Deaconess Carolina distributes juice boxes and candy as children move through the line

Blankets were used by Venezuelan families to keep their tents warm during the cold nights

Every winter, hundreds of children are given jackets, and families receive blankets, to help ward off the desert cold of the winter months. This year, close to 2,000 individuals in Mexico received blankets, from quilts to afghans to fleece blankets, which are collected year-round. Many of these blankets are made and collected by LWML groups throughout the U.S., which are then donated through Orphan Grain Train, one of Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care’s (YLM) partners in ministry.

At this year’s Rocky Mountain District Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (RMD LWML) Convention in Albuquerque, NM, brand-new toys were collected, along with hundreds of fleece blankets –pre-measured, paired, and cut –which were tied by the women attending the three-day convention, then loaded up and taken back to El Paso for YLM to distribute through these mission-churches.

Even as the churches in Anapra prepared to provide for their community, they also saw a great need for blankets as Venezuelan migrants pitched tents alongside the Rio Grande, across from the Mexico/US Border. The Anapra deaconesses worked together to find extra stored blankets within the closets of the dormitory of San Lucas, where a few Haitian refugees were being housed. These blankets were given out in November to dozens of men, women, and children waiting for the opportunity to come into the United States.

Smiles of children as they are given jackets, blankets, candy bags, and juice boxes are always a joyful reward

Two weeks before Christmas, La Santa Biblia hosted their official winter distribution of jackets and blankets, with 400 jackets given to a local elementary school, Ignacio Jose de Allende.

La Santa Biblia has been partnering with a local elementary school to help over 400 children receive jackets this year

This Anapra school serves the poorest families of Anapra, and earlier in the year, La Santa Biblia reached out to provide brand-new backpacks with school supplies for their students. Along with these students, 155 of the children and youth that are part of the La Santa Biblia received jackets as well, along with a blanket to take home to their families.

At San Lucas, another Anapra mission-church partnering with YLM, the distribution of jackets and blankets took place after their Christmas Day service. The smaller congregation has been reaching out to their community, and a total of 45 children and youth received new jackets to help keep them warm for the next couple of months, with blankets given out to families of the congregation, as well as visitors.

Both of these mission-churches, both are located in Anapra yet several miles apart, have developed a partnership, working together to help widen their impact on a growing Anapra. As they continue to seek ways to help those in need, they also take opportunities to provide the Gospel in meaningful and practical ways that could be heard and seen with hearts in need of grace, mercy, and God’s infinite love.

If you would like more information on how you or your congregation can help provide warm blankets through YLM, you can call (915) 858-2588 and ask for Maritza Muñoz or email her at maritza.munoz@ylm.org