El Futuro’s mission is to nurture stronger familias to live out their dreams. We do this by receiving people here in North Carolina who are hurting, often from the effects of traumas suffered in their home country or on a dangerous migration to our community. We provide timely mental health treatment to help children and families heal and live brighter futures. Many of those we help relate to the families who are stranded and suffering in camps along the Mexico-US border, either through their own experience or that of their friends and extended families.
In mid December, I heard a podcast episode about the families at the border titled “The Out Crowd” by This American Life. As Christmas approached and stories were told of the magi taking gifts to the baby Jesus, I imagined taking gifts to the children at the border. The idea struck a cord with friends Maria Luisa and Tim Wood and we contacted The Catholic Charities’ Humanitarian Respite Center which is located on the Mexico-US border. They provide a place of refuge for families to rest, have a warm meal, shower, change into clean clothes, as well as receive medicine and other supplies. They desperately needed warm winter clothing to share with the families, many of whom were living in simple tents.
Maria Luisa, herself an immigrant who came from Mexico, expressed it well when she said, “We cannot forget the suffering happening at our border. My heart goes out to the mothers, fathers and children who are spending Christmas far away from their families.
Tim Wood who lives in Cedar Grove and attends the Cole Mill Road Church of Christ. “After all we’ve heard in the news this year about the mess at the border, it was hard to celebrate Christmas without doing something to help out.”
At that point, El Futuro, Scrap Exchange, Catholic Charities and the Cole Mill Road Church of Christ teamed up to gather warm clothing.
We were excited to partner with these proactive community agencies to extend our mission to the families in refugee camps and detention centers on the US-Mexico border as a reminder that they are worthy, loved, valued, and not forgotten, and that there is hope for the future.
Many donations were collected – several palates full that filled a trailer and truck. Friends from all over the community came to drop off the clothing at the Scrap Exchange. Several groups in particular put together clothing drives: Carol Woods, First Presbyterian Church, Soccer.com, and Cole Mill Road Church of Christ.
Many from our community came to a candlelight vigil held on Christmas night to stand in solidarity with refugees at the border and around the world.
Artist Cornelio Campos was one of those who gathered. It delighted me to see my daughter Hannah next to him at the vigil!
Here I am standing in between my friends Tim Wood and Maria Luisa who organized the donations and the candlelight vigil.
The trip to the border takes 22 hours from Durham if you drive nonstop. We drove Tim’s big Ford F250 diesel super duty truck with a U-Haul trailer.
On day two we stopped at a movie theater in Houston to rest and watch the new Star Wars movie. When we came out after the movie, the truck and trailer were gone – stolen!
My daughter Lilliana expressed feeling like the families at the border – stranded a long way from home, scared, and having so much taken from her. We talked about the word solidarity and what it means.
A local church heard about what had happened and wanted to help us complete the mission.
The Clear Lake Church of Christ in Houston quickly mobilized to take up a donation from their members and neighbors. The donations poured in filling a trailer and church van! Jaime and Elizabeth Arize are seen here making an announcement and giving a blessing for the mission.
On Monday morning we arrived at the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen to unload the donations from so many in Houston who gave generously.
At the Respite Center we received a call from the Houston Police who had found Tim’s truck and the trailer! All of the original donations were untouched and the truck and trailer were in excellent condition!!!
Members from the church in Houston, Cesar and Julia, drove the donations down to the border.
And Univision covered the story…
before the trip and after the trip
We’re proud of the great work of El Futuro – helping people who have come such long journeys. It was a special treat to join with Scrap Exchange, Catholic Charities and churches here in Durham and in Houston to bring support to those stranded on the border.
Here are scenes from cities along the border – McAllen and Hidalgo:
Alvely Alcántara, LCSW
Rossy C. Garcia, MEd 
Katy Sims, MD 
Everardo Aviles, LCSW, LCAS (Eve)
As a medical anthropologist and social work researcher, Dr. Gulbas’ research embodies interdisciplinarity through the integration of applied theories of health and human development with qualitative and ethnographic methodologies. Her work seeks to understand how people—children, families, and providers—navigate complex sociocultural landscapes in the pursuit of mental health. Most of her work, to date, focuses attention on developing more robust interpretations of suicide risk. With funding from the National Institutes of Mental Health, this body of research has contributed to advancements in theoretical and empirical knowledge of the broader contexts within which youth suicide risk is situated. 
R. Gabriela Barajas-Gonzalez is a developmental psychologist and an assistant professor of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Barajas-Gonzalez is the principal investigator of a study that examines the impact of immigration-related threat and stress on school communities. She earned a PhD in developmental psychology from Columbia University and hold a BA in human biology from Stanford University. Dr. Barajas-Gonzalez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a first gen college student.
Dr. Parra-Cardona is an Associate Professor in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (SHSSW) at the University of Texas at Austin. At the SHSSW, he serves as Coordinator for Mexico and Latin American initiatives. He also serves as Area Director for Research at the UT Austin Latino Research Institute. Dr. Parra-Cardona’s program of research is focused on the cultural adaptation of evidence-based parenting interventions for low-income Latinx populations in the US and Latin America.
Bianka Reese, PhD, MSPH is a research scientist and program evaluator specializing in adolescent and young adult sexual and reproductive health. Her previous research in the experiences of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth stems from her work as the Research and Evaluation Manager at SHIFT NC (Sexual Initiatives For Teens), where she led largescale evaluations of multilevel, community-based sexual health promotion initiatives and research projects aimed at elevating the voices of diverse youth in North Carolina. Dr. Reese is currently the Senior Research Strategist at Creative Research Solutions, LLC, an award-winning national evaluation, research, and assessment firm.
Tania Connaughton-Espino, MPH is an independent researcher focused on adolescent and young adult sexual and reproductive health. Her interest in the experiences of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth stems from her previous work with SHIFT NC (Sexual Initiatives For Teens), where she led the training and evaluation department, conducted capacity-building workshops for youth serving professionals including on the topic of how to be more affirming of LGBTQ youth, and from her extensive experience working with the Latinx population in NC.
Maru Gonzalez, EdD is an Assistant Professor and Youth Development Specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at North Carolina State University. Her areas of inquiry include youth development with a focus on activism, social justice, and the experiences of LGBTQ+ young people across familial, school, and community contexts. 
Nayeli Y. Chavez-Dueñas, PhD
Hector Y. Adames, PsyD