posted by admin on Jan 22

Featured Non-Profit – Waco Missions Club

History never looks like history when you are living through it.
~John W. Gardner

The Waco Missions Club was chartered as a non-profit organization in 1957; originally, there were 15 paid members who first met and by the end of the year, they had managed to increase to 50. After many meetings, they all came together on their purpose; to provide decent entertainment for its members, and the community, to donate money to Catholic Churches and non-profit organizations and charities, to promote the educational endeavors of youth, and to combat juvenile delinquency. They had decided their motto would be, Unity and Charity.

This story is based on an interview with Vincent Lopez, my father, one of the founding members of the Waco Missions Club.

The Waco Missions Club, started with a need, a very talented group of guys needing a consistent sponsor for semi-pro baseball. A Priest from St. Francis Church personally sponsored the team and they called themselves the Saint Francis Missions. The sponsorship included the cost of the uniforms. At first they played at whatever park they could use, and with whatever money was made from admission fees and concessions, they purchased equipment. The Priest soon was transferred and with that transfer went their sponsorship.
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posted by admin on Jan 14

Meet Sister Matilda – Saint Francis Catholic Church

One of my favorite things to do is to listen to persons older than me, especially relatives tell stories of times when things were very different. The stories and descriptions that I have heard give dimension to those time periods and bring to life some of that past…if only for a short time.

When the Waco Community formed the non-profit, the Waco History Project whose Mission is to “Connect people of all ages to the community by telling the story of Waco’s diverse past,” it gave me the opportunity to interview some of my relatives and tell their stories at different local forums.

Recently I had the privilege to interview my relatives, Helen Duron Hurtado, Alicia Duron Yglecias and Carol Duron. I also interviewed five other individuals that did not want their names mentioned. Through the interviews I was introduced to one of the most inspirational individuals that lived in Waco that I have never met – Sister Matilda.

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posted by admin on Oct 1

“Destiny is no matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved“ William Jennings Bryan

During my first month working for Waco Habitat for Humanity, I was asked to participate in the family selection process and provide Spanish translation for a home visit. When families are going through the selection process, part of the process requires some members of the Selection Committee to visit the families in their homes.

Leaving a job where I seldom interacted with people, making a home visit was kind of foreign to my past day-to-day activities. But nonetheless, I went, not knowing what to expect. It took a while to locate the home of the applicant; the house was placed toward the back of a lot. Now, I have lived in Waco, Texas most of my life and I never knew that such living conditions existed in this town. The house was a two-bedroom house and had an alleyway entrance.

Upon entering the home, my eyes had to adjust because the house was extremely dark. The bare bulb that hung off a cord in the kitchen gave little light and moved back and forth which provided an eeriness in the house. The house had several roof leaks and holes were abundant throughout the floor. The kitchen counters were covered with linoleum that was lifting up from all angles. The one thing that was astounding was how the house smelled of cleaning agents. The applicant may have lived in a modest setting but she maintained what little she had with a fierce pride.
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posted by admin on Oct 1

Graduate of Avance becomes Executive Director…

Avance is a program that educates parents with the necessary knowledge of child development and trains them with parenting skills so they can learn how to raise their children in a caring environment. Bereniz Moreno’s story illustrates how a mother is in a position to have tremendous impact on her child-either positively or negatively. Moreno is a living testimony to the program and as the executive director of the Avance-Waco program considers it extremely gratifying to see the positive change that happened in her family repeated in other family households.

“The day the Avance recruiter came to our door and talked my mom into attending the program changed my family’s life,” said Moreno. “My mother was dedicated to our care; however, she would yell and scold us and we felt we were always in trouble, after attending the Avance program, my mom became more affectionate in discipline, more consistent, she would explain why we were disciplined, this in turn made our household peaceful.”

“My dad encouraged mom in the Avance program, he noticed her attitude with us during discipline, and saw how mom nurtured and encouraged us; thereafter, he always supported her decisions when it came to us. For nine months in that first year, my mom, and I would attend the Avance program. While my mom attended her weekly classes, I was cared for in an educational setting. My mom learned basic developmental skills and was trained to monitor our linguistic, social, physical, emotional, and cognitive changes. She also attended a toy-making class that taught her how to make educational toys using everyday household items. Avance has a home-visiting component that follows up to ensure the training is provided in the homes, and parents receive personalized suggestions; I remember how that visiting day at my house was so intense because my mom was so invested in the program.” Read the rest of this entry »

posted by admin on Oct 1

Soyla Salazar – “The Miracle Baby”…..

Virginia Vasquez Salazar called her husband, Jesus “Chuy” Salazar and told him it was “time”. Chuy remembers saying “time – for what…ohhhhh!” They lived in a mobile trailer in Hallsburg, Texas and he had started work early this day. He picked up Virginia and they made the trip from Hallsburg to Waco in record time; however, they arrived with little time to prepare Virginia for delivery.When Virginia was brought to the recovery room, she was asked if she would be breast or bottle-feeding the baby. Virginia responded that she would be breastfeeding Soyla. When the baby was given to Virginia, she noticed that the nose area was a distinct blue. She asked the doctors, “Why does my baby have blue around her nose area?” she said they initially responded, “The fast delivery may have caused some bruising.” When the baby would not “latch on” for breast-feeding they took the baby to another area.

Virginia and Chuy were talking about the name Soyla, which means “alone” in Spanish. “Soyla is the only girl on my side of extended family and the only one in our family; therefore, she is Soyla,” said Chuy, “the only girl.”

They both remembered the look on the doctor’s faces when they returned and both of them sensed something was wrong. “The baby is being prepared for flight to Cooks Memorial Hospital in Fort Worth,” Virginia remembered the doctor saying. They said they had some news.” The baby would be taken by helicopter to Cooks Memorial Hospital because she had pulmonary attrition – one of four of the heart valves was not opening and closing properly. The blueness in the nose area was caused by the lack of oxygen to the lungs,” Virginia remembers the doctors saying.
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