• Slug: BC-CNS-Hometown Heroes,370
• Photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below)

By CLARA BENITEZ
Cronkite News

MESA – Rosalva Lagunas, a teacher, knows how hard it is for teachers in the U.S. to get supplies and “could just imagine how hard it could be” for teachers back in Mexico.

But she was able to deliver schools supplies three years ago to four schools in the small, rural town of Coatepeque in Guerrero, Mexico, with donations and money raised by “Mi Tierra Mi Familia,” a hometown association based in Mesa.

Thousands of immigrants in the U.S. who maintain strong ties with Mexico  work through similar associations, working together and pooling resources to improve life back in Mexico.

“I know how hard it is for us teachers, to get supplies for our kids, and it is hard here, I could just imagine how hard it could be there too,” said Lagunas, the vice president of Mi Tierra Mi Familia, or My Land, My Family.

With donations from members and fundraising, she was able to deliver school supplies to two pre-schools, and two elementary schools in the small rural, community three years ago. The association is in the process of collecting more school supplies now for students in the town.

For Lagunas, a U.S. citizen and the daughter of immigrants, the work keeps her father’s dream of giving back to his hometown in Mexico alive.

Arizona has more than 57 hometown associations that connect immigrants with mostly poor, rural communities in Mexico, according to a researcher at Arizona State University’s School of Transborder Studies, who looks at the impact of the associations.

“They are really important.” said Francisco Lara-Valencia, director of transborder communities at the School of Transborder Studies, adding that the associations “really promote, emphasize and facilitate” understanding and cooperation.

“They speak about the very strong connection between and across the border,” Lara-Valencia said.

Many hometown associations are involved in philanthropic work but they also strengthen cross-border cultural and economic ties.

“They give us an example of the complexity and diversity of the relationship that exist across the border, Mexico and the U.S.,” said Lara-Valencia.

For many, those ties last a lifetime and span international borders.

“We help out so that when we return, we and our children will benefit,” said Francisco Ocampo, the president of Mi Tierra Mi Familia.

^__=

Immigrants who belong to a hometown association in Mesa, Arizona donated school supplies for students in Coatepeque, Guerrero, a rural town in Mexico. (Photo courtesy Rosalva Lagunas)

Teachers in the small rural town Coatepeque, Guerrero hold school supplies donated by immigrants in Mesa, Arizona who belong to “Mi Tierra, Mi Familia,” a hometown association. (Photo courtesy Rosalva Lagunas)

A teacher from Mesa led the effort to collect school supplies for students in Mexico to keep her father’s dream of giving back to his hometown of Coatepeque, Guerrero. (Photo courtesy Rosalva Lagunas)

Mexican immigrants living in Mesa who belong to a hometown association donated school supplies to help students in four schools in the small rural, community Coatepeque, Guerrero. (Photo courtesy Rosalva Lagunas)