Reprint from the Progress Times - December 7, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

 

A HAND ACROSS THE BORDER - Mission officials bring warmth on latest trip to sister city

Salinas Victoria, a tiny community 45 minutes away from Monterrey in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, is a patchwork of narrow roads and run-down buildings. Perhaps the most desolate area of the rural town, a tiny school that serves the children of a colonia on the outskirts of town, welcomed familiar faces and friendly visitors last weekend.

A delegation of Mission city officials and private citizens visited Mission School and Colonia Mission Friday, November 30. They didn’t go empty handed. Over 600 new jackets were handed out to the school’s students, most, if not all of whom, lived just across the street in the colonia.

Salinas Victoria is Mission’s sister city. The two have been sending delegations back and forth for the last four years in an attempt to strengthen international relationships and exchange culture, tourism and commerce.

Four years ago, Salinas Victoria sent an invitation to Mission Mayor Norberto Salinas to become a sister city. He accepted it without reservation. Since then the Mayor has taken a personal interest in the welfare of the citizens of Salinas Victoria, even going so far as to personally donate a funeral hearse.

"Salinas has been one of the communities that has really befriended the City of Mission," said Aida Lerma, Public Relations Director for Mission. "We know they are a needy community and that is why we have taken an interest in them. One of the first things we donated was a fire-truck. There had already been some incidences, one with a loss of life because they couldn’t get a fire truck to Salinas in time."

Because the humble city’s nearest aid is Monterrey, almost an hour away, many of the most common city appliances and amenities are incredibly crucial.

Last weekend, it was the children that benefited.

In August a delegation from Mission was visiting the small town with backpacks filled with school supplies in preparation for the school year to come. It was then that Mayor Salinas’ wife, Yvonne, noticed that many of the children were having a hard time getting to school because they lacked the most basic of clothing needs. She made a commitment to the mayor’s wife of Salinas Victoria that she would be back in December with jackets. Through the help of private donations 600 jackets were soon gathered.

What makes this feat even more astounding is that the jackets, like all donations and aid to Salinas Victoria over the last four years, has come strictly from private Mission residents.

"The city does not utilize any of its money for sister city projects," said Lerma. “We don’t use it. We go strictly on donations that are privately sought out. We’ve been very fortunate because a lot of times people who travel with us see the conditions and are quick to help out later."

A little more than five months after the mayor’s wife’s verbal commitment, the students were surrounding the mayor and his wife, all of them transfixed on the new jackets in their hands.

"They really needed those jackets and they were really happy when they saw us coming," said Mayor Salinas. "It’s very nice to go out there and help them and get things done. It really gives me a feeling of satisfaction to help them out there."

It wasn’t just the children overcome with gratitude.

"We are very grateful to Mayor Salinas, Mrs. Yvonne and to Julio Cerda for all the support that they have provided to Salinas Victoria," said Salinas Victoria Mayor Heliodoro G. Trevino Gutierrez. "Our relationship as sister cities is beyond what we ever could have expected. First and foremost are the friendships that we have established, that I know will last a lifetime. Salinas Victoria, Nuevo Leon is a rural community with many demands and needs. We are grateful for everything that the City of Mission has shared with us. There are no words to express our gratitude, especially that of the children and parents that were the recipients of the latest gift, the jackets."

Another delegation and another trip to Salinas Victoria is already in the works for January. After a word to the Governor of Nuevo Leon by Mayor Salinas, the state has now committed to building an extra administration room for Mission School as well as paving the road leading up to and away from the school and the colonia.