For families of Donna, Texas, a growing rural town in the Rio Grande Valley, the opening of a 10,000 square-foot community center called Plaza Amistad represents a hope-filled beginning.
40% of Donna’s residents live in poverty. North Donna is still quite rural with new homes popping up, many of them makeshift homes, some even lacking potable water or flooring. No parks exist. Roads are mostly unpaved and dusty. Few people have cars, making it difficult to travel for food, medical care and convening with other members of the community.
Plaza Amistad (which translates to “Friendship Place”) will improve their quality of life by providing a place of connection and opportunities that promote their well-being, dignity and growth. Catholic Extension Society helped build the center.
Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville emphasized during the October 15 dedication ceremony that the “community itself will help chart the future of this place.” Plaza Amistad’s foundation is rooted in the idea of people coming together to build community. Therefore, Plaza Amistad is a beautiful reminder of what can happen when we work together to bring hope in seemingly hopeless places.
Building community
Many different community businesses, nonprofits, religious groups and partners have spent years listening to the needs and life experiences of the people in Donna in order for Plaza Amistad to come to fruition. Among them were a group of religious sisters from Central America who came to Donna in 2021 and have visited 2,000 households since then to help build this community. The skills and knowledge they gained from our U.S.-Latin American Sisters Exchange Program has empowered the sisters with the skills to effectively engage families in the process.
The sisters quickly discovered families impacted by economic hardship and isolation, who were struggling to access healthcare and living with untreated or undiagnosed medical conditions. Finding food can also be hard.
Parents told the sisters that they wanted their children to have regular opportunities for educational advancement, spiritual growth, and a safe space to play and socialize.
These are families that are accustomed to feeling downtrodden and discouraged by their circumstances. But their hopes and joy grew more palpable as they actively participated in creating a beautiful place created just for them, where everyone has a chance to flourish.
This is why the new center is designed to offer after-school programs and recreation fields, education classes, and religious services for those that desire them. In addition, they have a community garden and health and wellness clinics.
Eventually, the community hopes to see a new parish built on the site, which they have already named St. Francis of Assisi—the saint known for his love of the poor.
Reina Lázaro Velázquez is a mother of five children. She says Plaza Amistad will be integral to her family’s ability to flourish, especially her children.
Maria Serrano, her husband and four children have lived in Donna for 10 years. For her, Plaza Amistad means no longer having to travel far to access basic necessities like food and medical services. She is also ecstatic about having her spiritual community so close to her house.
These aspirations ground Bishop Flores’ conviction that “the poor deserve beautiful things” that affirm their dignity and worth.
He said at the dedication ceremony,
Those who are on the periphery of life deserve a place to celebrate the beauty of life.”
At the October 15 dedication, which included people of different faiths and community organizations, Bishop Flores walked through the new structure, blessing every room. He explained this quintessentially Catholic ritual of blessing to the crowd. “That is kind of my job,” he said with a smile. The symbol was not lost on anyone: the bishop was signifying that this new building is special and sacred because it was built to create a better future for the people of Donna.
Transformation taking root
Community guided every aspect of Plaza Amistad’s work. The importance of learning from the poor on how to best serve them is best echoed in Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic exhortation “Dilexi te”:
“Reality is best viewed from the sidelines [as] the poor are possessed of unique insights indispensable to the Church and to humanity as a whole.” (82)
Sister Janette de los Ángeles is confident in the impact the center will have on the people:
Thanks to the donors, this community will grow, get stronger, and create a new society because they are people filled with so much hope.”
Catholic Extension Society builds up vibrant and transformative Catholic faith communities among the poor in the poorest regions of America. Donate to our mission to support community centers like Plaza Amistad.
