Fund Raiser in McAllen

For the past nine years McAllen, Texas friends of Casa Hogar MAMi have hosted community supporters to celebrate the accomplishments of the ministry. I was blessed to be able to attend this year. Many of you know Celia Thrash (pictured with her friend Anne). The apron and bag were Celia's latest project for raising money for Casa MAMi. 

In this photo you see Sister Elma with some of the Reynosa directors. I was also able to attend a meeting with the lead staff and McAllen directors Celia Thrash, Maria Leonard, and Elaine Brady. Here are a few statistics I learned. Plates of food served in 2012: 195,500 / in 2013: 198,260 and through October 2014: 165,000.  

Currently there are 44 girls sleeping at the Casa MAMi location on Rio Frio street in Reynosa. There are 20 boys, mostly brothers, sleeping at the boys home, which was started in June 2010. They take all of their meals at the Rio Frio location. In addition, there are 31 girls and 27 boys who eat all of their meals and study at Casa MAMi five days a week. 

Our non profit, Casa MAMi MX, was founded in 2005. In the past ten years we have been blessed to give $332,315.00 to the ministry. 

The children prepared heart shaped sugar cookies in small bags for Sister Elma to offer to guests. 

College Graduate from Casa MAMi teaches the girls & CHRISTMAS CARDS FOR SALE!

You may remember that, due to the violence and some bullying problems, the younger children are schooled at Casa MAMi. Flora graduated last week from the university with a degree in Psychology. She is now employed at Casa MAMi as a classroom teacher.
Here is the report of the most recent staff / board meeting - Thank you, Celia!

WE WILL BE SELLING THE CHRISTMAS CARDS, BEGINNING NOVEMBER FIRST!

Monthly Meeting Notes for July, August, September 2012

Meeting Held on October 17, 2013

Note:  this is an open meeting. All BOD’s are welcome.

On Wednesday at 10 pm at the home of Elma Fonseca, Maria Patterson, Celia Thrash, and Abraham Trevino Esquivel met for a review of operations for the months of July, August, and September.

Celia and Maria apologized for not being able to attend earlier.  Due to surgeries, hospital stays and traveling, they were not able to attend meeting dates.

Children:  Casa Hogar currently has 169 children.  Of those children, 100 sleep at Casa Hogar ~ 33 boys, and 67 girls.

Additionally, 4 babies that have been abandoned are currently residing at Casa Hogar.

Currently (as of October 2013) we have 52 in Kinder and Day Care, 87 in Primary grades.   These children are home schooled in the building.  18 children in secundaria, and 5 in preparatoria go to school in Reynosa.   We currently have 3 at the University. 

Recently Elma has accepted 4 children that came to Casa Hogar starving and malnourished.  They are on Ensure and a balanced diet to revive their health.

Parenting Program.  Currently 45-50 parents are attending our weekly meetings.  Many have been assigned to go through Mexico’s DIF program.  They are fed and are studying National programs that have been sent to Casa Hogar.  Currently ANSPAC (A National Association for Family Growth) has sent a program for the parenting classes.

Psychological.  Reynosa’s DIF program is working arm in arm with Casa Hogar.  Twice a week they send one of their psychologists to work with the children.

Budget:  The Budget, though excepted is going through some changes.

Because of the need to include construction costs for the Boy’s unit, we are submitting line items in the budget report to help give an accurate picture of donations.  We also have added a line item for transfers from the money market account for those special needs.  Additionally, since its official opening in September, the Boy’s unit has its own budget report.   With our current growth, a more sophisticated budget reporting system has to be used and evaluated.  

Currently we have a General Budget Report, A Casa de Nino’s Budget Report, and Bank reports.

A new line item “Travel ministry” is added to the budget report to cover expenses for Elma and her traveling to different Churches.

Building:  The boy’s unit has currently gone through the needed construction to get it to code and is working well.

An exciting new program through ANSPAC is being developed at the Boy’s unit.   The representatives of ANSPAC are going down in January to teach us how to make a garden to raise our own vegetables.  Since there is adequate space at the boys unit, a site has been selected.  Currently the soil is being worked and top soil is being brought in.  We look forward to the children taking part in this healthy activity.

Misc.:  We are in need of new chairs for the kindergarten class.  We’ve had them since 2001 and they are beginning to fall apart.

Elma will be visiting Pastor Bill Quinn in his church this next week.  She will also be visiting Atlanta on November 10^th to talk with a Pastor Debra and her church.

A group from Love Never Fails visited earlier this month.  They are planning a program to build homes for some of the families of children that live in Casa Hogar.  Today, these families in the colonias where their home is made of scrapes and the children are not capable of going to school or being cared for.  A wonderful ministry.

Marketing:

Christmas cards will be sent out again this year; Elma will bring to Celia’s home the entries.

Bracelets that the girls have made will be sent out to various stores and churches to sell.

A Memorial card will be added to the newsletter.

Fundraising Party at Celia’s will be November 20^th.

New Meeting date:  November 13^th at 10:30 at Elma’s House.

 

Minutes from meeting Nov. 10, 2012

On Saturday, November 10th, 2012 at 10 am,   Maria, Celia, Elma, Abraham, and Dr. Leticia Nunez met at Elma’s home for the monthly review of budget and operations for October.

Children:  Casa Hogar currently has 89 children. 

Child Behavior:  At present the elementary-age children are being “home-schooled”.  The state wouldn’t allow for Casa Hogar to become a school because of building restrictions, so Elma has worked with the schools to have the teachers come in to test the kids, which would be satisfactory for state compliance.   Leticia said that they have finally received all the school books and papers to adequately keep up with the school’s curriculum.  At present they are testing below average but they hope that now that they have the proper supplies to teach in-line with the school, the kids will be able to bring up their grades.

Parenting Program:  Programs are resuming with between 35-40 parents attending.

Budget: The budget was accepted.   We voted to have Bill Quinn’s name taken off as a signer and Abraham’s name put on as a signer for all accounts.   

Celia has talked with Kathy and will research the amount that Casa Hogar MX has remaining from the monies the Wine party has brought in.   We will then be able to request that amount to be deposited into the Money Market.  

Abraham was asked to reimburse  the main account with money from the Money Market for the Grant seminar in Monterrey and for the upcoming trip to Mexico City that Leticia will be making.  He was also asked to reimburse Elma for the registration for the schools for the older children.  Elma had paid ($800) from her personal account.

Leticia was asked to re-emphasize the importance of the parents contributing as a donation to help with the expenses of school.

Grant writing:   Celia requested the information on grant writing through the CERI company, in English.  She will be looking for potential companies to write Grants to. She also suggested that she has a friend who writes grants for a living and that she will discuss costs, etc. with her.  Abraham stated that most companies want a certified accountant on the staff in order to receive a grant.  We decided to research that element when looking for a potential donor.

Staff:   At this time Martha ( Abraham’s wife) is helping in the kitchen so we  don’t need to hire another cook.  Elma fired one of the night time staff because she grabbed a child so firmly that it left a bruise.  So we are one staff short. 

Leticia was asked to revise the Organizational chart.

Building:  The owner of the building next door was not able to come to town last week to discuss renting her building for the boys unit for Casa Hogar.  So we are in a standstill for that request.

We need 2 washing machines and 2 dryers.  There isn’t an electrical outlet that would support an electric dryer in the boys current home, so we really need a gas dryer.  There also isn’t a washing machine so staff is having to take all the clothes over to the main unit to wash.    Also, one of the washing machines at the main unit was very old and had stopped working in the girls’ unit.   We discussed getting industrial washer-dryers.  LFD does not carry industrial machines.  Elma is looking for prices and washers with larger capacity and will get back with Celia on possible purchases.

Marketing : The wine party is coming up this Thursday at Celia’s house at 5pm.   We asked that everyone be there by 4:00.  Elma is having the girls make cookies for the party. 

We will be selling Christmas cards and the iron boxes at the party. 

Elma has made a new CD  for the party. 

The first newsletter for Casa Hogar went out a couple of weeks ago to around 80 companies and donors.   Celia asked if there are any other donors that we want to send newsletters to, to please forward her their addresses.   The next newsletter will go out right after Christmas.

Misc.

The official list of the new Board of Directors has been accepted by the government.   Elma had to put the original BOD members ( prior to LNF) as a provisional board for approval in order to have a quick turn-around on getting a renewed non-profit status.  Leticia is taking the papers to Mexico City in order to have them accepted as quickly as possible.  Afterward a revised list of Board of Directors will be accepted. 

Celia has taken the laptops to Pan American University to be fixed ( through a contact from a Rotary meeting) and she should hear back from him in the next week. 

Celia was asked to contact Alredo Monsalvo , Hermes Music,  for additional musical instruments for the kids.   Alfredomonsalvo@hotmail.com   Maria will be asking on Facebook if anyone has any used musical instruments that they would like to donate to Casa Hogar.

Leticia stated that she is looking to sell some of the older equipment and clothes that are not in use at Casa Hogar.  We discussed getting a booth at a flea market in Reynosa to sell some of the goods no longer needed.  Some of the older girls can help.

The winners of the Annual Christmas Card were announced, and monetary gifts were given to 1^st and 2^nd place.

Steve and Carol will be coming for a visit on  December 4,5, and 6^th.

The meeting was ended with a prayer.  The next date for a meeting will be on December 8^th at 10 am at the home of Elma Fonseca.

Water Purification SYSTEM upgrade!!

Andy Jordan, board member from Memphis, TN and a team from Advent Presbyterian Church installed the first pure water system at Casa MAMi in the fall of 2005. He returned last month to replace that one and  move the old one to the boys home.
THANK YOU, ANDY, and THANK YOU STAFF for your excellent support! Glory to GOD! Below, is Andy's report.


On this trip, two water treatment systems were built and installed at Casa Hogar MaMi girls’ and boys’ homes.  The system at the girls’ school replaced the one that has been in operation since 2005.  When I arrived September 7, the system at the girls’ home was treating the water ok, though water flow rate to the tap was slow due to filter loading (filters were in need of changing) and the UV lamps were overdue for annual replacement.  Water quality was confirmed to be safe. (See full report following the executive summary.) Earlier reports that some children became ill was because they drank insufficient quantities of water due to taste (according to the resident nurse and Dr. report.) The taste issue is likely due to the total dissolved solids (TDS) content of Rio Grande water and seasonal changes that affect taste and odor typical of municipal surface water sources. (Reynosa TDS is about the same as McAllen, Rio Grande City, Fulton reservoir and Harlingen.) TDS is well within World Health Organization and Texas Department of Environmental Quality guidelines.  TDS is not a health issue. Conventional municipal treatment and household treatment systems do not remove taste and odor components of water.  There is no evidence of a safety issue due to taste.
Nevertheless, an update in the treatment system at Casa MaMi was in order to make operation more reliable and easier to maintain. Also a significant purpose of this trip was to get reacquainted with the staff and to provide a thorough operator training in operations, maintenance and record keeping. (In retrospect, on previous trips, lack of adequate time and resources dedicated to training was a significant shortcoming; hence the reason we allowed for ample time on this trip to assure good training.)
The updated design change adds a third filter in the systems. This should extend filter life and improve efficiency.  New UV disinfection reactor units were installed at both locations.  This system consists of an ultraviolet (UV) reactor tube preceded by a 20 micron filter, a 5 micron filter and a 0.35 micron filter.  Using piped water from the Reynosa city water service with the household system installed at the homes provide a multi-barrier (3 barriers) treatment system to assure safe water. They are: treatment and chlorination of Reynosa water supply, on-site micro-filtration by 20 micron, 5 micron and 0.35 micron filters and UV radiation in compliance with NSF-055 standard for UV.  Any one of the barriers is generally considered sufficient to assure safety; therefore, when all three methods are employed with reasonable care, the likelihood that one or more of the systems is working is maximized. On trips in 2009, 2010 and on this 2012 visit, I conducted multiple tests of  the incoming Reynosa piped water at various locations on the properties for the presence of residual chlorine (free chlorine). I consistently detected adequate levels of free chlorine, a reliable indicator that the Reynosa water system is operating properly—at least when the water was tested. The on site filtration and UV disinfection at the homes add additional barriers to prevent contamination in case the Reynosa water treatment should become inadequate.
Installation and operation of the systems at both sites was completed late Sunday. An operator’s maintenance manual was developed, and training was provided for the operators, Marko and Celeron; both are competent, bright young men and by the end of the trip demonstrated high proficiency in filter and UV inspection, cleaning, and replacement. Instructions for cleaning filters and UV sleeve/lamp assemblies on a strict quarterly basis also was a significant change in the operations emphasized on this trip.  Also importance that filter replacement shall be done only with properly sized filters to assure proper filtration was stressed.  Home depot filters are adequate only for the first level of filtration (i.e., replacement for the 20 micron filters.) The water hardness of Reynosa water requires regular cleaning of the UV components to assure top effectiveness.
An ample inventory of 7 sets of replacement filters and 4 sets of lamp/sleeve assemblies intended to last 3 years or until September 2015 was left in storage container dedicated to the filter systems.  Also the English electronic version of the  training manual was left with Ana Hernandez with the request to translate the manual to Spanish. In conclusion, when I departed the site Monday afternoon, I had high level of confidence that the system is in good hands and with good record keeping the system will be operational indefinitely.
It should be noted in this executive report to my files, the excellent cooperation received from my interpreter, Ana; the home psychologist, Leticia; maintenance personnel, Marko and Celeron; and kitchen staff. They all worked long hours and took extra measures to assure this trip was a success and to keep me well fed and comfortable.  Acknowledgement should also go to Kathy Scruggs, Maria Paterson, Celia Thrash, and Sister Elma for their dedication, assistance, prayers and unselfish devotion and to my friend and prayer partner Chris Scruggs for his understanding and support of this mission and to my wife Susan who works unselfishly on LWW water health and hygiene training and wants to accompany me on my next trip to Casa MaMi.

Board Meeting on Oct. 6th in Hidalgo, TX

October Meeting of Casa MAMi board

Thank you, Celia, for sharing these minutes:

On Saturday, October 6^th, 2012 at 10 am,   Maria, Celia, Elma, Abraham, Maria Cuellar and Dr. Leticia Nunez met at Elma’s home for the monthly review of budget and operations for September.

Children:  Casa Hogar currently has 108 children with 62 girls and 46 boys. 79 are residents with 49 girls and 30 boys. 

Child Behavior:  As we spoke about last month many of our children were bullied at their school simply because they were in an orphanage.  This past week, an all-out brawl took place with many of our children injured, even needing stitches.  The other children in the school took our children’s back packs and schools supplies in the scuffle.  Elma and Leticia talked with the principal who stated that she simply could not control the children ~ the school had too many kids enrolled with fewer staff.  Elma made the decision to move the children out of the dangerous situation at the school and look for another, more favorable atmosphere for schooling.

Elma and Leticia talked with other schools, but none of the surrounding schools could handle 59 children.  Additionally the threat of cartels in some schools made them not advisable.

We discussed home schooling the children (the primary age –59 total).  If the state allows us to have the license to home school, then the state would pay our electrical, which would give us enough money to hire the teachers we need.  Currently Elma is working with officials to get the proper license.

Programs: Leticia has scheduled programs each week for the following: Pregnancy prevention, drug abuse prevention, CPR, and non-violent behavior.

Parenting Program:  Programs are resuming after the summer with between 35-40 parents attending.  Dinners are no longer served.

Shared Blessings: Nothing new to discuss

Psychological:  Leticia is having to work with the children who were victims of the brawl at school last week.  

Budget: The budget was accepted.  Celia met with Elma to have paperwork revised at Inter National Bank.  Celia now has access to the on-line banking accounts at Inter National Bank.  There are cuarrently 3 separate accounts:  one for the boys unit, the active account and the Money Market account.

Staff:   Should we establish a home-school, we will need to reenlist the cook and hire 2 additional teachers.    

our friends in Mercedes, TX who switched Presbyterian denominations

http://updates.dunellenpres.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/HistoricHispanicChurchesLeavePCUSA.pdf


I just talked on the phone with my friend Carmen Reynosa. She and I became friends because together we translated a Women's Bible study into Spanish. The women's ministry of PFR put us together and we found we had much in common. Her husband, Hector, is a pastor. We visited their church in Mercedes, TX on some of our trips to Casa MAMi. Mercedes is between Harlingen and McAllen. We found the church, El Principe de Paz, to be very friendly and alive with God's Love and Spirit. Today, they are not allowed to use their church building because the congregation voted to be dismissed from the PCUSA to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Carmen says that the trouble is not over but they are happily worshiping Sundays at noon in the annex of the Lutheran Church of Mercedes. They will have a three church sponsored (see the article link) VBS beginning tomorrow for one week. The EPC church of San Antonio is coming down to do a "mission trip" with them. The high school students will help at the VBS in the mornings and do service for church members in the afternoons and evenings. Praise the Lord that God is showing the churches His kindness and faithfulness during the hard times (persecution) they have experienced because of a decision to change denominations.

Two churches that are very involved with Casa MAMi, Advent Presbyterian of Cordova, TN and First Presbyterian Church of Opelika, AL both made the same denomination change of affiliation. They were able to leave the PCUSA and go to the EPC with their buildings. The laws in different states make this kind of a move more complicated in some places.

I talked with her about Casa MAMi. She was able to give me the name of a bilingual plumber who can help us with the pure water system upgrade we are planning. But, she said, "I don't think he will be willing to cross the border." Almost no one is.

Please pray for these churches and for a friendship to grow with Casa MAMi.

June 30 is the end of our financial year

Three years ago a wonderful organization, Love Never Fails, Intl. (see blog M.A.Mi. A.C. meeting Dec. 2009) adopted Casa MAMi as their primary project outside of the United States. Because of their generous support the ministry has grown and matured. The infrastructure that was rather weak and primitive, before, is strong and well managed today. In spite of the terrible social conditions of the area: violence, poverty, and the escape of much of the middle class from Reynosa to this side of the border, every aspect of the ministry has improved. We, the founders of Casa MAMi MX, and all of the staff and families helped by the home, are forever grateful that God brought Pastor Bill Quinn and the dear people of Love Never Fails, Intl to be instrumental in this work, for a season. They will always remain friends and support the ministry as they are able. But, they are no longer able to provide funding at the same level that they have in the past. This means that we are looking to God to meet the needs in other ways.

Our friends in McAllen, Celia and Maria, meet every week with Sister Elma and Abraham, her office manager and book keeper of four years. They review the budget, expenses, receipts, and needs of the home.

During the tenure of Love Never Fails as guarantor of $10,000 per month for Casa MAMi the boys home was opened, which Casa MAMi MX funded. Please pray as we figure out how to allocate what we have and how to raise more support. We are most grateful to God for the gifts of many loving people who responded to the Holy Spirit by helping Casa MAMi. And, we are confident that He will continue to do this in the months and years ahead. Amen!

Who knows, maybe this GOBZA thing will make a difference! www.Gobza.com/8658

GOBZA
If you would like to support Casa MAMi MX without spending a dime, here is a way that you can help us!  Please visit this link:

http://www.gobza.com/8658

By clicking on this you will be asked to enroll your email. In the next few months you and any friends you sign up will have the opportunity to purchase coupons. If anyone you sign up does purchase a coupon, you and Casa MAMi MX will receive a distribution from these payments. No one is required to make a purchase, but by signing up under this Casa MAMi Mx link, the ministry is eligible to earn a few pennies here and there~~

Please consider helping us! Thank you and God Bless!