A letter from Maria Paz

Mary Patterson is a friend of Casa MAMi who's mother lives in Reynosa and is a close friend of Sister Elma. "Mari Paz", as Sister Elma calls her,lives in McAllen, works with the board of Casa MAMi MX, and sent the following message to members of the Mexican Board and friends along the border.

Dear Friends:

As you are aware, some of us help out with an all-girl orphanage in Reynosa, Mexico. Because of the recent violence threats and the swine flu, we had not been able to visit in a few months. Fortunately, Celia Thrash and I were there this weekend.

I want to share these pictures with you because in the past, most of you have found it in your hearts to donate either time or money to this great cause. So, here's an update:

There are 42 girls between the ages of 1 to 17 staying there permanently. All girls of school age attend school, sport activities and church. Two of them will attend high school this fall. They graduated from Junior High with an A average!

There are 3 teenage mothers (16, 16 and 17 years old) with their children staying there temporarily until better accommodations are found for them.

There are 32 children (boys and girls) attending the free daycare and kinder garden from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. And 26 more children (boys and girls) attend free daycare only (same hours). The parents of these children have the opportunity to attend the Mexican equivalent to GED classes, as well as parenting classes on weekends and evenings right there at the orphanage.

To look at the pictures, please follow this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=88383&id=625843945&l=97b2df2c83


Right now, due to the tragedy that occurred in Sonora, Mexico where 31 children died at a daycare fire, the Mexican government has mandated to have all orphanages and daycare centers inspected. When CASA MAMi was inspected, they found our extinguishers to be too small and not enough of them, plus we were missing evacuation signs, and our staff was not trained to properly evacuate the children or use the extinguishers. Long story short, we had to update our extinguishers and signs or we would be closed down. Each of the 18 extinguishers needed costs $50 dlls (installation included). We will also need to install panic bars in some of the doors. We are trying to help Ms. Fonseca, the orphanage director, to pay for all of this.

I know that the economy is not good today, but if you could find it in your heart to help with a few dollars, we could resolve this issue without going into the funds that we keep for food and supplies. All donations are tax deductible in the USA, if they are made out to Casa MAMi MX.

If you are able to help us, please make the checks out to: CASA HOGAR MAMi. You can send the donations to my address:

Maria Patterson
2005 Fair Oaks Drive
Mission, TX 78574

Thank you so much in advance, and enjoy the pictures!

God bless you