3 minute read
Manos de Cristo
Covenant members recognize Manos de Christo for the tamales bought and consumed by the dozens around Christmas, but the popular tamale drive is a small part of the volunteer and fund-raising efforts of Manos de Cristo. The non-profit organization assists more than 15,000 lowincome families each year with dental help, food, clothing, and back-to-school supplies for thousands of local children.
Covenant has been instrumental in volunteering at Manos. In fact, six church members have volunteered at the Manos de Cristo Food pantry for ore than two decades.
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Packing Food for 20 Years Dick and Marty Castleberry, George and Mary Jim McDonald, and Jeanne Pritchett have trekked to Manos once a month and given a couple hours of their time since the early 90s; Dick Pritchett joined his wife when he retired in 2003. The pantry offers emergency help to six households daily.
George and Mary Jim, on a recent Friday morning, filled six orders that trickled in. “Sometimes, there is a line when we get here,” George said, as he bagged a package of meat for a family of six.
Jeanne, who fills orders on the third Monday of the month, said, “It’s not a big commitment. It’s the little things that make a difference.” The Castleberrys work the first Monday. Marty remembers when the pantry was downtown at El Buen Pastor Church. “It had a different feel.”
Jeanne agreed. “I miss the flavor of that community. This location has its great things too. The people are so nice!”
A Little Manos History In 1988, Rev. Frank Diaz began working at El Buen Pastor. The poor and homeless were constantly knocking, often asking for baby food. They had no teeth and no dental care. The situation prompted Rev. Diaz to start Manos de Cristo in 1988. By 1990, with the support of several churches including $20,000 from Covenant, Manos began providing dental services.
Manos’ reach quickly expanded and today offers lowincome families aid through the food pantry, clothes closet and its Back-to-School (BTS) program; computer, citizenship, and English classes; and Legal Aid. Soon, its dental clinic will move from downtown and be housed with the other Manos de Cristo services in central Austin.
Cheryl Banks is Covenant’s Manos de Cristo lead. She’s worked with the program for eight years and has been on the Manos de Cristo Board since 2007. “Helping people improve their education, giving them tools to help with their employment and attending to health care needs is right up my alley as a pediatrician.
“We are currently remodeling the main campus to bring the dental clinic over and house everything under one roof,” she said. “The dental clinic will grow from four chairs to eight.” David Ferguson, DDS, and Dennis Brender, DDS, are Covenant members who see patients in the Manos de Cristo dental clinic, and both have served on the Manos de Cristo Board. Back-to-School Supplies Gloria Moreno for years was the Covenant’s Manos lead. Gloria grew up in El Buen Pastor Church and is the cousin of Rev. Diaz. Gloria started volunteering at the Clothes Closet in 1993 and was part of the first Back-to-School project with Covenant’s Paulette Kern, Avis Davis and Betty Meyer.
Executive Director Julie Ballesteros, a former teacher, remembers times when a student had only pencil for school supplies, which makes the project especially meaningful. Julie said the Manos board has decreased its funding for BTS. With a goal to outfit 2,200 children with supplies, Manos is doing extra fundraising. (At BTS’ start in 1992, it served 125 children.)
I love the idea behind Back to School,” Cheryl said. “Every child deserves a great first day of school. Having a new outfit, backpack and school supplies really help with that!”
Additional Opportunities Manos also provides clothing and computer, citizenship and ESL classes. “More churches got involved when I was working with Manos de Cristo and the program blossomed,” Gloria recalled.
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