UNAC Organization -Roberto Treviño

“The Best of you, makes Mexico bigger!”

“Sometimes smiling is hard for some of us but

we have never experienced having a

physical impossibility to smile.”

“People who participate in this event are people

who care, seek to improve the life of

others and people who are willing to give their time and effort for the

good of others.”

moreon2

Unidos por el Arte Contra el Cancer Infantil, otherwise known as UNAC, is now one of the biggest foundations helping cancer victims move on with their lives. The woman who has made this concept a reality is Florencia Infante.

Florencia started this foundation after realizing that she was sufficiently successful in her business and had enough experience to allow her to intelligently plan and be thoughtful enough to give back to others. She has now taught her children how to

participate in her work.

This is all great, but what led her to establish this foundation? She established it for a variety of reasons, some of which she states she “understood at the time” and others she “has only know begun to appreciate”. Florencia recognized that she had the initiative to provide for her family and leave a contribution

Featuring:MilesforSmilesHairDonationsCruzRosa

SchoolGuardsANSPAC

ValentinaSalvadorCelinaGarza

DestellosdeLuzADANECUNICEF

AndManyMore!!

November 2010

2

to her community. She didn’t realize how difficult it would be at that time and how much she would learn afterwards.

What she considers the best part of her job is the opportunity to be beside all those children in need of help that have a genuine interest in knowing how to live life to its fullest, manifesting in them an attitude of respect, consideration and solidarity. “Being in their world and watching the day to day formation is incredible and the best part of this organization”, says Florencia.

In her opinion, the most important qualities to create an organization like this are persistence, patience and humbleness. Her parents have taught her how to be good to others and not expect anything in return, and this is what has helped her the most. In her childhood, Florencia’s parents would donate money to

charities and those values have been transmitted to her. Like her parents have transmitted these values to her, she hopes she will now transmit those values to other people through this foundation who will in turn create foundations like “Ponte la Gorra” in their community to help other people move on and live their lives to the fullest.

What can we start doing right now? As teenagers we can engage in

our school’s community service learning program where we are filled with values. Other things, according to Florencia that we can do right now to gain the necessary experience, would be creating special t-shirts and hats and selling them to gain money for other, bigger non-profitable foundations like Florencia’s. All this will hopefully one day begin to give us the necessary experience to be like Florencia, a caring, helpful, incredible, outstanding person.

-Roberto Treviño

“The biggest reward is the happiness of others. Their smiles just keep me going.”

-Florencia Infante

3

ANSPAC -Dany Jasso

CHANGING SOCIETY ONE PERSON AT A

TIME

This week I’ve had the incredible opportunity to sit down and chat with one of the many people working with ANSPAC. ANSPAC is an organization that was founded in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1974, by a group of people concerned about enhancing family values. It is a private association that promotes social advancement through continuing education for working adults.

What ANSPAC is trying to achieve through their program is to promote the consciousness of one’s own dignity and promote the intelligent, balanced and responsible participation of each person in their family, society and country, and give a sense of responsibility and determination for achieving a wholesome personal improvement that benefits individual families and society as a whole.

The program functions in a way that it recruits and teaches volunteers connected with local businesses (for example, wives of business executives) to give formation courses to the wives of workmen in the same business.

The person who I interviewed is a person that I admire very much. Cecilia Garza is my cousin and she is very

involved in the program. She is a great inspiration, helping people out daily through the program. I asked her what her motivation for doing this was and her response was "The situation in Monterrey right now. Since there is a lot of violence and corruption, I wanted to help in some way. I thought that this would be the best way to start. By teaching people values and responsibility, our society can slowly recuperate." She also said that her favorite part about working at ANSPAC was when people came to her and said thanks. It made her feel very proud, and she stated "I feel like I am changing the world one person at a time."

Read about the person who founded Anspac on

pg 12

ADENAC and how they help children with critical illnesses! -Gerardo Zepeda

ADANEC is based on the idea of creating a system that helps children, and infants, that suffer from critical illnesses, they help them by directing them to specialized medical attention that is suited for their individual needs. ADANEC then finances any, and all-medical procedures necessary for the child to recuperate. All this is the creation of Rosa Alicia Ramirez, a dedicated woman who works everyday to help the sick children.

So what is this association name that helps this people in needs well it is called ADANEC. So you may ask yourself and say, “what is ADANEC”, well ADANEC is a non-profit association, which support children without economical resources and are critically ill children with congenital heart disease and is done in all across Mexico.

Want to learn more about ADANECE, article continues on pg 11

4

-Sergio Elizondo

Down syndrome has been a very difficult condition to treat over the past few decades, especially when the resources to attain the treatment are not available to the affected families, due to a lack of money, or professional help. This was the case in the city of Monterrey. The huge, 3,000,000-person metropolis lacked a no-benefit foundation that helped D.S. (down syndrome) affected families, and a lot of these lost their special family members due to a lack of attention to their children. Due to this, Catalina Roel founded the Taller de Expresion y Desarrollo Integral, a free school where rich and poor families could get professional support for their affected children.

I had the opportunity to talk to the actual president of the institution: Celina Garza. Celina Garza is a mother of two, who, after being blessed with two perfectly normal children, saw the need to help those who were not blessed so fully; she also says that a child with Down's syndrome is also a blessing, but a blessing that is very hard to understand, as we are not used to blessings with such strength over us. Celina is a mother of two children, 17 and 12 years old.

In the interview, I was able cover the basic points of this person's

philanthropic contribution to society.

Celina Garza is the current president of the Taller de Expresión y Desarrollo Integral, the free institution to help those who suffer from Down syndrome, generally in poverty, although the school has students from all the socioeconomic levels. The institution works with the basic aspects of the Down syndrome's effects, such as neck and extremity strengthening, the coordination to crawl, walk, et cetera. They also need special teachers to develop speech skills and thinking processes, which come naturally to a person who does not suffer from the syndrome.

Her work involves special teachers, special equipment, and the adequate facilities for this training to take place. All are extremely expensive, which requires a constant cash flow from a diverse repertoire of nation-wide fund-raising events, with some help from private philanthropists. Her work involves the management of

the non-governmental organization. She decides who is to be hired or fired, which fundraisers to proceed with, and how the money is going to be administered.

A regular day at the institution is very similar to a regular day at a school. The board meets twice a week in the designated meeting rooms, due to the lack of space. They have to schedule the meetings around the school schedule. In the meetings, they consult with every staff member, setting weekly goals and things that need to get accomplished. To set the goals, brainstorming sessions take place.

She was elected unanimously as President of the Board in the year of 2008, and is still the president of this wonderful institution, which proves that philanthropy does not have to be in great quantities in order to be philanthropic.

“Having Down syndrome is like being born normal. I am just like you and you are just like me. We are all born in different ways, that is the way I can describe it. I have a normal life.”

-Chris Burke

Down Syndrome and what people are doing to help!

5

Usually when people live through something hard during their lives they end up wanting to help others that lived through similar things they did. Some donate, some help charities, but others like Gabriela Navarro start a foundation. Gaby Navarro founded Cruz Rosa, which is an organization made to help women with breast cancer. Her job title is “Presidenta Fundadora” (founding president) and without her, Cruz Rosa wouldn’t work as efficiently as it does today. Gaby does a lot of things in her own time like organizing events and activities, creating educational projects, and giving conferences; but what she likes the most about working there, is visiting the patients in the hospital and spending time with them.

Gaby was fortunate enough to be a breast cancer survivor. She is thankful for all the support from her children, husband, and doctors. This is the main reason why Cruz Rosa came to be the foundation it is today. Gaby had had the idea of founding Cruz Rosa while going through cancer, but four years after living breast cancer free she decided to

make her dream of Cruz Rosa a reality.

Gaby is not alone in her work, there are 12 other selfless people helping her. These people receive salary while working in different areas. Some work directly with the patient, some in administration, some psychology, and many other areas. Apart from these people that receive a salary, there are also approximately 50 volunteers and a lot more gather when an event or campaign occurs. People try to help in whatever they can.

What gives Gaby the biggest pride of working at the Cruz Rosa is getting to help a lot of women in need. She can relate and talk to them because she lived through the same hard things they are going through. She is also proud that Cruz Rosa is the first foundation in Mexico helping this cause. This organization has made a lot of significant changes for women in our own community.

Right now they are trying to get a space of their own. Although they have not accomplished this, they are trying their best and not giving up at all. They have accomplished a lot and wish to continue this by giving support to their patients, and treating each one of them like a significant human being. They

also give them excellent care and fantastic service.

Finally, they receive donations through many different ways. They always have an open door and heart to whoever is willing to donate. Not only this, but they also organize events and campaigns for possible financial donors. Cruz Rosa is also always looking for generous people who want to donate scholarships.

Gabriela Navarro, her team of 12 people, volunteers, and donors are doing something really compelling that helps sick women and their families get better by improving the dreadful process that they have to endure. It is an incredible foundation that has now been going on for several years and will continue to grow through time. If someone ever wants to help the community or volunteer somewhere, Gabriela Navarro is the perfect person to contact for this. Hopefully, Cruz Rosa will grow and with the help if the community eventually accomplish their goals.

Cruz Rosa -Federica Gutierrez

‐

‐

“A project without goals isn’t able to grow”.

-Gaby Navarro

6

Halloween, such a wonderful event that comes every year on October 31st. Everyone enjoys this day. Halloween is a day where every child or person wears a costume and arrives to a house and sings the "Trick or treat" song. Eventually the owners of the house are to give candy for the lovely visitors. But every year all over the world, instead of going to house and asking for candy, people go and ask for money. This event sponsored by UNICEF, "Trick or treat," is an event that inspires people to work together so that people can cooperate for the greater good of those in need.

For such an important event, I've interviewed a 16 year old adolescent who contributed to this event. His/ her name will remain

anonymous, but yet this young adolescent was inspired and was willing to help and contribute to those in need. We asked him various questions that involved him, and how he got to be in this event. But also what lead him to want to join such a wonderful event.

This Young adolescent

went through a lot of experiences to be in this event throughout his life such as; dedicating himself to school, being a hard worker, setting up goals for himself and doing his best to achieve them. In this interview we realized many different things based on what he has told us. A person like himself decides to work in events like this one because these are people who are willing to help other people, want to bring joy to others and improve the nation and the world. People who participate in this event are people who care, seek to improve the life of others and people who are willing to give their time and effort for the good of others. We as a community can do a lot if we work together. Everyone is able to help out in this project if we just work together, donate money but not only to this project but

also to UNICEF directly and finally attend or go trick-or-treating in house to gather money. We made research about UNICEF and figured out that UNICEF has been working in this project for 60 years. Thankfully people all over the world have worked together and have helped out many different Children. UNICEF stands for "United Nation's Children Fund" which seeks to improve the quality of life and the protection of children all over the world. Overall, Halloween is not only an every once in a year event where we as a community look for children to gather candy, but also there are children who are willing to give their night and effort to look for money for other children who can’t afford to live a day without suffering. On behalf our community we thank those who worked hard to help in this event and we hope this event carries on for many years to come.

What did YOU do this Halloween?

-Kevin Mendoza

‐

‐

“People who participate in this event are people who care, seek to improve the life of others and people who are willing to give their time and effort for the good of others.”

7

Soñar Despierto What teenagers can do these days!

-Regina Jaime Here in Monterrey it is

important to help our community and our surroundings. Whatever we can do to help WILL make a difference. Many campaigns who dedicate their time to provide a helping atmosphere and community are being raised and one of them is Soñar Despierto.

SD is a voluntary

association where everybody is invited to join and help others have a great day. Not only do children have a good time but volunteers as well. By attending these events you learn new morals and values that give you a great feeling of satisfaction.

This campaign helps

people of all ages (mostly children) with low-income. The point of SD is to provide special

occasions that will satisfy children’s happiness so they can have a good time. An upcoming event is the ‘Macro Posada’ which is a big party in Christmas that invites around 1,500 kids and about 300 to 400 volunteers to Kidzania (a popular party place in Monterrey) where kids pass the day and at the end receive presents.

Jose A. Romero is a

member of this association since he attended one of Soñar Despierto’s events. The president of this organization was a friend of his so when he went to help out one time he was deeply touched and instantly decided to become a part of it.

SD has been a

success where teenagers attend mostly on weekend events. It is

growing day by day and as Jose puts it; “We as members contribute with what we are good at, helping to have a number of diverse activities which help SD grow and we end up growing as persons as well."

Up to this present day SD has proven its strong effort and commitment in providing a safe and happy environment where children learn to have a good time with volunteers that help out. This association has been a total success with much appreciation.

“I've seen reality,

things I didn't imagine that exist. Poor people do exist everywhere and need help from us. Besides, volunteers are benefited from these kids, they learn to live a simpler life and learn from reality.” -Jose A. Romero

8

TheOrganizationthatstarteditall.

A NEW SMILE… THE BEST GIFT

-Marcelo García

Sometimes smiling is hard for some of us but we have never experienced having a physical impossibility to smile. There are many children that suffer from facial deformities such as cleft lip, cleft palate and many others. These children are often filled with hopelessness and believe that nothing will change. Operation Smile is a group of people who dedicate their time to help these children. They cure these malformations and help them have a normal life. By providing free surgeries to children around the world, this organization is able to heal children's smiles and bring hope for a much better future.

In my opinion, Operation Smile is one of the most caring charity organizations there have ever been. I am fascinated by the

fact that people who help curing these diseases actually are willing to keep providing these needs in the future. I didn't know that this issue was immense all around the world and that it was capable of being a life-threatening disease. After gathering up some information, I noticed that this is a very important group of people not only because of the massive help they provide but also because without that help, some of the children would not be able to survive with the disease. Of course, we all have to donate in order for the organization to keep going. Operation Smile has been growing a lot since it started in 1982. It all started in the United States but soon enough, the word spread and this group reached many countries around the world healing over 150,000 kids. Even some famous people like Giuliana Rancic, Donald Trump Jr. and Jessica Simpson are ambassadors of the program.

I think that the best thing we could all do to reinforce this cause would be to donate money into it. By doing this we all could form a part of this group and feel better because of giving a life lasting gift that will change their lives forever. After all, how would you feel if you would not be able to smile with a deadly disease such as this one?

-Victoria Flores

After researching what Valentina Salvador did, I realized that there are still good people in this world that do really care about other people who can’t stand up on their own two feet after they fall. Valentina is a 10 year old girl who found out about a girl who lost her earpiece and couldn't afford another one, so right after Valentina heard about this story, she began to gather the money necessary to buy another earpiece and help the girl. Even though it was complicated for her to earn all that money in a short period of time, she decided to take the challenge. What really caught me, was that she didn't do this for some reward or because they were going to give her something in the end. No, she did it because she has a good heart and wants to make the world a better place.

What motivated her was the simple fact that the girl had lost her earpiece and when she found out that the girl still hadn't found it, it made her sad to hear about that so she had to

When kids make other kids smile…

ReadmoreaboutValentina’sstoryonpg13!

9

“Make your journey count, make a difference”

Operation Smile is a foundation to help people that have "Cleft Lip "Labio Leporino". This is when you are born with a birth defect in which the tissues of the mouth or lip don't get completely formed in fetal development. In Most of the cases the parents don’t have the money needed to make the operation. This is an example were a group of kids wanted to make a change in their community and

gathered money to change kids life’s.

One year a Character Ed Class in ASFM decided to do something to gather money. After making a race called, "Miles for Smiles" they gathered up 120,000 pesos. If the operation is 200-300 dollars (prices may vary around the world) this is 40 operations to kids that were born with Cleft Lip that there parents couldn't afford. This is just a little grain of sand in the ocean. The real thing they wanted to do was to be a Role Model not as a person but to make other people their own role models by spreading the word and convincing others to change

lives forever. This is a question that I asked Roberto de la Torre "Do you think that you changed the kids life forever?" and this was his answer "I don’t think, I know it, I am sure of it, I’ve seen the change." He told me about an experience that he had were he went to Guadalajara to a event of Operation Smile and he got to see the little kids that got operated with doing a simple race and Coming up with a big amount of money. He saw them before and after the operation. He told me one

difference, and that difference is that when the kids came out of the operation he had a smile on his face.

“Changing

Lives

One

Smile

At

A

Time”

Miles For Smiles -Diego de La Toree

10

Hair Donations!! All you need to know about them, who is doing it, how you do it and how does it help. Read on to find more on hair donations. -Marce Treviño

Today in Monterrey, Mexico and all around the world we can see how cancer has drastically expanded. This is why people are trying to find ways to make it easier for cancer patients go through this. Teleton is a foundation that helps children with special needs and terminal sicknesses all around Mexico. They have created a special campaign called “Peleton,” where people are volunteering to donate their hair to help children with cancer. In our community, it’s becoming more and more common everyday for people to donate their hair in order to make children with cancer happy. These children consider their hair as a sign of hope and normality. It is a very simple process that could have a great impact on their lives.

I interviewed a girl who donated her hair named Brenda Flores. She told me about her experience and how even though it was hard for her to cut her hair, the satisfaction she felt afterwards was greater. She understood that the sacrifice she made would leave a mark in her heart and in the girl she gave the hair to, so she smiled as well.

One you hair is sent, a manufacturer turns it into a wig. When the wig is done they send it to the Teleton, which is the responsible for choosing a girl to give the wig to. Afterwards they take a picture of the girl wearing the wig and send it to the donator via e-mail.

This experience is breathtaking and it’s not just for the personal satisfaction, but also for the amazing contribution you are making to help the children with cancer. This is an amazing first step of contribution to help the less fortunate, which can impulse you to continue to give back to others.

Everyone can do it, but you have to meet certain requirements:

1. Donate a minimum of 25 cm of hair in a braid.

2. Put the hair in an envelope with your name and your e-mail address.

With these easy steps, you can contribute and be a part of this great campaign.

-Alejandro Gzz

Hair donating is to help women with breast cancer around the world. With the hair you donate Cruz Rosa makes wigs to women whose hair that has fallen because of chemotherapy. This past week I had the chance to interview a magnificent girl who donated her hair to the Cruz Rosa. Her name is Regina Perez. Regina told me that she had really long hair and wanted to cut it hegrandma told her about the hair donation program and Regina got to thinking and decided to donate her hair. This was a really helpful donation since, thanks to Regina, 2 wigs can be made for women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy. This act of charity from Regina really got me into thinking. Why not donate your hair instead of throwing it all to the trash like all the barbershops do. This program is extremely important and the people within the program have to be recognized as well.

The people who participate in the Cruz Rosa can consider themselves as heroes in our community just like Regina's Grandmother. They dedicate their time and effort to helping other women in need of help. They are helping people at all times and at all costs and that is why they deserve to be recognized all over the world as heroes to our community.

Since I am a man, I don't have tons of hair to donate but I set myself a goal of spreading the word about the hair-donating program to help all the women with breast cancer around the world. This program has to be recognized globally so women start donating their hair to Cruz Rosa for a better cause. Maybe no one you know has cancer but if you suddenly did what would you do then?

11

A Culture of Respect to Dogs

and Cats

-Pau Milmo

Fundacion Luca is a civilized association that works to achieve a better society that will live in harmony. They focus on improving the conditions of domestic animals in their homes, and decreasing the suffering of these individuals left

“Our mission is to facilitate tools and promote a culture of respect to dogs and cats in our community”. -

This organization rescues homeless animals from the street or from a natural disaster and bring them back to their foundation. They check them to see if they are healthy and if they aren’t, they treat them with antibiotics and give them the shot necessary to lead healthier lives. They also accept animals from people that don’t have the time or resources to take care of their pets. These people bring their pets to Fundacion Luca and the foundation looks

for families that are willing to adopt an animal in need and treat them with love and care. Fundacion Luca’s mission is to implement actions to improve their lifestyle, veterinarians, and education. So far they have rescued 4,800 animals and adopted 780 pets. They are still improving and hope for another 780 adoptions this year.

Other things Fundacion Luca provides is education for dogs, sterilizing cats and animals, and they also provide a lot

of supplies people can buy to make their pets happy, such as shampoos, beds, food, toys, etc. Fundacion Luca is a great example of a helping and encouraging non-profitable foundation. They show they care about our community and about making an effort to improve it.

In the interview I had with Rosa Alicia Ramirez she commented that “Congenital heart diseases are the second cause of death in children new born to 5 years old in Mexico and worldwide” and that the treatment is very expensive and lots of kids die without any medication attention. Also she added that over 80% of children born with heart disease recover satisfactorily, do not require further surgery

and can lead a normal life and they are the ones that avoid unnecessary deaths from curable diseases.

As this interview went on I asked to Rosa Alicia Ramirez what your motivation to create ADANEC. With a big smile she said, “My second and third child born infected with a bacterium that causes a blood septic shock. They stayed at the intensive care unit for a long time and there I realized the needs of other families to give their children the best medical attention”. I also had this question of how hard was it to start this organization well she said “It was

very hard at the beginning because, at any private hospital where they have all the infrastructure wanted to help ADANEC to support children with heart disease because they were afraid of high costs. It took much time and effort that hospitals could do believe that this type of surgery could be perform and optimize resources.15 years after our efforts are reflected in that we have made a total of 350 heart surgeries in Monterrey and in other states of Mexico”.

With the interview almost done I had this last question for Rosa and it was would you

tack all the credit for this work? If not who else deserves the same credit as you do? With another big smile she said that even thou she stared all this association by herself there is still a team of 10 employ administration of ADANEC who raise funds and a group of 80 doctors who perform the surgeries, this is the people that deserve the same credit as Rosa Alicia for thus are the people that maintain ADANEC in great shape.

ADANEC Continuing article

right here…

12

SCHOOL GUARDS -David Lozano After interviewing some of the protectors of the ASFM community, the school guards, I have come up with an interesting perspective of an every-day job nobody has recognized before. This people are standing in this community on a daily basis to contribute and help with their determination and effort. They realize how important their job is and they are determined to accomplish it at all costs, at all times of the day and whenever it is required. Sadly these people are not fully recognized for what they risk and work

every day. Although they were informed with the risks this job had, they accepted to work through it and risk their health to take care of all the students, workers and visitors in the ASFM community. The American School Foundation of Monterrey is a community where people are working or studying there at all times a day, including the night. The school guards are there the whole twenty-four hours of the day and seven days of the week taking care that no one puts in danger anyone inside school. Since their only goal is to maintain this school safe, which has been accomplished and fireproofed until now, they

deserve a notable recognition on an astonishing completed task that they decided to take at a risk since the beginning.

This honorable people that are working in a noble job have seemed to accomplish their job and turned the impossible to possible. That is why these amazing contributors and service workers must be recognized for how they stand out and help all the way to success and safety!

How did ANSPAC come to be? Read about Consuelo Garza and her amazing contributions!

There are many people in Mexico today who are suffering because they have insufficient education and lack the values they need to survive. Most of the time, people think it is about their poverty, how they have no homes, and how they are constantly living in hunger. Not many people look at why they are suffering. This is where Consuelo Garza comes in. With her charity ANSPAC, she helps thousands of people receive the education they need and teaching the values necessary to raise a family.

In the very beginning, ANSPAC targeted women. Consuelo says they are the bases in the family and without it, everything

would come crumbling down. "We help society by helping these women become better people, and through ANSPAC they learn about morality and how to overcome personal obstacles in life." This charity gives a helping hand to women by making them feel valuable and making them realize how much they matter as people.

Consuelo founded ANSPAC along with other people in 1974. They determined what mattered most to people, which they consider is teaching human beings about life. She says she started the foundation because "(she) saw the necessity of education in

mothers, especially because they are the ones that generally set the values in the family and they didn't have any preparation nor tools to do so."

ANSPAC doesn’t only help women, but men and adolescents too. She stated that helping these people has made her feel "satisfied and full of joy,". In the near future, ANSPAC hopes to help children by opening a center for kids aged 7-12. "ANSPAC is located in many cities in the republic and there are over 140,000 women helped." Can you imagine? If 140,000 women are being helped, can you imagine how many men? know that with ANSPAC's contributions, Mexico will slowly grow to become a better, and a more educated place.

Everyday Jobs that make our World a better place…

13

“Savingtheirsight…

-Diego De Silva

"We support the blind with special education programs for their development and improvement."

Destellos de Luz is a volunteering ladies committee for the benefit of the blind association "United Blind Monterrey.” Today in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon it is very important to have these types of organizations because lots of poor people are in need of resources and surgeries that Destellos de Luz can offer, led by Ms. Emely Canavati Assad. Her dream of starting this organization came true on October in 1997.

Having 34 years of experience in supporting blind and partially sighted people, Destellos de Luz has managed to combine a generous medical team of leading specialists who donate their time

and Destellos de Luz fights for this. Over the last 11 years, starting from 1998, there have been a total of

5195 surgeries and/or treatments, 273 transplants, and 2198 glasses for those

in need.

This organization also has their own description of themselves, meaning D for dedicacion (dedication), E for esperanza en dios (hope in god), S for servicio (service), T for trabajo en equipo (working together), E for entrega (delivery), L for lealtad (loyalty), L for luz (light), O for optimismo (optimism), and S for solidaridad (solidarity).

Destellos de Luz work in their own center donated from a city loan of San Pedro Garza Garcia Ave. Lazaro Cardenas, where they have their medical facilities and make the dreams of thousands of people come true.

unselfishly. Destellos de Luz has established many important connections with distinguished hospitals and laboratories that have helped perform thousands of eye operations, transforming the lives of the victims and their family’s forever.

Destellos de Luz says that the ability to see the light, watching a family play, see a smile or simply read a book seems natural; however, the reality is that thousands of children are born blind or have low vision ability and thousands of people of all ages suffer from degeneration of the hearing by illness, accident or old age.

Worldwide, there are approximately 45 million blind people and there remains a possibility that 80% could restore their sight if they take action,

Destellos de Luz What kids these days can do!

To change this, she had to go everyday and ask people if they could give her money to help her with this cause. Valentina said that this was really complicated, since not everybody gave her money, which made it more difficult to accomplish her goal. But Valentina wasn't alone in this, she had both her parents helping and supporting her at all times and of course all the people who contributed and put some money into this good cause. Little by little she did get the money and the girl was happy at last and of course really thankful, because of all the work

it took her to accomplish it and because they didn't even know each other.

Even though Valentina wasn't looking for any rewards, she did get some. "I got a hat from the school (ASFM), which I had the permission to wear it at all times without anybody punishing me and telling me to take it off," Said Valentina. She also got a notebook and a canvas with her name written across it with the girl's handwriting. This was a really special gift from the girl to Valentina because it showed how much she appreciated what Valentina had done for her.

Even though it was a tough

thing to do, it was all worth it and she would like to keep on doing things like these because she likes to see people happy and feel better about themselves, and she of course, feels better too.

Valentina’s Story continues…

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