Casa Hogar La Familia

A dozen or more years ago, I was visiting La Familia when the hogar was located in Cd. Serdan, about an hour’s drive from Palmarito, the current home to Casa Hogar La Familia. One of our missioners from Signal Mountain, Tennessee was out jogging one morning when he met a fellow gringo running on the streets of rural Cd. Sedan. As it turned out, the gringo runner was the owner of Altech, a Serdan-based bio-tech firm that extracts an enzyme from Yucca trees they use as a supplement in chicken food. The purpose of the enzyme is to practically eliminate chicken house odor.

Discussing La Familia as they ran together, the bio chemist later made a commitment to invest not only money, but moral support to the casa hogar. So for the past 15 or so years, Altech has been no stranger to the children of La Familia.

On a recent visit to the home, one of the Altech executives asked the directors what were some of their needs Altech might help with. Silvia pointed to the balconies cantilevered off the main building — the balconies had no railings, making the balconies unsafe to use.

Altech committed to fund the installation of railings for the balconies. On the same day, they also committed the funds to complete the perimeter wall surrounding the children’s home.

As you can see from the photographs below, the balconies on both ends of the casa hogar now have railings. Our thanks go out to the good people of Altech for the contribution they are making to the children of La Familia.

The bottom photo shows cultivation of yucca trees for harvest. For every tree Altech harvests, they plant three more. Pictured in the distance is Pico de Orizaba, which at 18,800 feet in height is the second tallest mountain in North America.

Bill Lee, President
Embrace the Dream Foundation
PO Box 5558
Greenville, SC 29606

Over 250 special guests were in attendance at the wedding of Damaly and Chuy with Juan Francisco officiating. The wedding theme was the 1980s.

Juan Francisco escorted his only daughter and oldest child to the wedding venue in Tecamachalco in a 1985 Ford Crown Victoria. The moment the father and daughter stepped out of the huge Ford, it was apparent that this was going to be a beautiful wedding.

Damaly’s dress was simply stunning and Juan Francisco was wearing a sport outfit from the ‘80s.

Arriving in Tecamachalco on Tuesday, February 28 and departing on Monday, March 6, a mission team from Kingfisher, Oklahoma visited La Familia. Joining this team were Ardita Roci currently living in Downers Grove, IL and Bill Lee from Greenville, SC.

This team was greeted by 12 new residents of Casa Hogar La Familia, which included two infants: Hadasa who is eight months old and Alejandra, who is 11 months old.

During our visit, we learned that Jazmin is doing well in nursing school at the University of Colima. Her grades are excellent, as well.

Among the projects the Oklahoma team completed during their visit was to have two concrete columns built and construct and paint a gate to enclose the residential property of a new member of the Groupo Amor Church that holds worship services on the second floor of La Familia. The owner of the property has lost her sight due to diabetes.

Two of the men on the team also installed new screen wire in the old screen frames. This was a big job, but much needed to prevent flies from coming into the home.

We also took a trip to Puebla to purchase items to aid in the construction project that were unavailable in the city of Tecamachalco.

On another evening, Ardita Roci prepared for all of the staff, children and mission team members, an Italian dish of Italian cheese pasta served with tomato and cucumber brochette.

The buzz in the air during this visit to La Familia was the upcoming April 15th wedding of the directors’ daughter, Damaly Hernandez Arias, and Jesus GuzmanBeristain (Chuy). On our trip to the City of Puebla, the team donated money for the directors to purchase wedding clothes for the children of La Familia.

There are currently a grand total of 26 children, five volunteers and two directors at Casa Hogar La Familia.

On November 29, Marshall Sansbury led a team from Lighthouse Fellowship in Fort Worth, TX to La Familia. The primary work project for the Lighthouse Mission Team was to repair the homes of members of the church Juan Francisco and Silvia founded. This particular family in Palmarito really needed help with their home. This type work is designed to help both the missioners and the La Familia organization to do a better job of serving the local community.

While the Lighthouse Fellowship team was on site, the long-awaited new industrial grade washing machine was installed. A 220 electrical line had to be installed for this new “lavadora” that has the ability to handled eight to ten loads a day without breaking down or wearing out. This was a very expensive washing machine that we had to go all the way to Mexico City to purchase, but we believe it will be a good investment since the less expensive washing machines were having to be replaced every year or so. (See photographs below)

2017 Mission Trip Dates: Please email me at LeeResourcesInc@Gmail.com when you have your 2017 dates nailed down for your church’s mission trip. I will make sure there are no conflicts and double-check with Silvia to ensure that your dates are confirmed.