This year Manos Amigas was blessed with many things: generous donations, a growing KC core team and a new online presence! We ended the year with donations exceeding our initial need. This has allowed us to expand our services and explore new ways to create a better tomorrow. Thank you all for your continued support!

VBS  This year’s VBS theme was the Creation Story. We averaged 90 kids each day for a 2 week program. They learned about how God created the earth and planted their own seeds, made clay animals and of course the annual tradition of tie-dye shirts. 

KC volunteers, Sandy, Jessica, Paulette (adults), Eve, Frido, Jeremiah and Mikaela (youths), helped in Anapra for 7 days.  

Health Program  In November, Sandy, Gina, Abram and Anna (adults) traveled to Anapra to host a Ladies’ Night Out focusing on all aspects of health and wellness, including physical, emotional, communal, and spiritual. One of the ladies described it in a thank you letter as “magical”.

Winter Needs  Christmas dinner baskets were provided to 70 families this holiday season. 22 abuelas were sponsored this year by the Anapra community. Students and their families visited their “abuela” 4 times this year delivering food, good cheer and yard clean up. Manos Amigas continues to provide firewood during the winter months. Thanks to a special donation from charity groups in El Paso, we were able to provide the abuelas with another food basket on Jan 6, 2020, Epiphany or El Día de los Reyes.
You can read more how baskets are assembled and distributed in our Christmas post.

Children’s Day  The theme was Reading for You. A contest was held to read aloud in front of judges. Each participant chose what they wanted to read and practiced for several weeks before reading to the judges.

Mother’s Day  The Anapra core team hosted a celebration for all the abuelas and moms in the community at the mission house. They served dinner, played games and everyone got a gift.

2019 Graduates
Adrian H. – College
Wendy Paola G. – High School
Ana Monse B. – High School
Brayan H. – High School
Jessica R. – High School

Student Sponsorships
5 – College students
16 – High school students
18 – Middle school students 
26 – Elementary 
Sponsorship covers tuition, school supplies and for some, transportation. Sponsored families help the community in return – running the library, maintaining the mission house, and meeting monthly for a service project.

Sponsors and Students Meet
It’s a magical moment when sponsors and students meet! A group from St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church visited Anapra with Fr. Rafael in October. Sponsor Chely met student Alexia. Sponsors Christine and Tom met student Diego.

Sponsor Gina and Abram had a chance to eat dinner with their students Esmeralda and Perla while they were in Anapra in November.

Going Above and Beyond in 2019
David Rouyer and Jessica Royer joined the KC Core Team after experiencing Anapra themselves earlier this year. 

Computer access is important for high school and college education on both sides of the border. We’re trying something new this school year! We have 2 families borrowing laptops for the school year as our test pilots for this potential new program.

The mission house got a little more comfortable with a new back patio addition. Families can now relax in the shade when they meet at the mission house for monthly meetings and beans and rice distribution.

We grew our online presence with frequent Facebook posts, a new blog, email marketing tools and online donations. Follow us on Facebook!

In Memoriam
Nancy Christian (KC Volunteer)
Andre Mendez (Anapra Family)
Arturo Mendiola (Anapra Abuelo)
Don Grieb (KC Sponsor)