Supportive Community

Displaced people at the border have been forced to leave the kinds of extended family and social networks that all people need to survive and thrive.  Then, they move to a new place in a desolate desert where without a community structure.  

 

We are committed to educating the next generation which for most will be the first in the family to graduate middle school (imagine the pride when they graduate from high school and even college). To encourage them in their journey, we need to surround our young learners with role models and other families that share their vision.  At Misión de Caridad we have several programs designed to foster supportive community, meet community-wide needs and identify shared goals and experiences.  

  • Super Saturday  

Our largest community development program runs 3 Saturdays a month at Casa Esperanza.  We modify the agenda based on community needs but most Saturdays include some combination of: 

  • Games – creating joy and connection through play 

  • Education – recent topics include: dental hygiene, personal finance, nutrition habits, mental health, etc. 

  • Shared meal  

  • Feed-a-Family distributions once per month (see our Good Nutrition page for more details) 

  • Holiday Celebrations  

We like to mark some of the major holidays with themed events at Casa Esperanza but the most cherished of all is our Christmas gathering.  Our whole community gathers to celebrate the season. Some of the traditions our families appreciate most include: A family photo (a luxury for people living in extreme poverty), a special meal, and a gift from our donor community.  One year a total stranger bought $2500 of warm blankets we could gift to our families for Christmas! (the average low in the winter in San Luis RC is 40 degrees F.) 

  • Moms Groups  

Twice a week we hold a gathering of mom’s facilitated by a member of our staff.  Each has a theme and women report strong emotional health benefits from connecting with women in similar situations. 

  • Community Leaders  

We actively work to both acknowledge and develop leaders within our community.  There is so much strength in these resilient families and the children in our program benefit from seeing their fellow community members lead.  Whether it’s hiring community members to be staff or team leaders, or having our middle school students lead games for the younger ones at Super Saturday, we empower and embolden so that the talent, strength and vision of our community members can shine. 

Our approach to developing supportive community is always evolving with the needs of our families and will probably look different next year than it looked last year.  Our goal with this approach is to encourage families to become more holistically engaged, socially resilient and provide them with hope for a better future. 

How To Help 

To support our work building supportive community among families in poverty at the border, please donate below.  These funds help us hold support groups, pay staff to facilitate community events and provide the grocery support that allow people in poverty to commit time to activities that meet more than their most basic needs.