CPC Celebrates 25 Years of Service!

2011 has been a landmark year for CPC for many reasons. First and foremost, we have had the opportunity to reflect on what 25 years of service means.  We are all blessed to be a part of an organization has been consistently making such a positive impact on both Americans and Mexicans.  We are grateful to you, our supporters, for making that happen. 

This October we hit another milestone: Glen Leven Presbyterian Church (Nashville, TN) worked with St. Helena's Episcopal Church (Boerne, TX) to build our 700th house.  Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church (Bartlesville, OK) was in Piedras Negras during the same week and built houses 701 and 702 to close out the 2011 building season.

The third achievement we celebrated in October 2011 was the second anniversary of the New Hope Library, which is located across the street from our medical clinic. Although we were financially obligated to close our preschool this year, many of the children who would have been in the school are now coming regularly to the New Hope Library across the street.  The librarians are integrating programs from the preschool into the library experience for these young children. 

In the midst of celebration, our organization has encountered many difficulties this year. Due to the lack of funding for the Education ministry and the closing of the preschool, our Director of Education Ashlee has moved on to work with Teaching Strategies, the company that supplied our materials for the preschool.  Although we miss her in the office, she still lives in Birmingham and is still part of our life.  We appreciate the diligent work that Ashlee gave to her job, and the love that she showed to the children.

Conny Jiménez, who was one of our preschool teachers, is now working in our library. Will "Memo" Betton, our other preschool teacher, has returned to North Carolina after several years working with us. In addition, Francisca “Panchita” Godoy has returned to her home in Chile. Panchita worked with us for a year as a volunteer to establish our library and training the librarians.  We will miss all of the staff members who have moved on, but wish them the best as they continue their journeys.

As we “wrap up” our 25th year of service, we find ourselves pondering what CPC really means to us and to all of the people whose lives it has touched throughout the years. It would be impossible to calculate the exact number, but we know that thousands of people in Mexico, the United States, and even other parts of the world have been affected by this organization- and that is truly a blessing. We realize that the path to positive change is necessarily paved with difficulty and struggle, but we certainly feel that the future of CPC and Piedras Negras is a bright one.