Kumeyaay Children's Shelter of Tecate

Children carry donated bedding into the shelter.

Children at the shelter visit with friends.

The recently constructed rooms had to be hastily converted into dorms and quick effort began to find bedding, clothing, toiletries and food for these children. An immediate call was made throughout the Native American communities in San Diego County and in Tecate for material and financial support. The response was quick from the urban Native American and other communities.

Children at the shelter visit and play with friends.

Children carry donated mattresses into the shelter.

Proyecto Paz y Dignidad A.C., a Mexican non-profit organization and sister organization to Peace & Dignity Project, a federal 501(c)3, took on the responsibility to shelter, feed and care for these children. Laura Cota Lopez, Kumeyaay, and director of Proyecto Paz y Dignidad, became guardian to four of these children. In the middle of constructing a daycare center for working Kumeyaay mothers attached to her residence, three groups of children ranging from 1 to 12 years of age, found themselves in the same predicament. In order for them not to be farmed out within Mexico's overburdened social service system, she was given temporary custody of these additional 11 children.

One of the donated beds set up in one of the rooms.

Children with donated mattress.

In the summer of 2008, members of the Community Church took two weeks of their time to construct a second story onto the house, providing separate bathrooms and 8 bunk beds for the children. New mattresses from a merchant in Tijuana came for half of the beds. The generosity of people is wonderful, but the shelter needs more help. Please donate.

Christmas 2005

Not only does the shelter feed and clothe these children, the shelter is a source of Kumeyaay language and traditional cultural instruction. These children are supported in their academic education by insuring their readiness for instruction. There are local schools nearby that these children can attend and successfully complete their academic preparation all the way through their professional education in university. Material and financial support is also needed for school supplies, uniforms, and other academic resource support.

At this time many of the children experienced interrupted academic instruction due to the continual instability of being bounced from one place to another. Now that they are in a stable environment, the children are being tutored and are already advancing.