El Salvador

$12,000

Sponsorship Needed Per Home

Through your support, we are building and developing transformative communities in El Salvador. 

The partner families typically come from disease-rampant living environments where the makeshift homes are made of mud, plastic, and rusty metal situated on land they do not own, with very basic sanitation facilities, if any. 

When families partner with the Fuller Center, they help build for themselves a stable home with solid walls, dry roofs, running water, electricity, an indoor cooking area, shower and toilet! And they will truly own it once they pay it forward using a no-profit, no-interest loan.

It creates an astonishing change in the direction of the lives of our partner families and, especially, their children. The families become not just recipients, but donors as they work alongside the volunteers and builders and repay the costs of construction.

Along with our local Fuller Center Covenant Partner, named Gente Ayudando Gente, we partner with city governments, the El Salvador Ministry of Housing, and crucially an organization called New Story Charity, to reach greater scale than other Fuller Centers in this region — developing entire healthy communities in just a few short years. 

To-date we have completed well over 700 homes in 7 communities, with another 100 homes currently underway. 

Gente Ayudando Gente also contributes a wide range of community support from nutrition assistance to dental work to some types of medical care. Gente has also helped families access job training or start niche small businesses. With the home as the central pillar of this comprehensive approach, we are destroying the allure of gangs that has overtaken too much of this beautiful nation. 

Together we are shining God’s light by breaking the cycle of poverty and making the world a better place.

Getting Involved

Your gifts truly change lives, and we can’t do it without them!

Travel to El Salvador with one of our Global Builders teams.

Donate your travel costs to local labor and ‘join the team’ from afar.

House Sponsorship Cost: $1,000

Thanks to the contributions already committed to us from from our partners for this project, we must raise only about $1,000 more per house! 

Upcoming Trips

Click on the leader’s name to learn more about the leader and trip details. Click “Join” to apply for their trip. Have a spot reserved on a “Full” trip? Complete your registration here

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What is a trip like?

Each trip to El Salvador will be with a group of mission-minded volunteers – typically 8-20 total – who want to experience the world, meet new people, and make a difference. No skills required. Trips last 1-2 weeks and include time for R&R activities.

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  • 7:00 –  Breakfast/Devotions
  • 8:00 –  Build begins
  • 12:00 –  Lunch break
  • 1:00 –  Build continues
  • 6:00 –  Dinner
  • 7:00 –  Evening free for R&R and team meetings

You will help us in the construction of the new homes in communities we are building. Much of the volunteer work for these projects includes, but is not limited to, laying blocks, digging foundations, bending rebar, mixing concrete, installing interior drywall, or painting the interior or exterior.

The Fuller Center El Salvador is helping provide housing for 100 families in the city of Apaneca. The families are living in rudimentary shacks of mud, sticks, tin, and plastic without adequate sanitation or clean water in this semi-urban area. We are partnering with the mayor’s office to help the families move into permanent homes on land that they will own. 

While it is always helpful to have Spanish speakers on your team, it is not a necessity. Spanish skills on the work-site will always be beneficial but are never required, and those capable of translating will be in the vicinity.  

Groups will stay in modest but decent hotels. Teams in Apaneca will typically stay in the Hostal Las Magnolia or the Hostal y Fonda Iruña. Teams working near San Salvador or transiting through have usually stayed in the Hotel Santa Elena

Assuming your team has at least eight or so people, we will get you around in vans that seat about 15. This will include travel between the airport, your housing, the work-site, and any tourism activities.

The hotel you’ll be staying at provided bedding and towels, but you must bring your own washcloth. It’s also helpful to bring things like work gloves, safety glasses, small first aid kits, bugspray, and sunscreen to share with your team. Don’t forget to pack sturdy work clothes that you won’t mind getting dirty. Any sort of small hand tools, like tape measures and trowels, can’t hurt to bring if you’d like.

Most teams stay in El Salvador for about 7 days, giving them 1-2 non-working days. El Salvador has many fun tourism opportunities and/or relaxing activities in which your group can participate. Groups in the past have visited a volcano, went zip lining, and visited the national artisan’s market. Speak to your trip leader about what they may have in mind for your trip. Each trip participant will receive a guidebook that will list various R&R options.

Prices vary based on team size and trip duration, but a standard 1 week trip to El Salvador costs between $1400 – $1650 per person. That price covers lodging, local transportation including airport pick-up, three meals per day, bottled water, travel health insurance, and a contribution toward building materials.  Fees do not include airfare, visa fees, tips, or site-seeing (unless otherwise indicated). 

If looking to bring a group, contact globalbuilders@fullercenter.org for more details and submit your trip proposal here. 

Are you unsure of how to prepare for such an experience or just looking for some tips on how to be better prepared? If so, we suggest you take a look at our Trip Preparation page where you will find a lot of helpful information and links – Preparing For Your Trip!

Pricing – What’s included?

Team Materials Fuller Center t-shirt, country guidebook, fundraising guide, & more
Trip Support Easy contact with Team Leader and Global Builders staff
Food and Drink 3 meals a day provided by safe, sanitary local vendors
Transportation To and from work sites and airport
Lodging Simple, decent hotels
Travel Insurance Provided by Berkley Accident and Health, with Healix Emergency Assistance Services. More details are provided upon registration or request. 
Life-changing work Alongside your teammates and the homeowners!

What happens after the trip?

Even after you return, your trip can have a sustained impact on both you and the community in which you served! 

Learn how on our Country Champions page.