La Estación
La Estación is a resilient community formed more than five decades ago when marginalized, impoverished peasants and migrants made their own housing by squatting on land alongside railroad tracks in Cuernavaca. Today, more than 2,000 families live in La Estación, where their ingenuity, hard work, support of one another, and inventiveness have allowed them to thrive.
Wellspring Karitas Foundation, supports the community members guiding and empowering them in visioning, planning and executing initiatives in La Estación. Most of the residents subsist on informal employment and self-created jobs. Few have access to technology. Key initiatives include a community dining room especially for the nutrition of their children and students, a community space used for education and gathering, and a kindergarten program.
457 direct beneficiaries
1,290 indirect beneficiaries
Read more
Community Dining Room
The community dining room offers hot breakfasts for students at the nearby kindergarten and supports many families. More than seventy-five families benefit, including many older adults, and the nutrition and health of the children is markedly different since the program’s inception. Proper nutrition is the first step towards academic achievement!
80
breakfasts served
per day
21
Teams of volunteer mothers
211 direct beneficiaries 933 indirect beneficiaries
This small preschool, founded by the Clarisa religious order, has provided a comprehensive education to children 3-6 years old for the past 20+ years. Wellspring Karitas Foundation has supported the school’s administration in developing and applying their curriculum in a way that is effective and culturally sensitive for the community residents. The program offers high quality education consistently recognized by the elementary schools where these children arrive afterwards.
The pandemic affected enrollment dramatically, dropping from over 100 students to 86. Some parents had to work separately from their children. Others returned to hometowns because they could not afford expenses, and still others had no way to access distance-learning. Now, the students are returning and enrollment again has increased.
98
families served
138
girls and boys enrolled
52
girls and boys gradued
El Rincón de María Inés Kindergarten
Community Center
This meeting space creates synergies and shared responsibility; and probably most importantly a safe space for mothers to gather and support each other in finding ways to assist their children in a complex environment. It is also a space where numerous workshops can be offered: sometimes outside institutions, like local universities can provide vocational training, psychological support, and arts, crafts and cultural activities; and other times wisdom and gifts from within the community for the community.
"When I attended kindergarten, I went to breakfast first: it has been a great help for my whole family. Now I bring my niece to breakfast. The breakfasts are nutritious, warm, and hygienically prepared. Due to the pandemic, now we only pick them up and eat them at home. I thank the people who make this great support possible. My grandmother is in one of the teams of volunteer moms who prepare breakfast. Thanks for the support!"
Carolina Juárez