Please watch this video about Velia Hernandez, one of the most amazing people living on the US Mexico border in Juarez we have ever known. Over the past 25 years Pastora Velia and her husband Victor and their children have dedicated their lives to helping people living in extreme poverty along side the US Mexico border in one of the most dangerous cities in the world – Juarez, Mexico. Please support their efforts by making a donation to Tree of Hopes in El Paso. All donations are tax deductible.
We are happy to report that Tree of Hopes in El Paso is now a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We would like to thank the West El Paso Rotary Foundation for all of their support over the past few years in handling donations in support of our efforts on the US Mexico border. Soon our Board of Directors will announce our goals for the next year and we hope that everyone who supports us will continue to help us help people in need. Our focus will continue to be on providing food and shelter, heath care, legal assistance, self-help, community education and overall support for people living on the US Mexico border in the El Paso, Texas/Juarez, Chihuahua region.
Sincerely, Rick LoBello, Chair, Board of Directors
Tree of Hopes volunteers are collecting toys and clothes for children and their families living at the Tree of Hopes Migrant Shelter in Juarez. People staying at the shelter are waiting on the immigration process and most have to wait months or years. To arrange for your donations please call or text a message to 915-474-1456. All gifts of toys, blankets, jackets, gloves, and warm clothing for children and adults are greatly appreciated. Cash Donations are also needed to purchase personal items.
We have new restrooms and showers thanks to World Vision, a non-profit organization helping people around the world. Earlier this month we gathered at the new facility for an official dedication ceremony.
The new restrooms and showers, in adjacent areas for men and women, were greatly needed.
The focus of World Vision is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. They help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by their Christian faith. Together we can protect children today, and empower them for tomorrow.
Greetings from the Tree of Hopes shelter in Anapra. The shelter is located in far northwest Juárez, about 5 miles due west as a crow flies of our new meeting place at the Mesa Street Grill. Thanks to Robert Holguin of K-Fox and his special report earlier this summer we have recently received over a dozen new cots and monthly food supplies from the Catholic charity St. Vincent de Paul.
Our greatest challenge at the moment is our water supply and finding people with the skills needed to improve it. We are getting badly needed assistance from UNICEF with pit toilets while a contractor they hired builds new restrooms. Progress is slow.
Volunteers have recently installed a pump that I purchased at Lowe’s to help distribute water from one water storage tank to the next.
In this picture you can see a water tank the West El Paso Rotary Club funded several years ago on top of the church overlooking the construction site.
What most people do not know is how big the water problem is in Juarez. I am not sure about all the other areas of the city, but everyone in this part of Anapra has been without water for over a month. The line broke somewhere and even before it broke water was very unreliable since the shelter is at a higher elevation than the rest of the area and the pressure is often not good enough to send water up hill.
We need funding and someone with the expertise on how to solve the bigger problem of water reliability and storage.
Tree of Hopes in El Paso 