Mexico
In Ciudad Juárez, one woman’s work to protect children from street violence has blossomed into Soles de Anapra, a center serving some 80 young people. Since 2014, the Rotary Club of El Paso, Camino Real, Texas, had been donating goods to Lourdes Contreras for the after-school program she ran out of a small house.
In 2015, the club decided to find her a bigger, better space. With $25,000 donated by the 16 clubs in Ciudad Juárez and two partners in New Mexico — the Rotary clubs of Los Alamos and Silver City, frequent contributors and visitors to the center — and $10,000 raised from a 5K run sponsored by the Eaton Corporation, the club purchased a 6,000-square-foot warehouse in 2016 and went to work.
In April, the club completed a refurbishment of the building, carried out even as the pandemic temporarily halted the after-school program.
