor the three individuals awarded the Compassion Award; who in their personhood are witnesses to the dignifying and restorative effects of being offered a home surrounded by beauty.

Much of the evening followed the theme of building homes… both the tangible and the transcendent. How beautiful it was to see with what generosity our guests joined Heart's Homes efforts to build a new home, which in turn is for them: a guest house at the ICCC. And then to be touched by the more essential need of building homes in the hearts for friendship and compassion… a need which Katie Kustusch shared from her experience in Bangkok and her reason for saying ‘yes' to a second mission in El Salvador. Each bidding hand during the auction knew for what intention they were raising the bid… not only to ensure that they left the ballroom wearing the gorgeous amethyst and pearl necklace or beholding the fine bottle of pleasurable wine; no, they knew that behind each winning bid they were ensuring the fecundity of Heart's Home and the formation of more Ambassadors of Compassion.

Last Posts on LandofCompassion.com

Natalia — 2012-05-16T22:01:12Z

Heart's Home Compassion Award
by Paul Anel

During a ceremony held on May 4 at the Bohemian National Hall, in Manhattan, NY, Heart's Home's Compassion Award was presented to three individuals: William Mark, Marilyn Denis and Yvonne Simmons, “three individuals who have transcended the degradation and suffering which the fate of homelessness imposes ; three individuals who have become healers of others…” Read on

Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone?
by Gonzague Leroux

In a talk given at TED last February, Sherry Turkle, warns us about the effect of social media on our lives and relationships with others. A relentless twittering or facebooking can lead to “a new solitude”. Read on

Celina A. - Jefferson City, MO

Natalia — 2012-05-12T18:32:02Z

“God grants you a new gift every day. You just have to be excited to find it.”

- Kathleen L. (Former Heart's Home volunteer) -

My name is Celina. I am currently a senior at Helias Catholic High School and will be graduating this Spring of 2012. After graduation, I plan to fulfill a mission in a Heart's Home village outside of Salvador da Bahia, called Fazenda do Natal (the Christmas Farm) in Brazil. I can honestly thank my brother, Jonathan, for introducing me to this wonderful organization. He also attended a mission in Brazil in July 2010 for an entire year. With knowing the passion that I have for doing mission work, Jonathan described Heart's Home as the perfect fit for me. At first, I just convinced myself that I would find time to go on a mission at some point after college. But after visiting the college I plan on attending after my mission, I didn't feel entirely satisfied with my future plans. Almost as if I was being called elsewhere. God's plans for me have always been far beyond my comfort zone, and I knew that's exactly where I needed to be. After a lot of contemplation and prayer, I realized that contacting Heart's Home was a necessary step. Everything quickly started to come together, and I fell completely in love with wanting to do a mission devoted to compassion, prayer, and community!

I am extremely thankful for the all the support I will continue to be receiving, so that I am able to embrace such a successful mission. My experience with God, in Brazil, is going to be absolutely incredible!

Sponsor Celina!

9 June - Heart's Home Family Day

Natalia — 2012-05-09T15:33:24Z

at the International Center for a Culture of Compassion

2299 Ulster Heights Road, Woodbourne, NY 12788

PROGRAM

11:00am Welcoming

11:30am Talk: Mary's Pilgrimage of Faith
Redemptoris Mater, John Paul II
Activities for children

1:00pm Lunch – Potluck (each family brings a picnic)

3:00pm Rosary while walking to the Shrine

4:30pm Mass

5:30pm End

Participation : $10 per person and per child

RSVP by June 2^nd

Contact Us

Marie Celeste R. - Baton Rouge, LA

Natalia — 2012-04-25T13:40:18Z

I grew up with a fascination and admiration of cultures and languages, a gift given to me by my parents. What makes this even more a blessing is that this appreciation, respect and excitement has always been an appreciation of the heart, rather than the music or language. Seeing the universality of the human heart in a way that doesn't brush aside or ignore the differences, but instead delights in and appreciates them.

My love of the heart has grown as I have learned of the worldwide reality of love and also of the reality that this love is not always known, that not all people know their worth and greatness. Growing in my Catholic faith has broadened and in many ways made sense of my appreciation of the human heart. I realize that the human heart is a hungry heart. It is hungry for more than material or physical needs to be met; it is hungry for authentic compassion. We long not only to be seen, but even more to be delighted in and appreciated. I have come to understand that the hunger I experience (even amidst the blessings of family, friends, shelter and Louisiana cooking) is the same hunger experienced by people around the world, regardless of age, race, gender, or nationality.

The universality of this hunger is as real as the heart is - and how fascinating the cure is! The very paradox of Christ and Christian life is that “it is in giving that we receive” (St. Francis of Assisi). For me, joining Heart's Home is an opportunity to give - and therefore receive, knowing that as Christ's compassion is shared and received, all people “may be one… so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21)

Marie Celeste will be leaving in January of 2013 for a two-year mission in Bangkok, Thailand.

Sponsor Marie Celeste!