Borderline

2009

P AP ER HOUS ES AC R OS S THE B OR DER

BORDE RL INE

A Busy Year for Paper Houses

PAPER HOUSES ID # 1102 P.O. BOX 659506 SAN ANTONIO, TX 78254 WWW.PAPERHOUSES.ORG

Our regular monthly commitments continued. Casa Hogar del Nino, Casa Esperanza, Casa Santa Rita, Casa Emmaus, the drug rehabilitation center, and the program for people with Special Needs were supported. We also helped at two homes for the elderly, provided medicine, surgery, transportation to other

BLIND AND CANNOT WALK

NO FOOT ­ INFECTION

BRAIN INJURY

L

The People of the Colonias We remain searchers. We search door to door for those in true need. We also search for ways to help ourselves.

The source of happiness is internal. Walking the streets makes most of us feel very happy. It is more than feeling grateful or lucky. The love in these people, the warm welcome, and their feelings of happiness build something much stronger than gratitude for the life we live.

Our faith becomes alive and our life becomes faith centered.

Paper Houses takes people into the colonias of Mexico where our work with the poor provides us with the rare opportunity to shed modern confusion and learn simple faith, hope and love from the poor.

We become a little bit more like the person we always hoped we would become.

Walking the dirt streets in the colonias helps us to deepen our faith and commitments. The mission experience allows us to pray with actions instead of words.

They longer hours than us we also learn that they are paid between $40 and $80 a week.

We see that the cost of living is as high as Houston. The belief

How We Share

JOSUE

Our regular monthly commitments are listed below. Each shelter or program is closely monitored.

Fixed Expenses Casa Hogar del Nino

Amount $1,500.00

Casa Esperanza

$1,000.00

Casa Santa Rita

$1,000.00

Casa Emmaus

$1,000.00

Drug Rehab Center

$500.00

Special Needs Program

$1,000.00

School Meals

$8,000.00

Total We also help with ‘unplanned’ situations. The below matrix is based on last year’s average monthly expenses.

Probable Expenses

Amount

Medical

$3,000.00

Food Distribution

$500.00

Family Assistance

$300.00

Assist Other Organizations

$200.00

Eye Glass Project

$1,250.00

Repairs at shelters

$200.00

Educational Assistance

$500.00

Administrative

$100.00

HIS FOOT WAS BLACK WITH INFECTION. HE SPENT MOST OF HIS TIME IN BED. DOCTORS SAID THAT THE INFECTION MAY REQUIRE AMPUTATION. WE PAID FOR A PRIVATE HOSPITAL WHERE THE FOOT WAS SAVED AND JOSUE NOW WALKS.

JAVIER SINCE BIRTH, JAVIER COULD NOT HEAR. HIS MOTHER NO LONGER SENT HIM TO SCHOOL HE PLAYED ALONE AND NEVER LEARNED TO TALK. IT COST US LESS THAN $3,000 FOR SURGERY FOR THE HEARING TO BE RESTORED AND THE CHILD IS RECEIVING SPEECH THERAPY.

Total The expense of mission trips is not listed because participants pay the actual mission costs. We also did not list the $50,000 spent to build a new cafeteria, because we are reimbursed by Giving Hope World Wide for that expense. Administrative expenses are not listed because they are paid by board members.

Your donations reach the people in need. We have no paid employees, no office, no vehicles.

INCOME Our primary source of income is through donations. Some donors stay with us for years, while others make one-time donations. New donors replace those no longer able to help.

Our average monthly donations is about equal to average donations.

G U A D E L OUPE GUADELOUPE WAS BORN BLIND AND HAS DIFFICULTY WALKING BECAUSE OF A HIP PROBLEM. WE WERE ABLE TO HELP WITH THE HIP PROBLEM, BUT NOTHING CAN BE DONE ABOUT HER BLINDNESS. WE DELIVER FOOD AND CLOTHING TO THE FAMILY AND DO WHAT WE CAN TO MAKE LIFE BETTER.

THOUGHTS FROM WALKING THE COLONIAS We come to learn, not to teach.

We remain filled with hope.

Traveling to the colonias on a mission is expressive of implicit love.

S N A P S H OTS

Thomas Aquinas said that happiness is not an emotion - it is an activity. (think about that the next time we say “I am not happy.”)

We especially need to live in the moment when we are lost.

B AB Y NEAR F IR E PLAC E

We don’t require people to join a church or a political party. We help because we can.

We don’t make excuses and suggest it is the government’s job, the church’s job or look for fault. We simply share with those, who through no fault of their own, are in need.

A NEW C HURC H

This is more than blind charity. It is a path to self-improvement and it is a process that is in America's best interest.

Suppose Mexico, our next door neighbor, became a HUGS AR E F R EE

THE F OOD IS GR EAT!