Community working together
Ministering in the peripheries work of whole Church
DONNA — North Donna is one of the fastest-growing areas in the Rio Grande Valley. With more people living in the area’s numerous colonias — substandard housing developments — there is an increasing need for services to help families in the community.
The Church, along with several community partners including health, government agencies, non-profits, and businesses, continues moving forward with Plaza Amistad, a self-sustaining space where area residents can work together to build the community, and address health and wellness, education and spiritual needs.
During a groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 8 for a new 10,000 square-foot community center for the programs and services of Plaza Amistad, Bishop Daniel E. Flores talked about how the providence of God works.
“He offers us opportunities and it is up to us as people to respond to them and in some way to multiply the gifts that God gives us,” Bishop Flores said.
He recalled how — again citing God’s providence — two sisters who grew up on the land spoke to him in 2017 “about a desire in their heart to donate some land for the good of the wider community.”
The sisters, Becky and Vicky Bonham, donated 14 acres located on 1409 E. Mile 13 N in Donna in memory of their grandfather, Kenneth Bonham, who farmed the land back in the 1920s. “It was in honor of their grandfather to recognize what a gift this is and how it could be multiplied,” Bishop Flores said. “The Lord is looking for something to multiply.”
Action should follow blessings, he said. “It is one thing to receive the vision of the Lord, to have the seed or the idea,” he said. “But you have to risk something. You have to plant something and find a way for it to grow.”
Bishop Flores explained the vision is to provide many services for the local community, which requires the cooperation of a lot of people. This includes medical and preventative care and space to offer tutoring. Part of the dream also calls for soccer fields for children to play, and walking paths for families to exercise.
Bishop Flores also blessed a statue of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the new church that will be built on site. This will be the first church in the Rio Grande Valley named after St. Francis of Assisi. With so much work ahead, Bishop Flores cited the development as potentially a model of cooperation and caring.
“We have to look at how not to lose this sense that we are a community, that we help each other, and we reach for each other and we serve each other in friendliness and hopefulness.
“We still have a lot of work together. Part of the work of the Church is to open a space where many people can help. The Church offers space, but many can do their part to bring fruit. Todos pueden hacer algo.”
“The Church is looking for ways to invite others to work towards the good of for all of our people. This is the vision of our Valley. We need to share this vision with the rest of the country. Because it is a different vision about how we care for one another and go the extra mile.”
Miguel Santos, the Diocese of Brownsville’s director of Strategy and Development, also praised the project’s cooperative aspects.
“This public-private partnership (p3) model is an example of the collective impact that is possible when the community comes together to build community: meeting people where they are, creating sustainable solutions, offering hope, and inspiring collaboration and innovation,” Santos said.
Through a grant from Catholic Extension, the Diocese of Brownsville welcomed three religious sisters from the congregation of Missionary Catechists Lumen Christi in 2021, who together with Father Franciscus Eka Yuantaro, are animating the work of Plaza Amistad and providing outreach to families in the colonias.
Plaza Amistad received a $100,000 grant from H-E-B to purchase a prefabricated 10,000 square-foot steel building that will serve as a multi-purpose hall. Also, Hidalgo County Precinct 1 committed a portable building to the project to assist with arts, literacy and economic development, and a small cadre of engineers and developers are participating with in-kind donations
