When we first visited the Ranch as a family, we could not have anticipated the impact Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage would have on our lives. The week before Christmas several years ago, we were blessed to visit the orphanage and attend Liturgy in the chapel. With the boys sitting at his feet, Father Nicholas began his sermon. Luke, his son, translated from Spanish, “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Father Nicholas’s next words are etched in our minds as he gestured to the boys and said, “You are the rich ones. You have food, shelter, an education, faith, and people who love you. Tomorrow, we will go to the border to feed the poor.”
The next day, after making countless tamales, we joined the boys, staff, and Father and his family in a caravan and set off to feed the homeless near the border in Tijuana. As word of the food spread, a line formed around the block. Our group worked behind the table to serve tamales, rice, and beans. Father Nick stood in the bed of his pick-up truck and led us in Christmas carols. The experience of being part of the boys’ Christmas preparations and celebrations, for us, remains one of the most powerful examples of the amazing work happening at the orphanage every day.
The lives of the boys, but also those of the staff and volunteers, are transformed because of the generous support of donors like yourselves. The staff provides the boys with a loving, family environment and educational opportunities and/or vocational training to give them the chance to lead independent, faithful, and fulfilling adult lives. This year, seven boys are studying at universities in Mexico, a laudable goal within the reach of many of our boys. Vocational training ensures that boys have skills to sustain themselves as young adults.
This past spring, Alejandro became the first boy from St Innocent to graduate from Hellenic College in Brookline, MA. Alejandro is a model young man for the younger boys in the program to strive to emulate. His powerful example motivates them to apply themselves to their schoolwork, but also to their care and support of one another, like brothers.
Homebuilding returned with fervor this year, after a hiatus due to COVID. Over 400 volunteers traveled across the border to “do for others” and built sturdy, safe, weather-tight homes that provide impoverished families with previously unattainable stability and comfort. Perhaps the most touching building project was the home completed for Humberto and his family. Humberto is one of our boys, who has grown and matured into a thoughtful young man with a beautiful Orthodox family.
This Christmas season, your gift can do twice as much good for Project Mexico & St. Innocent Orphanage. We have received a challenge grant that will match all gifts made from now to the end of the year. This year when you make a tax-deductible gift to Project Mexico, you’re helping to change the lives of the 26 boys who are blessed to call “the ranch” home.
Your gift also provides inspiring opportunities for Orthodox young adults and their elders to come together in fellowship to build homes for some of Northern Mexico’s most impoverished families, supporting the vital mission work of our Church.
We hope you will join us this giving season with a gift to Project Mexico & Saint Innocent Orphanage. Please consider making this worthy ministry among your philanthropic priorities this Christmas.
Wishing you the blessings of Christmas.
In Faith,
The Alex Family
George, Marlena, Ginny, and Ellie