From the end of March through most of May unaccompanied migrant boys who crossed into Texas from Mexico were sheltered at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio.
Several San Antonio area JustServe volunteers worked with Catholic Charities to care for these young boys ages 13 to 17. At one time, there were as many as 2,400 boys housed at the Coliseum. Most of them were from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Acting as mentors and counselors, the volunteers ensured their safety, provided proper treatment and even taught them some English.
Area JustServe Coordinator, Ron Cooley, said that just being a listening ear to their hardships and aspirations for a new future was very beneficial. “As I got to know these young men, I would ask what made them decide to come to the US? ‘Did you just say I’m going or did your parents tell you to go?’ Most said that their parents told them, ‘Just go…go. Life will be better for you.’”
Cooley said he could tell it was a sacrifice based on faith for a young boy to leave home. “I could sense overall a deep respect for God. That was quite evident when I saw several boys wake up and kneel down next to their cots to say their morning prayers.”
He was impressed with their commitment. “The journey was hard, but their eyes were filled with hope for a better future.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had the privilege of partnering with the Helotes House of Neighborly Service for the past few years. Helotes House is an ecumenical organization in the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Helotes House provides food, toiletries, clothing, school supplies, and other assistance “to our brothers and sisters in need” said Joe Beach, President of Helotes House. Today, a warm thank you for the partnership was given by Beach to Phillip Moore, of the San Antonio West Stake High Council. The San Antonio West Stake has sponsored the Church’s Humanitarian aid over the past few years.
In September 2019, Joe Beach, left toured the Bishop’s Storehouse with other members from the Helotes House of Neighborly Service
In conjunction with a Food Drive done earlier this year, the San Antonio West Stake has asked and received a grant for the Helotes House to the Bishop’s Storehouse for the past few years. The additional commodities from the storehouse help with the Helotes House’s mission of supporting the more vulnerable in our community.
Helotes House President Joe Beach and Phillip Moore, from the San Antonio West Stake High Council
The beautifully framed recognition certificate lists the wards in the San Antonio West Stake and then says: “In recognition of your contributions and sacrifices over the years in support of Helotes House of Neighborly Service. We sincerely appreciate your tireless efforts you have put forth in supporting our love for the poor in the communities of Helotes and Northwest San Antonio. On behalf of our Saint Vincent de Paul members, we express our gratitude for your sincere and dedicated contribution to our important mission of serving our Brothers and Sisters in need.”
The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, of Our Lady of Guadalupe Conference in Helotes, manages the Helotes House of Neighborly Service. The Helotes House is located at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Annex in Helotes.
A lady from Saint Vincent de Paul in Floresville, expresses her gratitude to Phillip Moore and the Church
The sister missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in Del Rio, Sister Ruiz and Sister Sherman, recently received an invitation to appear on a local radio morning show. Morning host, DJ Jay Gonzalez became familiar with the sister missionaries through the content and videos they have been posting on their Facebook page over the last year. He became curious after seeing their videos on his feed over many months and he finally decided to reach out to find out more about them and their mission.
Sister Ruiz explained “When he messaged us on our Facebook page asking to meet with us at the local diner, we thought he wanted to learn more about the Church so we thought we were just going to teach an introductory lesson about Jesus Christ and the Restoration.” When they sat down to meet, they quickly realized he had something else in mind. Sister Ruiz continued “He was just asking us all kinds of questions about who we were and what our purpose was. After a few minutes, he asked if we would be interested in coming on his morning show to talk about it.”
They accepted enthusiastically and after getting permission from Texas, San Antonio Mission President, Jason Teveten, they agreed to appear on the show on Tuesday, March 23rd.
Sister Sherman and Sister Ruiz
The station is KDLK 94.1 which plays mostly country music. In the small studio, Jay is the voice of Del Rio and produces the show every weekday. His co-hosts, Lupita De la Paz and “Sam” provide balance and comic relief. The three are all Del Rio natives and are passionate about their community and making it a better place to live and work. They’ve been broadcasting together for several years and view themselves as a small family.
Preparing to join the radio broadcast
During the 30 minute on-air segment, the sisters spoke about their purpose in bringing people to Christ and also highlighted much of the volunteer work they are doing in the community. They mentioned working with Val Verde Loaves and Fishes, the local food bank and volunteering Saturdays at the COVID vaccination clinics. They were also able to plug their mission-wide virtual language classes which help people to learn both Spanish and English. They invited anybody who was interested in learning more to visit their Facebook page at /ComeUntoChristInDelRio or in Spanish at /VenidACristoEnDelRio.
One subject that came up was how their work has changed in the era of COVID. Ironically, their appearance on the show was a direct result of the new on-line strategy that missionaries world-wide were forced to adopt in the past year. To close the segment, the sisters were able to share a message of Hope and invite anybody who was feeling despair or discouragement to call them to request a personal meeting to pray with them or to share an uplifting message centered on Christ.
By Tish Rodriguez, San Antonio East Stake Young Women counselor, and Marci McPhee, San Antonio East Stake Just Serve Specialist
The Holy Spirit and the spirits of the dead? It proved to be a perfect combination for the youth of San Antonio East and Pecan Valley Stakes. Recently they had a spiritual experience, literally, as they went to various cemeteries throughout the city of San Antonio. The youth and their leaders took pictures of tombstones and grave markers to be recorded digitally on Billion Graves. With the phone app, pictures of headstones along with the coordinates for its location are uploaded to the Billion Graves website. The pictures and location are then available to those searching for a particular family member’s grave. The youth had the option to transcribe these markers onsite, or just take the photos and transcribe at a later time.
Initially, this activity was to take place at the Ft. Sam National Cemetery, which could have accommodated the entire group. But at the last minute, COVID precluded a gathering of this size. Sister Welch of the Pecan Valley Stake was not about to give up on this wonderful project. She and her presidency did some fast work in locating several cemeteries in downtown San Antonio which needed to have headstones photographed. They divided up the territories so that the youth volunteers could all work “together” (in groups of ten). Welch and other leaders mapped out the assignments and directed the work. Twelve groups of youth photographed graves in Agudas Achim Cemetery, Alamo Masonic Lodge Cemetery, Anchor Masonic Cemetery, City Cemeteries #1, #2, #3, and #5, Emanuel German Lutheran Cemetery, Hermann Sons Cemetery, Old St John Lutheran Cemetery, St John’s Lutheran Cemetery, St. Michaels Polish Cemetery, and Temple Beth-El Cemetery.
One of the youth commented that it was “so cool to see families grouped together” they liked the fact that even the babies that had died in infancy were buried by their mother, “so she could still take care of them.”
Thanks to these stalwart youth, headstones at most of San Antonio’s city cemeteries have been captured. The information provided is now available for those throughout the world who may be searching for information regarding their loved ones.
Volunteers tackle the massive job of sorting through hundreds of donations ranging from changing beds to fuzzy socks, matching each gift to every girl’s wish list
During the recent Christmas season, members of San Antonio’s North Stake partnered with Seton Home on their annual Angel Tree program, which provides dozens of at-risk pregnant and parenting teen mothers with personal gifts and essential items for their babies’ care. Under the direction of Amy Livingstone (Sonterra Ward), volunteers inventoried, sorted, and wrapped hundreds of gifts for teen moms, and organized a festive Santa’s Workshop where girls could “shop” for gifts for their own babies.
Melissa Nuttall (Deerfield Ward) and Autumn Beardsley (Sonterra Ward)] make sure each girl receives the correct carefully-wrapped presents from her wish list to open on Christmas morning
This latest collaboration between Latter-day Saint volunteers and Seton Home, a residential facility providing comprehensive care for pregnant and teen mothers, served two important purposes: providing new mothers with necessary baby supplies, as well as helping them experience and enjoy positive holiday traditions that can be incorporated into their children’s lives.
This young mother holds her infant while shopping in Santa’s Workshop, known as the Baby Boutique
As explained by Livingstone, who also serves on Seton Home’s Governing Committee, “Christmas can be fraught with trauma for many girls who have not had stable homes and happy Christmas traditions. Personal gifts let them know that they are valued and worthy of nice things. And when a mom goes shopping in our Santa’s Workshop ‘baby boutique’ and picks out gifts for her child, she gets to wrap them herself and experience the simple pleasure of giving to a loved one – something we take for granted.”
With many brick-and-mortar businesses closed due to Covid-19, Seton Home conducted a “virtual” Angel Tree fundraiser through online reminders and mailings
Preparing this kind of meaningful experience involved the recruitment of dozens of Latter-day Saint volunteers from around San Antonio, many of whom answered the call from their ward’s Just Serve specialist. Early volunteers organized wish lists and created ornaments for distribution within the broader community, representing each mom and baby’s hopes.
Then, for three weeks, men, women, and teens worked in 2-4 hour shifts, 3 days weekly, converting a training room at Seton Home into Santa’s Workshop. There, volunteers decorated their surroundings in a winter wonderland theme, inventoried and sorted donations, chose gifts for the moms, and prepared a “store” filled with hundreds of items that girls had requested for their babies. After “shopping” for their child’s presents, moms headed for the gift-wrapping stations stocked with colorful paper and ribbons. Volunteers also wrapped each girl’s personal gifts so they would have a special Christmas morning.
This year’s Angel Tree project, complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic, virtually eliminated the familiar sight of Christmas trees hung with “wish” ornaments in business, church, and school lobbies. Donations this year, however, exceeded expectations, resulting in surprise presents for the girls. Other stakes pitched in, with the Hill Country Stake making over 150 gift donations, enough to fulfill the wishes of six traditional Angel Trees!
According to Kari Stewart, Vice-President of Programs at Seton Home, “It was overwhelming, the impact that Amy and her group made. We could not have done it without them since we would have needed to pull ourselves from our daily work to help manage all the donations. They really took the pressure off of us.”
During the past few years, San Antonio’s North Stake has teamed with Seton Home on several service projects, hoping to improve the lives of young moms and babies in challenging circumstances. Says Stewart, “These girls are trying to learn a new way. They are survivors, brave young ladies who are trying to make a better life for themselves and their children. “
Those of us who have worked with Seton Home are proud to join in helping these young women achieve their goals. After all, these are the same desires we have for own children — that they, too, feel loved and encouraged to grow, with ample opportunity and support to become their best selves.
St. Peter-St. Joseph Children’s Home, affectionately called St. PJ’s received a large donation this afternoon from Relief Society sisters in the San Antonio North Stake. Sisters were given an opportunity to show their love by bringing much needed items to aid some of the most vulnerable in our society. The donations were in conjunction with their stake’s Women’s Conference held last Saturday. St. PJ’s mission is to help children in crisis.
Selena Brooks, who organized the drive said, “I did it for selfish reasons…. Three of my children are adopted, two were in the foster system and one in an orphanage. I know the issues. Children are the most vulnerable among us, they have no control over their lives.” Brooks did some research and loved what she found at St. PJ’s. Their goal is to be a “safe and loving refuge for children in crisis and to accompany them on their journey to healing and wholeness, breaking the cycle of abuse and neglect one child at a time”.
Donations poured in Saturday morning during the conference. One sister said, “I think our ward got the fun assignment. I loved shopping for educational toys and board books to donate.” Each ward received a different assignment so that a good variety of items would be donated.
Donations ranged from diapers and other baby items to craft supplies. Snacks along with hygiene products for teenagers also made the list. Items like towels and bedding for dorm rooms and clothing also rounded out the list besides the toys and books.
Brooks was thrilled with all of the donations, “Children can have everything taken away during a crisis. It’s wonderful when they can have something they can hold onto for security — something that is theirs,” she said.
St. PJ’s also helps with a families. They have a “Family First“ program to help with education and material assistance to expecting or new parents. They also provide much needed referrals for other assistance such as employment opportunities, healthcare, housing and education. To learn more about Catholic Charities and their work at St. PJ’s visit: http://www.stpjhome.org/
When the local fire department received this call, units were immediately dispatched. The resident who called it in could not see any flame or smoke but could smell it. Fire fighters went through all the rooms of that and adjacent apartments and finally discovered the fire burning inside a wall.
Even with very little water, firefighters were successful in stopping the fire from spreading to other buildings
In the meantime, other firefighters started hooking up hose to the hydrants. Unfortunately, the hydrants were dry. No water. Tenders were called in to haul water from distant hydrants that were working. But even with trucks from 15 departments and 75 firefighters there just wasn’t enough water and the building was lost. Thirty-two apartments gone. Thirty-two families left homeless.
In the light of the next day the enormity of the loss was apparent
The Red Cross transported the residents to nearby Johnson High School for food and a place to rest. Fortunately for the residents and firefighters, no lives were lost nor was anyone injured.
That’s what most of us remember seeing on the television newscasts. It is easy to think that the story ends there.
But for the residents the hardship was just beginning. All their possessions were gone. They were without food, clothing, toys, cherished personal items, medicine, the list goes on. Fortunately for the residents that was also the beginning of the story for the army of volunteers that moved in to donate, sort and distribute the many items desperately needed by these families.
Members of the community shared their belonging with residents who lost everything
Massive amounts of donations pour in ready to be sorted
The apartment building was located within the boundaries of the Cibolo Hills Ward of the Hill Country Stake. According to Stake Relief Society President, Cindy Beattie, “The next day members of our stake were asked to help with organizing and distributing donations.”
“By Saturday morning close to 100 volunteers including 30 Elders and Sister missionaries from the Texas San Antonio Mission, came ready to help,” said Sister Beattie. “Donations were so abundant, we soon realized this was going to be no small task.”
Volunteers spent hours sorting and helping residents get much needed items
Elders Rowley (l) and Jackman help unload donations
“For the missionaries it was a weeklong effort,” said Sister Cathy Merris, a senior missionary in San Antonio. “They worked in teams to deliver food, water, beds, couches, kitchen essentials, and personal hygiene products. Because of the generosity of so many people in San Antonio, a secondary distribution point had to be established at a nearby vacant retail store.”
Besides collecting and sorting the massive amounts of donations that came in from all over the city, the missionaries also did a lot of heavy lifting. They helped move couches and beds and set them up in apartments within the complex as families were relocated. Elder Van Valkenburgh said: “We had opportunities to help and talk to a lot of people who lost everything. It was a really cool feeling to be a part of helping people get back on their feet.”
As items were organized displaced residents could come and “shop” for their needs
When asked about her response to the emergency Sister Dayna Scott, Cibolo Hills Ward Relief Society President, deflected any praise directed at her and gave credit to the support from the Stake. “How does the Stake Relief Society eat an elephant? You pray, then devour that elephant one bag of clothes at a time. Then, when that 100 bags of clothes and other donations multiply to 300 overnight you pray again.”
Replacing toys and stuffed animals was important
She went on to comment on how it felt to be overwhelmed by the time and labor required to accomplish the task. “When you see that this will require more than a day or two, you pray, then you put out calls for more missionaries, more high school friends and parents, teachers, and principals. You accept help from and enlist other community churches, and you put out a call for items that are in short supply.”
As a few days stretched into more than a week Sister Scott and the other leaders realized that new, vacant rooms were finally becoming homes. She summed it all up with this reflection, “What a blessing it was to watch this community, who, for an entire week, made time to be available. One bite at a time.”
Empty shelves continue to cause problems for residents in the valley
Many communities across Texas are still scrambling to recover from the blackouts and water interruptions caused by last week’s record-setting snow storm and freezing temperatures. One week after the power was restored to most areas, some smaller communities still don’t have access to potable water and remain under boil orders from their local governments. Grocery store chains are struggling to restock shelves with perishable items such as meat, dairy and produce that were spoiled during the power outages. Bottled water and paper goods don’t last more than a few minutes on the shelves even with the stores imposing per-customer limits on purchases.
Food from Church Humanitarian Services to help those hit hard by recent storms
District President Ross Davidson, who oversees branches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Uvalde, Carrizo Springs and Cotulla, recognized that the Church was in a position to provide life-sustaining help during this time and submitted a humanitarian request to the Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City. The Church responded by sending seven truckloads of food and water that was distributed over two days to small towns throughout the district.
Del Rio City Manager, Matt Wojnowski, in front of a portion of the food donated by the Church
One truckload containing 20 pallets of water was delivered to the City of Uvalde Emergency Services Department on Thursday. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin was on site to oversee the delivery and personally offer his thanks to President Davidson. “We are so grateful for this help right now and we’re going to be able to help so many people because of it.” He explained that some of the smaller satellite communities in his county were still without power and water. “We are going to send a lot of this shipment out to places like Camp Wood, Sabinal and Rock Springs where they’re still boiling their water.”
(L to R) District President Ross Davidson with Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, and Jolene Davidson
President Davidson estimated that this donation would impact approximately 16 communities throughout the ten counties in his district. He continued “Clean water is a necessity that we all take for granted until we don’t have it any longer. Every single person in this area was impacted by this weather event and we’re so happy to be able to provide some assistance to help get our communities back to normal. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that through this type of service we can follow His example and help bring His light into the world.”
The first truckload of seven arrived last night to help residents of south central Texas who continue to be without reliable water. The trucks pulled into the Maverick County food bank in south central Texas filling a need for drinking water after boil notices restricted supplies in Eagle Pass and many surrounding communities. Cotulla two hours to the east also received a truckload. Other trucks with drinking water are expected to arrive today in Uvalde, and Carrizo Springs.
A food shipment is scheduled for Del Río Texas. President Ross Davidson of the Eagle Pass Texas District said “These shipments are a relief and an expression of the love and concern we have for those hardest hit in our small Texas communities which comprise our district”.
There are many small communities within the Church’s Eagle Pass Texas District. Supplies will further be distributed to several smaller satellite communities who are still under restrictions to boil water before consumption. This region was one of the hardest hit by recent winter storms which sent temperatures plunging to record lows and which received record snowfalls.
In this region, where snow is a rare occurrence, few were ready for power outages and travel restrictions that effected a large swath of the population in large and small population centers.
Emergency management and civic leaders expressed gratitude to receive help from the Church although it had been unavoidably delayed by transport disruptions and the lack of available drivers.
A prompting led to the discovery of several burst water pipes at the San Antonio North Stake Center, helping to minimize thousands of dollars in damage. Elder Syme, was on exchanges with Elder Roberts. They brought food to a couple of other elders who, like many missionaries in the area, were unable to get out and get groceries on their preparation day due to the deep freeze that gripped South Texas and the lack of anything on local store shelves. Wednesday morning they picked up Elders Corriveau and Vincent to bring them back to their apartment to cook the food, since Corriveau and Vincent had no water or electricity.
Water in the east lobby of the Stone Oak building
On their way back home, Elder Corriveau felt prompted to get his hydroflask water bottle that he had left at the Stone Oak building earlier. The prompting was urgent enough that he said, “I feel like I need it now.”
Elder Corriveau with his hydroflask water bottle tucked into his backpack
As soon as the four elders entered the Stake Center they realized why the prompting had come to get the water bottle “now.” Elder Syme said as they entered the building it “looked like it was raining from the ceiling — it was really heavy.”
Vacuuming up the water by flashlight in the Stone Oak building
A couple of the elders looked around to ascertain what water pipes had burst, while the others quickly contacted the local bishops. There were several burst pipes, one by the water heater near the Mother’s lounge. In another hallway from the nursery to the stake offices there was over two inches of standing water from other burst pipes. Underneath the floor in the cultural hall, near the basketball hoop and stage, more water was discovered later.
The reflection from standing water in the High Council room at the Stone Oak building
Sister Haws and Stoddard, currently serving in the North Stake’s Deerfield ward were sitting down for zone conference on Zoom when they were told that the building was flooding and help was needed. Their zone, which covers the North Stake, responded quickly. Sisters Haws and Stoddard said the first thing they did was to remove everything off of the floors, moving chairs, tables and pianos to areas that weren’t flooded. “We used towels, brooms, dust pans and trash cans, anything we could find to get the water out,” said Sister Haws.
Gas powered generators helping to power several shop vacs at the Stone Oak building during water clean up
There was no power in the cold building. Sister Stoddard said, “We were working hard enough that we didn’t feel the cold until we went outside. We were mostly barefoot because the water was getting into our shoes.” Sister Haws added, “Even with my rain boots the water kept getting in.”
“What was so cool,” Elder Syme said, “was in about 30 to 40 minutes we went from four elders to about 100 people at the Church helping to clean up.” Many members brought shop vacs and about 10 gas generators, since the building had no power, and helped get the water out. Elder Syme was impressed that so many members “dropped everything in their busy schedule to help the Church.” Sister Stoddard also echoed Elder Syme, she said: “It was really cool how many people came together. We were working hard, singing and having fun and even though it was a disaster, it was great to see the response.”
Cleanup at the Judson building (photo by Airlan Paciente)Cleanup at the Judson building (photo by Airlan Paciente)
Unfortunately, the Stone Oak building wasn’t the only building in the area to receive extensive damage. The Judson road chapel in the East Stake also had pipes that burst with a great deal of water damage. The story was similar to that in the North Stake, members moved quickly with shop vacs to help clean up the building. In the Hill Country Stake, the Indian Springs Chapel had a minor drip in the foyer from a sprinkler head. Their stake center lost a lot of water due to a busted water line in the auxiliary pump room away from the building. There were other busted pipes in the lines that lead from the well that feed the main water storage tanks for the building. It isn’t clear yet, when either the Stone Oak building or the Judson building will be ready.
Burst water pipe at the Judson building (photo by Airlan Paciente)Damage at the Judson building (photo by Airlan Paciente)
