Hand in Hand Ministries

Hand in Hand Ministries believes that building strong communities around the world begins at home. We strengthen our own community by opening hearts and minds to the needs of others through our unique immersion trip program. We provide resources for the economically vulnerable through our on-going programs in Louisville, Belize, Nicaragua and Appalachia that focus on safe housing, education, and health care. In all that we do, we seek to build community, one person, one family at a time.

In Appalachia, we repair dozens of homes in Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin and Martin Counties. We replace bathrooms, floors, ceilings, underpinning, and sometimes, the kitchen sink. We build wheelchair ramps for the elderly or an individual with mobility issues. We basically do whatever we can to create a safe place to call home for dozens of families each year. The Auxier Center also serves as an emergency food pantry for families living the area. Each month we provide emergency food supplies for fifty families. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have served twice as many families each month.

In Belize, Hand in Hand Ministries has built over 400 homes in Belize City since 2002. Many Belizean families live in substandard housing. Hand in Hand volunteers make a difference by hammering out 16’×20′ wooden homes that keep families dry during Belize’s six-month-long rainy season. Volunteers work side-by-side with our Building for Change partners, forming close personal connections as they complete construction together.

In Louisville, our immersion trip volunteers fuel our mission with their smiles, their sweat, and their financial support. Our desire to expand to work in our own neighborhood of Louisville began in 2016 with a few projects. Since then we have hosted 149 groups, building relationships with our community and homeowners. In addition to our home repair projects, Hand in Hand’s Community Engagement Projects give us the opportunity to collaborate and partner with other non-profits and organizations in West Louisville who have their own project wish list. We have been thankful to build relationships with these organizations and together we work to find ways we can support one another as we all work to build a better community. Our projects are completed by volunteer groups as part of our Louisville Program. 

We are currently not offering immersion trips in Nicaragua, but our Child Sponsorship program has continued despite significant challenges due to the pandemic. We have 90 students actively achieving educational goals to sustain their futures.