You may have heard about the heavy rains and flooding in our area last month. The rain came pouring down day after day, overwhelming the weak infrastructure and inadequate drainage pipes in the neighborhoods of Juarez, Mexico, where we serve. Huge potholes opened in the roads, swallowing some cars, and many homes and structures were flooded.
Our main Food Bank in central Juarez sits high on a mesa and was unaffected, but our Las Alitas center on the east side was flooded. Staff and youth grabbed shovels, brooms, and mops to clean up the mud and restore order so regularly scheduled activities could continue.
However, we also realized that we need to find ways to prevent muddy floodwater from entering our buildings in the future. A civil engineer friend came out to assess our situation and gave us some advice on our best options.
One of his suggestions was to build a cement sidewalk around the perimeter of our compound, so we are starting work on that. We hope to complete it before the next rain. In the meantime, our energetic, active youth are always ready to pitch in whenever and wherever they’re needed.