In the year 2000 an off-duty Houston Police Sergeant got lost in a Mexican border town and found himself on a dirt road surrounded by cardboard houses. He was shocked to see hundreds of families living in such squalor, so close to the U.S. border. The families had no water, electricity or plumbing. They cooked on open campfires. The sergeant returned to border towns all along the Mexican border and began helping in small ways..
When other police officers discovered how the sergeant was spending his days off, they published a story in the Houston Police Officers Union paper. Some officers joined him on his trips as did parishioners from St. Joseph's Church, where he was a parishioner and volunteer. The article in the police union paper resulted in strong support from members. The police union offered to fund the establishment of a nonprofit corporation and the sergeant accepted their generous offer. Paper Houses Across the Border, named for the cardboard shacks found in every border town, was founded.
Although Paper Houses continued to help in several border communities, the organization focused on the colonias of Acuña, Mexico. The organization began providing the operating costs at Casa Hogar del Nino, a shelter for 24-children.
The Houston Chronicle researched Paper Houses Across the Border and sent a reporter and photographer to the colonias with Paper Houses and ran a front page story about the colonias and the work of Paper Houses Across the Border.
People Magazine, Geraldo at Large, Telemundo, CBS, FOX, Naomi's New Morning, and other media also researched the organization and reported on the colonias and Paper Houses Across the Border.
Today, Paper Houses supports a half-dozen shelters, provides free meals to thousands of school children, provides surgery for children, and helps to fund cancer care, assists with educational needs. Volunteers continue to walk door to door as we build relationships with the families of the colonias. Paper Houses Across the Border brings people from the United States into the experience of the colonias through mission trips.