Paper Houses Across the Border supports several shelters in and near Acuña. on a monthly basis. In addition to a monthly support check, we also pay for capital improvements (such as building repairs, washers and dryers) and medical needs. We visit and inspect every place we support on a regular basis. Visits are unannounced and include interviews with children, neighbors, and local businesses
Casa Hogar del Nino
Antonio Rameriz and his wife, Hermalinda founded this shelter for children over two decades ago. "I was working the night shift at a factory and saw a need for someone to care for the many poor children. A long time ago, someone prophesied that I would one day take care of many children." Antonio Ramirez
Antonio began taking in children. The state social service agency, DIF (pronounced deef) and sent children whose parents could not care for them. In some ways the shelters like Antonio's are similar to long term foster-care. None of the children are orphans. Some have parents in jail. All of these children come from extremely impoverished situations and here they find love, food, education and shelter.
We provided a minimum of $1,500 each month to this wonderful place. Antonio is now a minister at a small nondenominational church.
In 2010, due to personal reasons and changes in the laws regulating shelters, Antonio and his wife closed their shelter. The children were moved to other shelters or relatives. Although this is sad, the new regulations for shelters ensure a better ratio of house-parents to children, fire exits and alarms, and many other safety measures. This is an unfunded mandate, which means that the shelter operators must take on the added expenses.
Casa Hogar Esperanza
This is the larges shelter for children in Acuña. Both the boys and girls dormitories have 20-beds. The children are from varying faith backgrounds, although the shelter is managed by the Catholic Church. Lay house-parents and Catholic Nuns watch over the children. Paper Houses Across the border provides a monthly minimum check in the amount of $1,000 to this shelter. The shelter is on an 11 acre piece of land and has its own water treatment system. In 2009, modifications were made to accommodate a blind child, unable to walk. The child was previously cared for by his grandmother, who became terminally ill. No other shelter was willing to care for this child. Since that time, his father was located and took the child to his new home.
Mr. Sergio Arche oversees the operation of Casa Hogar Esperanza and the board of directors provide us with expense reports. A child psychologist regularly visits the children.
Casa Santa Rita
This shelter is located in a small town between Acuña. and Piedras Negras. Because its location is not in a large city, few church groups or charities know about its existence and needs. Twenty children live at this shelter and very have parents that are able to visit. Like the other shelters, the children are not available for adoption, but there is great need for support.
Paper Houses provide a minimum of $1,000 to support Casa Santa Rita. It is a wonderful place, filled with love and smiles.
Casa Emmaus
Casa Emmaus is a shelter for migrant workers. Most of the men, women and children that stay at this shelter are deportees. Generally, they stay for no more than 20-days. Here we visit with Americans and enjoy a shared meal with these migrants and they share their stories. It is common to hear about babies that died, people who lost legs or were killed when falling from a train, physical abuse, sexual abuse, robberies by gangs and stories about human trafficking.
Many of these people are in need of medical care and all are hungry and afraid when they arrive. Casa Emmaus feeds the hungry, gives drink to the thirsty and helps the imprisoned. We provide $1,000 a month to this shelter and help with emergencies.
Centro Rehabilitacion (Rehabilitation Center)
This shelter provides boys and men to free themselves from the addiction of drugs. We've visited this shelter and listened to boys as young as 14 tell us how they became enslaved to drugs and how they are fighting for their freedom. The success rate of this shelter is tremendous. Many of the people that completed this program have become volunteers for Paper Houses in Acuña. We provide a minimum of $1,000 per month to support this shelter. (By the way - there is not even one shelter for women addicted to substance abuse in this city of 200,000 residents).
Meals for School Children
The state of Coahuila, Mexico provides free training and certification to volunteer cooks.
Parents and neighbors complete their training and volunteer their time to prepare the meals.
The state of Coahuila provides the ingredients for the meals at a greatly subsidized cost.
Paper Houses Across the Border and Giving Hope Worldwide pay for the cost of the meals and other related costs..
With everyone working together, the meals cost 14 cents. (read more)
Special Needs Program
This program provides food, medical assistance and other help to families with special needs. Often, these people have a person with a physical or mental challenge that makes things impossible for them to resolve. We provide $1,000 per month for this Acuña. program.
Family Assistance
As we walk the streets of the colonias, we deliver gifts of food to the families in need. We also provide bus tickets for medical treatment only available in other cities, transportation costs for a blind child to attend school, propane gas for the elderly and indigent, over the counter medications, help with funeral expenses, help with utility bills for the elderly, small amounts of construction materials, clothing, school supplies and help finding work.
Medical Assistance
When no other help is available, we step in where we can make a difference. We've paid for surgeries that enabled children to walk, treatments for epilepsy, cancer and leukemia, wheel chairs, prosthetic limbs, and a host of medical procedures that otherwise would not have been available. (read more about medical assistance).