How a group of American teens funded and built new homes in San Miguel de Allende

 We’ve each experienced the surreal magic of having radical from antithetic eras of our beingness converge — erstwhile you spot your friends from simple schoolhouse dancing with assemblage friends astatine your wedding, for example. That conscionable happened to maine successful the coolest mode possible.

Three assemblage friends of excavation came to San Miguel de Allende connected vacation. They’d heard maine speech implicit the years astir an unthinkable nonprofit enactment I enactment with, Casita Linda, which has built much than 160 homes for families surviving successful utmost poverty. So, during that visit, they painted a Casita Linda location and their teenagers volunteered alongside my sons arsenic campy counselors astatine a bare-bones summertime campy for Casita Linda kids successful a agrarian indigenous assemblage adjacent San Miguel—and they brought suitcases afloat of capable creation supplies to tally the campy and banal the section superior school, too, with the leftovers.

The students contiguous 2 plaques, 1 honoring Kathryn Wanlass Shahani, the house’s namesake, to Sra. Hermelinda Ramírez Pastor, who volition soon determination into the location with her 3 children.

Teens motivated by Casita Linda’s mission: “Building Hope One House astatine a Time”

At that point, the teens truly dove in. Then and there, the kids committed to rise capable wealth successful their communities of San Diego and Northern Virginia, to wage for an full Casita Linda home, and, erstwhile they had the money, to instrumentality to Mexico to assistance physique the house.

One of them, Sonia Whittle, filmed interviews connected that sojourn with Casita Linda unit arsenic good arsenic anterior recipients of houses. Afterward, astatine location successful San Diego, she and her duplicate member Sameer utilized the footage to make 2 almighty documentary films which formed the instauration of their online societal media and fundraising campaign.

Another student, Andrew Drake, instantly began recruiting friends crossed respective Northern Virginia schools to enactment for the cause. This radical of teens included Will Harrison, Harry Patrick and Shiloh Hicks astatine South County High School, Rhesa Hicks astatine Thomas Jefferson High School, and Alexis White astatine The Trinity School. Naming their radical Juntos 4 Casita Linda, these students planned a performing arts gala. This was an wholly student-driven fundraiser; they managed the event’s marketing, planning, acceptable design, and choreography. Alexis adjacent recruited further younker from the Metropolitan School of the Arts to dance, sing, and play music, thereby utilizing others’ talents arsenic good arsenic their ain to animate donations for Casita Linda.   

“Growing up successful Virginia, I’ve ever had what I needed and lived a beingness of comfortableness — thing I present recognize is simply a privilege,” explained Will Harrison. “Volunteering with Casita Linda opened my eyes. It’s been humbling to spot however overmuch anticipation and joyousness a harmless location tin bring. I anticipation others get the accidental to acquisition thing similar this, due to the fact that it has the powerfulness to alteration lives—both for those being helped and those helping.”

An inspiring beingness communicative that leads from India to the US to Mexico

Sonia Whittle places the past artifact arsenic her begetter Michael looks on. “I’m gladsome I was a portion of thing that helped alteration a family’s life,” said Sonia. “Two days of our clip gathering can’t adjacent comparison to a beingness of alteration for this family.”

Meanwhile, successful San Diego, the Whittle siblings — Sameer, Sonia and Jayen, who be Canyon Crest Academy and Torrey Pines — truthful inspired their Great Uncle Vishnoo Shahani with their committedness to the origin that helium provided a precise important donation, putting the kids good implicit their extremity of US $20,000, the outgo of constructing an full three-bedroom Casita Linda home. The radical decided to sanction the location Casa Kathy successful grant of Shahani’s precocious wife, who passim her beingness was some a patron of the arts and a beardown believer successful the powerfulness of assemblage service.

Shahani explained that helium came from precise humble beginnings successful India. “Along with my 2 brothers, we had to determination doubly to restart our lives, archetypal from Sindh to Bombay close earlier Partition and past to Ahmedabad for work, and aboriginal we settled successful the United States. I americium present delighted to enactment my niece and nephews successful their efforts to assistance different household that is struggling and moving hard for a amended beingness successful Mexico.”

Building the full walls of a Casita Linda location successful 2 days 

With the wealth raised, during the Spring Break of the teens’ elder twelvemonth of precocious school, they converged connected San Miguel de Allende past week to assistance physique the location that they had paid for and to conscionable the household whose lives they are changing: parent Hermelinda Ramírez Pastor and her 3 children, Guadalupe, Christian, and Ramiro.

“To conscionable them,” said pupil Rhesa Hicks, “and spot the interaction of my enactment connected others’ lives was a blessing. I anticipation much radical spot this enactment and are encouraged to assistance successful immoderate mode they can.”

“I liked being portion of a radical wherever everyone wanted to help,” noted Jayen Whittle, “even the household who was receiving the house. Whatever needed to beryllium done, everyone pitched in.”

How it’s imaginable for volunteers to assistance physique Casita Linda homes

The squad hard astatine work, coached by Casita Linda’s nonrecreational operation workers.

Volunteers are capable to conception the walls of Casita Linda homes acknowledgment to the usage of Armados Omega interlocking factual blocks, which acceptable unneurotic astir similar Lego and are the ingenious, eco-friendly invention of a husband-and-wife squad of architects from Puebla, Jorge Capistrán and Sylvia Zambrano.

“As the granddaughter of 2 Latin American immigrants to the US, I person witnessed the struggles and sacrifices my household made to physique a amended life. Casita Linda gave maine the accidental to service families similar mine, and to assistance span communities internationally. It is my anticipation that others consciousness encouraged to bash the same,” said Alexis White.

“On our archetypal visit, we painted a Casita Linda location — purple, which seemed an absorbing choice,” mused Sameer Whittle. “But erstwhile the ma told america she had ever dreamed of surviving successful a purple house, I realized it was the cleanable colour and conscionable however important each measurement of the Casita Linda process is. That acquisition inspired america to fundraise. When we arrived astatine the gathering tract this time, I could spot the excitement successful the family’s eyes, however overmuch they wanted this accidental to unrecorded much securely and amended their prime of life, which inspired america to enactment harder.”

These teens worked precise hard, and I ne'er heard a ailment from them astir the heat, the particulate — oregon wherever other they mightiness person spent their last precocious schoolhouse Spring Break. If that doesn’t springiness you anticipation for the adjacent generation, what would?

And they aren’t the archetypal teens to bash this. Previously, Karina Knizek, the girl of different Stanford friends of excavation and a precocious schoolhouse elder astatine the time, led a radical of students from Holton-Arms School and St. Albans School successful Washington, DC, who besides raised the full magnitude needed to physique a “casita linda” and traveled to Mexico to assistance conception the home. And Colin Kitzman, lad of erstwhile Casita Linda unpaid coordinator Tracey Kitzman, volition bring his third team from the Loyola School successful New York City to San Miguel this summer!

“As parents,” noted Annik Whittle, “you look for opportunities to rise consciousness successful your children and instill a consciousness of civic work arsenic a planetary citizen. This was 1 of those peculiar opportunities wherever we received arsenic much, if not more, than we gave. My kids learned that fundraising takes clip and a beardown transportation to the radical oregon cause, I learned however my kids deliberation astir societal media and online fundraising, and unneurotic we achieved our goals. The acquisition we had building, successful the assemblage and with the community, brought everything together. We near with afloat hearts and vivid memories.”

Similarly, companies specified arsenic Momentum Factor of Austin, TX, person besides donated the outgo of a location and brought their employees to San Miguel to physique arsenic portion of an enforcement team-building retreat. If you are funny successful supporting Casita Linda successful this mode oregon would similar much information, visit casitalinda.org.

Based successful San Miguel de Allende, Ann Marie Jackson is a writer and NGO person who antecedently worked for the U.S. Department of State. Her award-winning caller “The Broken Hummingbird,” which is acceptable successful San Miguel de Allende, came retired successful October 2023. Ann Marie tin beryllium reached done her website, annmariejacksonauthor.com.