Like many residents of Solanco, Colin Buffington grew up in Quarryville, where he attended Smith Middle School and Solanco High School. But in January 2019, Colin made a decision that would completely change the course of his life: Colin and his wife, Rebecca, moved to Honduras, where they have served as missionaries through the Legacy of Hope Foundation for the last five years.

Legacy of Hope is a nonprofit organization that provides emergency care for children who have been abandoned or face a crisis in Western Honduras. The foundation's programs include foster care, transitional housing and family preservation initiatives.

"Our goal is to view orphan care as a family-centric solution as opposed to institutional care," Colin said. "We place the emphasis on family care, putting them on a path to see what a healthy family looks like to help them grow in that environment and deal with trauma."

Colin serves as Legacy of Hope's sustainability director, a role that involves locating funding and resources for the organization. In addition to coordinating donation campaigns, Colin has worked with Honduran coffee farmers to establish a brand in the United States. All of the brand's profits are primarily used to fund Legacy of Hope's crisis care facility, which functions as a safe haven for children the police find living on the street. Legacy of Hope watches over the children until local child protection services can find a family they can live with. "Many of these cases are children who have been abandoned and are seeking international adoption," Colin said. "(The program) gives them a sense of what that looks like before they find their forever family."

Rebecca introduced Colin to Legacy of Hope after they became married in 2018. Rebecca, who specializes in advocating for foster care via social media, had lived in Honduras for two years prior to their marriage, and her sister and brother-in-law, Mariann and Matt Spangler, are the organization's founders. At first, Colin was hesitant to make such a drastic move, but he said a spiritual calling inspired him to take the leap. "I lost my father when I was 2 years old. I never knew what foster care or child services were like because I was blessed by a strong and amazing mother who cared for my brother and I," Colin added. "I was also blessed with a grandfather, coaches and so many people in my life who acted as father figures. I wanted to be that for other children as well."

Since moving to Honduras, Colin and Rebecca have fostered five children together. The couple is currently in the process of adopting 4-year-old Archer, who was abandoned on the side of the road as an infant. Although Colin and Rebecca were told they would never be able to adopt Archer due to Honduran laws, they were able to proceed to the fundraising portion of the adoption process. Colin and Rebecca's other son, Allan.

Colin's mother, Debbie Lowery, has organized a yard sale fundraiser to help cover the adoption costs. The event will take place at Joyfully Made Fellowship, 75 Mount Hope Road, Quarryville, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, April 26, and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 27. Donations of clean and ready-to-sell items may be dropped off at Joyfully Made Fellowship from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, April 24 and 25.

For more information, visit https://legacyofhopefoundation.org/what-we-do.