Recent News: OAXACA EDUCATION FUND
WHAT IS THE OAXACA EDUCATION FUND?
The Oaxaca Education Fund (OEF) was founded in 2012 by members of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Rancho Penasquitos, San Diego, California, for the children and young people of the Sierra Mixteca, Oaxaca, Mexico, to give them an opportunity to overcome the poverty of their families and their villages through education. Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in San Diego ministered spiritually and physically to the migrants working in the fields near the parish, beginning in 1985. The OEF was born to serve their children and grandchildren in the five villages the team visits every year.
The OEF provides school supplies to 1500 children, delivered in person, partial scholarships to 18 – 23 university students, and monthly food stipends to 50 orphans and disabled children. Educated youth will be able to stay in Oaxaca if they can make a living there and contribute to their families and society. Over half the university students we are currently helping are children of the migrant workers we have known so well for decades. So far 27 of our scholarship recipients have graduated from university. Many are nurses, some are engineers, psychologists, computer scientists, teachers, etc.
Of the graduates you see here, Yareli, RN, top left, and Itzel, forestry engineer, bottom right, were sponsored in their studies by TASH. They join 4 others who graduated in 2023 and 2024! They are SO grateful!!
Although the pastor and parishioners of OLMC donate to our annual budget of $65,000 through direct gifts, parish appeals, craft sales, and an annual 5K Walk, this one source does not cover the full amount, and we seek contributions from local parishes to help us reach our goal. We also receive an annual donation from TASH, Inc., in Pittsburgh, PA, who have helped us since 2020 with generous scholarships for 5 of our university students each year. Together, we serve Christ in the poorest of the poor.
Donors can make a secure one-time or monthly donation on the website, donate by mail, or donate through the parish. Your gifts ensure that children and youth in these remote mountain villages will develop enthusiasm for their education, receive the assistance they need, and find opportunities their parents could never have hoped for, while giving back to their communities.
You can donate securely online at http://oaxacaeducationfund.org/donate
If you prefer, checks, made out to Friends of the Poor, our fiscal agent, may be mailed to:
Oaxaca Education Fund
Friends of the Poor
14356 Marianopolis Way
San Diego, CA 92129, USA
All donations are tax deductible.
Check out some photos from our 2024 Mission Trip!
Recent News: Children’s Day at CANICA
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Happy Children’s Day at CANICA! On April 25th, we celebrate one of the most anticipated days of the year for our children: a day filled with games and smiles, which would not have been possible without the support of our community network, our collaborators, and our CANICA volunteers.
We started the day with a big activity: Crazy Hairstyles, where girls, boys, collaborators, and volunteers unleashed their imagination and creativity by creating unique hairstyles with colors, accessories, and themes that ranged from baskets with chicks to planes in full flight.
A runway full of applause and excitement was a must, where we rewarded the most creative hairstyles with special gifts, lovingly selected by our teachers.
We enjoyed the day by spending time with our girls and boys, knowing that it is part of our commitment for them to know they are special and celebrated. Making them laugh and giving them unforgettable moments is also part of our work.
La Ciudad de los Niños
In the May/June 2023 newsletter, Fr. Scott made a special birthday request to make a gift to TASH to provide funding for an orphanage, La Ciudad de los Niños. On February 24, the organization held an event to make public the initial opening of a 100-bed dormitory on their grounds.
Their original dormitory and administrative building were heavily damaged by an earthquake reaching 7.7 on the Richter scale, on September 7, 2017. It was a complicated process to determine if the best option would be to repair the former building or start fresh. After the local government authorities made their final determination, the only viable alternative was to demolish the old building and begin the lengthy process of architectural designs, special building permits, a COVID-19 pandemic interruption, and a major fundraising campaign. For several years, the children were living in provisional bunkbeds in the common eating area.
It was in 2020 that the TASH reached out to local orphanages and landed on two, Simply Smiles and La Ciudad de los Niños. Our first project was to support Simply Smiles. Shortly thereafter in 2021, we were engaged with La Ciudad de los Niños and began to coordinate with the local leadership to establish the terms for our involvement, starting with the demolition, which happened in 2022. Shortly thereafter, we agreed to an initial project to build the new orphanage in two stages, a first floor for 50 children and a second floor for the other 50. Of course, God works in mysterious ways and the orphanage wasn’t going to build itself.
Therefore in 2023, Fr. Scott wrote to you all. Thanks to your generosity, we realized that we could cover the full build, which would reduce the costs of renewing permits, possible inflationary costs of construction materials, and most importantly, allow for La Ciudad de los Niños to grow from 50 to 100 children and youth. This orphanage (or Casa de Hogar as it is known in Oaxaca), founded in 1958, by another charismatic Roman Catholic priest, Padre Jose Miguel, is now the largest of its kind in Oaxaca.
Again, thanks to Fr. Scott’s vision and with TASH approaching its 25th anniversary, we can with your support continue to install essential building blocks in the areas of medical attention and healthcare, shelter, education, clean water, & community development, that will provide opportunities for decades to come.
We hope you will continue our journey towards the 25th anniversary of TASH in 2025.
