Education

Expenses or Use of Funds​​​​​

We are required by the IRS to classify expense in three primary categories: program expense, fundraising expense and management/general expense.  

Program Expenses.  The cost of programs that directly benefit individuals, families and communities.  Our program expenses help achieve measurable results in four key areas:

1. Quality of Life:  We increase access to nutritious food, water and health care for vulnerable populations; protect children from abuse and neglect; remove barriers to economic self-sufficiency; equip people with life skills that lead to increased independence.
   
2. Healthy Neighborhoods and Communities:  We address such challenges as providing safe, affordable housing and support services; increasing the safety of residents; improving physical spaces for community benefit; engaging residents in community-building and progress; and creating opportunities for young people to become productive citizens.
   
3. Education:  In an effort to reduce poverty and help create safe streets, we are working to improve access to quality education, technical training and higher learning opportunities. 
   
4. Outreach;  Our LifeCenter, camps, retreats, youth meetings, teams and community service projects create opportunities for out-of-school and underserved children and their families in the "risky areas" of the community.  The Life Center provides tutoring, meals, and alternative activities for children and families living in the urban slums. The school also is the base of operation for Iglesia Amor En Acción (Love At Work Church).

Management / General Expenses.  These are the necessary costs most any organization incurs to provide appropriate financial management and oversight, process financial transactions, general insurance and infrastructure costs such as computers and software.

​​​​​Fundraising Expenses.  These are expenses incurred to secure vital financial support from the public to support the cost of programs and other necessary functions of the organization.

What Makes Our School Different?

​​What makes Love At Work International Christian School different from other schools?   First, we’re among the top 3% of schools in Costa Rica who, in addition to the core curriculum, offer students the luxury of classes in the arts, music, physical education and religion. 

Second, character development is the key to everything we’re doing.  Brain-power alone is not enough.  Kids can be bright and well educated, but not show wisdom in other ways.   We want to produce graduates who are wise, with strong Christian values and excellent academic skills who can be used by God regardless of the profession they choose.  

Camps

Love At Work Church is not a place to come and stay within its four walls.  It is a base of operation for moving out into the community.  The members of the church are the base of volunteers for all of our work in the community.  When we build or renovate houses, church people are the ones building the houses.  Many are involved in the education programs, the school and the LifeCenter, our ministries in nutrition and health care, and activities with the youth.

Just a few days ago Love at Work Church had the first baptism of 2019. Twenty persons decided to follow Jesus and took the steps towards growth in their faith.  The presence of the Lord was amazing, and, also, the commitment of each disciple of Jesus was great.

​We’re committed to establishing the highest level program in Costa Rica in the execution, not just theory, of instruments . . . starting with wind instruments ­ saxophones, flutes, trumpets. Kids are intensively studying classical music and learning to play these new instruments. This is a radical social project in which children, often living in unthinkable circumstances, are given the chance to punch through the poverty cycle ­ with the help of skills learned through music.

Of the 85,000 Christian nonprofits registered with GuideStar, the world's largest data source on nonprofits, there are three things that, together, make Love At Work Ministries truly unique.

1. We work in the world’s urban slums.
   
2. We provide options. We provide opportunities (a “hand up”) that families & children simply do not have – access to quality education, decent housing, good health care & nutrition, economic opportunities. spiritual nurture.
3. We help children find hope.

In 2018, We Helped 3,275 People!

A day does not pass without the thought crossing our minds of just how blessed we are to have the opportunity to join each of you in living out Love At Work Ministries’ mission.  It’s a thought that encourages and inspires us every time.  It is especially true today as we share with you the results of our last 12-18 months.  

Together, in 2018, we helped 3,275 people in Alajuelita, Costa Rica, gain the potential to improve their lives through our programs in education, training, housing, nutrition and health care, social and spiritual nurture.  

2.  We Provide Options

​​2019 is our 15th year of serving the urban slums of Alajuelita, the darkest and most dangerous community in Costa Rica.  Love At Work International Christian School is right in the center of Alajuelita, and we serve several neighborhoods that are slums.  Slum communities are on the rise at an alarming rate, and their problems are being neglected. One out of six people in the world today lives in an urban slum, yet only one out of 6000 missionaries serve there.  The UN says there are 50,000 new slum dwellers every  day, and they project that, by 2050, half of the world's population will live in urban slums.  

Living in the slums is dangerous, and the majority of the families (70%) are headed by single moms with six or seven children.  They cannot go to work because they have to take care of their kids, and, sadly, this is a cycle that repeats itself.  Every child born in the ghetto faces the same fate . . . an inescapable circle of poverty and violence. 

Children are very important to us, and we have years with them, to impact and disciple them. Many of these kids we’ve discipled since they were 4 or 5-years old, and now they are in middle school or high school.  We know where they live, we built their houses, we know their families, we know their battles.  We know that if we change one of these kids, he or she is going to be a man of God, a woman of God.  And that means their kids will be a different family, and if we follow this through all the generations to come, it’s impacting thousands of people through only one student. 

​

Building Better Lives for Children and Their Families . . . 

Thousands of Reasons to Celebrate and . . . 
Thousands More to Keep Serving

Collectively, since we first started working in Costa Rica in 2004, we have served more than 20 thousand people.  
So we have thousands of reasons to celebrate, and thousands more to keep serving.  As we celebrate the stories and the numbers in this report, we thank you for your investment in this ministry . . . and for all the successes you’ve helped make possible.  

​​Love At Work’s new LifeCenter is located in the middle of the “ghetto” and helps these kids who go to public school . . . kids who otherwise would be wandering the neighborhood while waiting for classes.  At the LifeCenter, they are able to learn and grow in their knowledge in English, in technologies which will give them tools to break the cycle of poverty.  

A Meal Is Important​!

Love At Work Church (Iglesia Amor En Acción)

Dental Clinic

Each year, we send one to two hundred kids to our camps.  And every year, you have helped make these camps happen. Many have never had the opportunity to go to camp or get away from their challenging environment.  It’s vital to reach them now, before they become hardened to sin or victims of violence.  Camps are an opportunity to encounter Christ, build relationships and demonstrate a different way to live, in addition to having fun.  Our first camp of 2019 is a three day, two night camp on June 26, 27 and 28.  Please be praying for the 60 kids who will attend this camp.

Our 2018 Financial Highlights

Love At Work Ministries practices good stewardship with all funds entrusted to our mission of providing life-changing solutions, a hand up, for children and families living in poverty.   Using funds wisely allows us to serve more children, families and communities.

Revenue or Sources of Funds

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Love At Work Ministries, Inc. is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation supported by people who believe in our work.  Support comes in the form of contributions from individuals, churches, foundations and other organizations.​  Our revenues were up by 16% in 2018.

Housing

Love At Work Ministries Is Truly Unique!  

They come from places where they’re not always encouraged to help or care for their neighbor. But they are learning and understanding that they can make a significant difference in someone else’s life, and they want to give back.

One of the really unique things about this is we have a church, a school and an international ministry, and you our ministry partners, working together, to change the reality of these children.  This is a really powerful concept and is what enables us to approach the development of kids in a holistic way.   

Over the past year, you have stood with us through your prayers and financial gifts. You’ve reached into the lives of countless children and families, feeding the hungry, providing safe environments and education for children, giving relief for those whose homes were destroyed by fire, and so much more.  

We could not do this without you.  Thank you!

Larry and Carole Prible, Founders and Directors

Jay Prible, President

Arturo Piedra, Pastor and Executive Director Costa Rica

Musical Arts Program

​It’s hard to imagine that just 8 months ago there was no LifeCenter.  But God was clearly calling.  “Love At Work International Christian School is a safe place, but there are hundreds of my children who will not be able to be in the school.  Build a place of hope for them.”

The Alajuelita public school system is considered “a school of risk” and is failing. To meet the needs of a high number of students, the schools schedule classes in three shifts, with students averaging only 3 hours of education a day.  Not surprisingly, of 100 children entering the public system, less than 30 will graduate.

Love At Work Ministries

That was fixed, along with some other parts of the house that needed attention, like a ramp.  That family is being well taken care thanks to the generosity of a friend they’ve never met

When You Give A Child An Opportunity . . . ​

It’s amazing when you give an opportunity to a child.  It’s not money or a hand out that they need. It’s opportunity, a hand up.  And when you hand them an opportunity, they do amazing things.  We now have graduates who are attending universities, studying architecture, science, business.  They are pioneers . . . the first from their neighborhoods to ever go to university.

​We build houses in the slums because we see it as an opportunity to work in a way that's concrete, focusing on a very serious problem - a global housing crisis.  Building a better world for children begins in their homes  . . . a home means sufficient space and a healthier environment where children can focus on their studies.  

We have provided simple, decent shelter to over 200 families, hundreds of children, in the last 10 years.  In the past 12 months, Love At Work Ministries helped improve housing conditions for 13 families.  

1.  We Work In The Urban Slums 

​There is a saying that “nothing good ever comes out of Alajuelita.” Well, we’re changing that. Music is vital in every area of life, but Alajuelita does not have a serious program focused on classical technique. Children in the school begin to read music in the first grade. We believe we can have the best Musical Arts program in the country, and it will make a HUGE difference in the lives of these kids!

​We mobilized responses to an early morning fire that destroyed 320 meters of homes and buildings in a section of the shantytown known as Los Piños.  The ministry provided each family a “Basic House Pack” of materials for reconstruction.  This is a $1,250 material kit that will help each family reconstruct a small simple house, with running water, a simple septic and safe electric system . . . the most basic solution we have ever made . . . but it helped these families get on the road to recovery.  

Love At Work International Christian School.

The financial statements of Love At Work Ministries (LAWM) reflect only part of the mission in Costa Rica.  As autonomous nonprofit organizations, LAWM and Love At Work International Christian School keep their own records of revenues and expenditures.

To better demonstrate the magnitude of our work together, for the school year 2019, we estimate that 22% of the revenues for the school will come from contributions of Love At Work Ministries in the US. 78% will come in the form of tuition and fees paid by families in Costa Rica.

​​​Our Christ-Centered Education is perhaps our most transformational program.  It’s an opportunity to change a child’s reality, transform a family, transform a city.  That was something God put on our hearts from the beginning, and so we started with an afterschool program, and this evolved into a school.  There were 60 students that first year, and now we have 258 students in our programs that are all the way from Kindergarten through High School.  

​​​I don't know how much you think about it, because we take food for granted.  A simple breakfast is normal for us.  But that's not the reality in the slums of Tejarcillos.  Already sick from dirty drinking water, children become malnourished and their bodies can't fight off disease.

We are focused on attending to this need of our students. Our plan was not to open a feeding center by itself. We want to provide opportunities that will create a breakthrough in the lives of these kids.  But a hungry child has no chance!  

A smart kid without breakfast and lunch cannot build on his potential. We need to feed souls and minds of these children. But with a hungry stomach we cannot do it. A mother once asked us for our advice, “What should I tell my children when I lay them down at night, and they cry, and they say ‘Mommy, I’m hungry’?”

Food & clean water, and arms to hold them, and a roof that doesn’t leak . . . every child deserves that. But, unfortunately, 19,000 will die somewhere in the world today, and the saddest part is these deaths didn’t have to happen. It doesn’t take that much money to save a life. 

Additional classrooms are needed at the LifeCenter, and we dream of opening a dental clinic to serve the kids at the LifeCenter like we do the kids who attend our school.  ​

Karol Brenes (Pastor Arturo’s wife) continues to operate a Dental Clinic to serve God and the community.  She provides free comprehensive dental care for the children and youth in our programs and provides affordable health care to a base of clients who can pay.  She works on long-term term solutions that are developmental and preventative in nature, like improving the water and sanitation conditions, and educating parents with basic knowledge of nutrition, hygiene and health care.

The LifeCenter

Love At Work Ministries Has Earned GuideStar's 2019 Platinum Seal of Transparency.  

Our organization earned a 2019 Platinum Seal of Transparency by sharing our key metrics and highlighting the difference we are making. 

We’re proud to have earned a Platinum Seal to share our full and complete story with the world. To reach the highest level of transparency, we added extensive information to our Nonprofit Profile: basic information about our missions, programs, leadership, etc.; indepth financial information; qualitative information about goals, strategies, and vision, and the progress we are making toward our mission.  Our 990 Returns are available to you through GuideStar.

Plus, we’ve provided fresh information to 200+ charitable websites and applications that use GuideStar data, such as AmazonSmile, Facebook, and Network for Good.

Check out our profile at https://www.guidestar.org/Profile/8858782 .

GuideStar is the world’s largest source of information on nonprofit organizations.  Foundation Center and GuideStar have joined forces to become a new nonprofit called Candid. Learn more at candid.org. 

​​We are so thankful that God has given us an opportunity to do something about this vicious circle.  From the beginning, Love At Work has focused on giving people - especially children - opportunities to alleviate their pain, their suffering, and improve their lives. 

Each week, hundreds of kids pour through the gates of the school, the LifeCenter the church, or attend our camps.  They laugh, play, eat, cheer, learn and feel valued, safe and loved. These precious children and their families are finding hope . . . hope of a better future, the hope of reaching their God­given potential through Jesus Christ.

3.  We Help Children Find Hope

​Making accessibility a reality -- The photo below is of Maribel and her niece Stephanie, who lives with her.  The wall in front of their house was badly in need in repair.   ​