Children in San Lorenzo out by the Chihuahua sierra received jackets the first weekend of January

For the last two years, winter has been unusually harsh in the Borderlands, and for residents of Juarez where resources such as heated homes are rare, it can be especially dangerous. For several years, Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) has been partnering with multiple donors and organizations to help provide much needed blankets for families and jackets for children.

Two of Pastor Hernandez’s guitar students received their jackets after the month’s first Sunday worship service

Donations of blankets –quilts, afghans, fleece, and baby blankets –are received year-round from individuals and churches, especially Lutheran Women Missionary League (LWML) groups who work together to collect, sow, or tie blankets to ship to YLM. Majority of the blankets, though, are received through Orphan Grain Train, an organization that works worldwide to provide relief to communities in need.

In Juarez, during the winter months, the need for warm clothing and blankets is great as many houses cannot have indoor heaters due to being made of pallets and cardboard boxes. Just last year, during the freeze that swept across Texas and Northern Mexico, several people lost their lives to hypothermia in Juarez, and a few houses caught fire due to the use of portable heaters.

La Santa Biblia distributed over 300 blankets the second week of January

For this reason, the distribution of blankets begins long before the weather gets cold, with over 300 given out in El Paso during the Food Pantry Drive-Thru on Saturday mornings, and over 1,000 going into Mexico to be distributed among the partnering mission-churches and organizations partnering with YLM, such as Juarez Mio. Close to 200 blankets were taken into Chihuahua to be distributed among the communities in the sierras, that is, up in the mountain areas where access to amenities such as electricity and running water is severely limited. 150 blankets were distributed through Juarez Mio to people living out in the streets of Juarez.

The jackets for children were collected the first week of January from an organization dedicated to providing children in need with jackets. Over 2,300 jackets from 18 months to 14 years of age were taken across the border by an anonymous donor, who not only provided the transportation but paid the importation fees. All the jackets were taken to Iglesia Luterana Santisima Trinidad on the east side of Juarez, where volunteers from the church and YLM worked together to sort, divide, and distribute among six of YLM’s partnering mission-churches and, through Juarez Mio, to several daycares, preschools, and orphanages in the poorer communities of Juarez.

The wife of Juarez’s governor, along with her staff from the Department of Human Safety, helped distribute over 300 jackets at La Santa Biblia

The last distribution occurred January 9^th at Iglesia Luterana La Santa Biblia, where over 300 jackets were given out with the help of Juarez’s Department of Human Safety, which included Juarez’s governor’s wife. With her and her staff’s help, the distribution was done quickly and efficiently, along with the distribution of food bags for families and candy bags for the children.

What a joy it is to see the generosity of dozens of individuals impact over thousands of people in need of warmth and care during the cold weather months. If you would like to contribute to this on-going area of ministry, you can ship unused blankets of all kinds and sizes to:

Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care
c/o Maritza Muñoz, Blankets
301 South Schutz Drive
El Paso, TX 79907