Beginnings

January 2016 marked the 21^st delegation trip since the first one in November 1994. Motivated by the vision of Rev. Larry Morkert, former chaplain at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz and his wife Kathleen, the congregations of Light of Life Lutheran (Scotts Valley, California), St. Stephen’s  Lutheran (Santa Cruz, California), Good Shepherd Lutheran (Salinas, California), Trinity Presbyterian (Santa Cruz, California), Advent Lutheran (Morgan Hill, California), Community Lutheran (Watsonville, California), Christ Lutheran (Aptos, California) and St. Andrew Presbyterian (Aptos, California) have committed prayer, money and energy toward accompanying our Salvadoran brothers and sisters. Rev. Morkert and Bishop Medardo Gomez of the Lutheran Church of El Salvador visited the community of Guillermo Ungo shortly after the signing of the Peace Accords in 1992. Bishop Gomez suggested that we work with the people of Guillermo Ungo. Light of Life closed in 2003 but a growing, committed group from the other congregations continue building relationships with the people of Guillermo Ungo.

Our first gift helped our communities purchase land with a spring to improve their water supply. Subsequent gifts have supported water improvement, education (computers and scholarships) and health improvement projects.

Objectives and Purposes

The primary objectives and purposes of this corporation shall be the solicitation, collection, and possession of charitable donations from Santa Cruz County and any other location, for distribution in, or for the benefit of, the country of El Salvador, to those organizations and individuals needing charitable assistance.

Santa Cruz al Salvador is a Charitable Non-Profit California Corporation.

Members

• Members of Santa Cruz al Salvador are duly organized churches, or other religious or charitble organizations.
• Each such organization may have only one membership.
• There are no fees for making application for membership nor are there any annual dues.
• There is no limit on the number of members.

Directors

• There are to be at least three directors; each member appoints two directors.
• The member-appointed directors elect at least one at-large director.

Officers

• There are to be at least three officers: President, Secretary and Treasurer (Chief Financial Officer).
• Other officers may be established by the Board of Directors.
• Any number of offices may be held by the same person except that neither the Secretary nor the Treasurer may serve as the President or Chairperson of the Board.
• Vacancies are to be filled by the Board of Directors, although the President may temporarily appoint an officer until the Board can fill the vacancy.