Nineteen

There are 19 families that have been on our waiting list to receive a home from Casas por Cristo for more than four years. Nineteen families that each have five or more members and are waiting for a three-room home that we call a “double.” These families have made their houses out of the same cardboard that we use to pack our belongings. They pray that their homes will weather the storm and long for the one that Christ will provide one day.

These families have been waiting since 2008. Since before the drug war began. Since before all the four-year olds in the world were born. Since before some of our college interns were old enough to drive. Since before many of these families’ own children were born. They have been waiting and hoping and praying, because a prayer is all they have.

If we continue at the present rate, these families will be waiting another two years before they receive a home. Children that were 12 when their parents applied for a home will be 18 and moving on, never seeing their prayers answered. Every day we meet countless families in desperate need hoping to be added to this list, yet are denied because our list is already too long.

People ask our ministry all the time, “What are your greatest needs?” Right now our answer is…

Sandra Almanza

Maria Cristina Reyes Hernandez

Ricardo Aguirre Hernandez

Santa Carrasco Aburto

Rocio Landa Martinez

Roselia Garcia Valdez

Luis Manuel Hernandez

Jaime Cueto Escanuelas

Emilia Mancinas Lopez

Maria Luisa Ramirez Macario

Jose Manuel Flores Leos Gabriela Espino

Marlit Ortiz Reyes

Maria de Jesus Rodriguez Tena

Amalia Gomez Ramos

Alberto Carlos Garcia Vazquez

Graciela Sierra Cana

Pedro Valenzuela Moralez

Francisco Trejo Juan Paulo

Perla Valverde Solis

...and their families are our greatest needs.

These are not just names. Together they represent over a hundred men, women and children in houses that are not fit to be called homes. They are mothers and fathers that want to provide for their children but can’t. These individuals have spoken up on behalf of their families and asked their local church for help; for our help. Theirs are some of the countless prayers around the world, crying out to God in need. Their prayers are not just open ended words spoken into the night sky, these prayers represent names, faces and lives that have now been brought into your life and ours.

Without teams stepping up to build these homes, these families will continue to wait and wonder. 

Will you help us change their future? 

Will you organize a team to build their home and answer their prayers?

Register Today

Need: 18-25 people per team

Where: Juárez, México

Cost: $7000 per home

Check out our full Beyond Building magazine here

We Need YOU!!!

FEBRUARY 15th-18th, you have the opportunity to change lives! Would you consider coming to build with us over President's Day weekend? We're doing a Team Casas build for the González family in Juárez, MX and we need 6 more people to join us. Maybe you are who we are waiting for!

Berta González (27), Jesus Mendez (27), Laura (8), Itzel (6), and Keloin (1) are in desperate need of a home. Both Berta and Jesus are currently out of work. Trying to purchase the basic needs for their family has left them completely unable to use any resources to build adequate housing. In these cold winter months would you come help the Gonzalez's meet their needs?

Where: Juárez, México

Cost: $500 per person ages 12 and up / $100 per child ages 0-11

At least 12 individuals need to register 30 days prior to trip start date for a trip to be confirmed. Individuals are also responsible for transportation, food, and lodging in the United States.

For more information follow this link, contact us at 1.800.819.8014, or email Jessica at jselburg@casasporcristo.org.

Giving Back

Many of you remember our CNN Hero Justin Churchman. He's still at it and this time asking for our help...

My name is Justin Churchman and I am currently 20 years old. I have been volunteering with Casas Por Cristo since I was 12 years old and instantly fell in love with the organization on my first build! To date, I have currently built 26 homes with this incredible organization and look forward to building 75 by the time I reach 25 years of age and I need your help! I have recently started a new job with a company called Cutco. We show fine cutlery, as well as flatware, gardening tools, hunting and fishing tools, and pots and pans. So how can you help? During our first 2 weeks on the job, we have a competition called the Fast Start. This competition provides an opportunity to earn a scholarship for college which would be very helpful. In order to advance in this competition, I must make appointments and meet with people and, regardless of whether they buy cutlery or not, I earn points for advancement. To try and earn the scholarship, I am donating 100% of my personal commission to Casas Por Cristo until January 7, and 50% commission until January 21^st! You are not obligated to buy ANYTHING in order for me to earn commission, just take 45 minutes out of your day to watch and possibly ask questions about the presentation in order to give back to a beloved non-profit organization, Casas Por Cristo! Please contact me as soon as possible with questions or to set up an appointment through text messaging or calls at 915-487-0473 or through my own non-profit email at Build_better_lives@yahoo.com. Thank you for your help, I know it will help change lives!

Last Minute Gifts

Do you need a last minute gift for someone?   Why not give one that will make a difference in the lives of others? Casas por Cristo's gifts that give back Do you need a Christmas gift for the person who has everything? Would you consider giving a gift that gives back to a family in need? Donate to Casas por Cristo as a Christmas gift for someone or ask for this as a present this year.  There are four Printable Christmas Cards below to give to those you love.  Select your favorite card then Click, Print, Donate and Give a gift that keeps giving back.         Merry Christmas. And thank you for your thoughts and prayers this holiday season.      Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here To Donate

The Greatest Gift

On December 25, people all around the world will celebrate the birth of Christ with friends and family.  They will exchange gifts as a way to show their love for one another.  On December 27 we hope that the Rodriguez family will be receiving one of the greatest gifts of their life, a new home built for them in the name of Christ.  Guadalupe, Rene and their children are hoping and praying that God will stir in the hearts of individuals to come and build a home for them through Team Casas this holiday season.

 

Building homes for families living in poverty, we see a great deal of need. However, sometimes there are families living in situations that stop us in our tracks. This is one of those families. There is a desperation and a need here that reaches beyond what we see on a daily basis. Living in Acuña, México, Guadalupe (22) her husband Rene (29) and their children live off of $30 a week that Rene makes as a street vendor. Our Acuña staff often sees Rene working and he is always asked the same question, "When will a team come to build my family a home?"  We hope and pray that the answer to that question is December 27, 2011. 

You have an opportunity to give the greatest Christmas gift you've ever given.

We need 12 people to register for this trip to make this dream a reality.

Deadline for registration: November 15

 

- When: December 27, 2011

- Where: Acuña, México

- Cost $500 per person ages 12 and up / $100 per child ages 0-11 

      (covers food, transportation, lodging while in Mexico)
- In addition to the $500 project cost, you are responsible for transportation, food, and lodging while in the United States.

 

Click this link for more info: TEAM CASAS

I'd rather not...

I don’t want to think about the families in Mexico that are cold tonight. In this moment I want to be back in GA where I’ve been for a week and where I’m completely removed from the suffering.  Where I don’t carry the burdens of those across the border as much because I’m so far removed from it, I don’t know what’s happening constantly.  Honestly, I don’t want to know that the winds are howling out of control tonight.  I don’t want to come to my own house and know that the wind picked up a table, 3 chairs, and a rug off my porch and threw them to the ground.  I don’t want to think about families in cardboard houses trying to hide from the wind or trying to stay warm tonight without any source of heat. 

I’m back on the border and it’s hard.  There is something to be said about seeing the needs of others daily to truly make you take on and carry their burdens.  I think you have to walk amongst the suffering.  I think for it to infiltrate your heart and soul it has to affect you too.  I think you have to wake up in the morning and see it until you go to sleep at night.  It has to become your life rather than just a part of it.  Even being on the border and hearing the wind howling outside doesn’t affect me to the extent that it would if I was sitting in a cardboard house rather than a heated apartment right now.  If I was hiding from the wind myself tonight I’d fight harder tomorrow.  I’d write more blogs, I’d try harder to rally people to help build houses or give donations for electric blankets. I'd pour all of my efforts into finding a way to make a difference rather than the tasks that I’ll inevitably do instead.  However because the wind is howling outside my apartment tonight, everything I "needed" to do is getting pushed to the side because i can't shake this burden as i try to live my life.

I’m grateful for this perspective back on the border tonight.  I’m grateful for this painful perspective because honestly I’d rather not look.  I’d rather not take on the burdens of those that are suffering.  I’d rather isolate myself by working, playing and living with people that aren’t in need, that aren’t freezing to death or starving.  But I don’t think that’s the point of this crazy world we’re living in.  And it definitely wasn’t the point of Jesus.  He became one of those suffering in every aspect, got down on the same level, felt the sacrifice and the pain. Because only then could He really do something to change everything.

You have the ability to make a difference. To find out how you can build a home for a family in Mexico and relieve them from ever having to endure another winter without adequate shelter, visit Casas por Cristo.  For more information on our ongoing electric blanket campaign in Mexico visit The Gift of Warmth. 

Thank you for being willing to carry the burdens of families in Mexico right along with us.