Volunteers are such an integral part of the ministry and work at El Buen Pastor. Without them, the Casa would not be what it is. The volunteers come from various places. There are the "Gringos" which are ex-pats living in Morelia. They have been responsible since 2003 for organizing the weekly pick-up of donations from the local Costco. Early Saturday morning, you will find one or two of them at the loading dock loading whatever Costco has that week for the Casa. Always there are bakery products, and often rotisserie chickens. Part of the fun is the surprise of what else might be included.

We are so blessed by our missionary family Jacob and Charity Miller and their two daughters from Oregon. There is no room to tell you of all they have done for the Casa. A couple of examples are Jake's coordinating the construction of the laundry room and his hands-on work in crating the garden and orchard. Also, Jacob and his helper Genaro, built from scratch a big blender on a stand for the kitchen. What a great time-saver this is for making the quantities of salsa and fruit waters.

We also have received an enormous amount of help from short-term volunteers. These have come from churches and schools such as North Park University. The children also receive a lot of help from students in Morelia’s language schools, most notably, Baden-Powell Institute. These volunteers assist the Spanish-speaking children with their homework under the direction of the Fund teacher, Sandra Martinez. It is such a win/win! The children receive invaluable one on one attention and the students have a non threatening venue to practice their Spanish.

This is Jean Laurentis, a long time faithful volunteer who plays many roles. Here she is helping with an art project.