Cow plops help students build houses in Tijuana

Sacred Heart Church’s affiliate parish Newman Catholic Campus Ministries at Western Washington University, is going to Tijuana, Mexico during spring break to build houses for underserved communities.

The first 30 students who applied were accepted. Danny Fehrenbarch, Chair Minister of Social Justice, said that it’s a first come, first serve basis.

NCCM has gone to Tijuana to build houses for 30 years.

Newman Catholic Campus Ministries used Esperanza International, a non-profit organization based in Tijuana, Mexico, to find a place to volunteer.  Fundación Esperanza de México, a division of Esperanza International “hosts groups of volunteers to help build homes and work on other projects in the under-served communities of Tijuana. Volunteer groups generally work 3 to 10 days in an immersion experience of Mexican culture, socio-economic development, and leadership building,” states Esperanza International’s website.

Tijuana

Fundación Esperanza de México houses volunteer groups and coordinates the building projects.

Campus Minster Rachael Becker said that Esperanza helps people who have a desire to stay in Mexico.

“It’s families who are in need of a substantial home,” Becker said. “A place that is not going to be ruined by the elements and people who are committed to staying in Tijuana and being active in their community.”

Esperanza’s goal is to create a self-sustaining community. They help families assess their finances and figure out what they can afford. Once Esperanza is successful, they move on to another underserved community in Tijuana.

The houses are built in three parts: the foundation, the walls and the roof. Each group works for about a week to complete each step.

“The houses that Esperanza does are cement and ­­rebar based so they take three weeks to finish,” said Becker.

“Here we have cement machines that have the hose that dump it into the foundation,” Becker said. “There we use a cement mixer. You dump the cement into a trough and you scoop the cement out and put in a bucket and pass it all the way down to where you need it to go.”

Esperanza places volunteers where help is needed each day. This means that NCCM can spend time at multiple sites building houses.

“They are encouraged to help with their neighbor’s project,” Becker said. The goal is for the students to learn what Esperanza and the community is about.

Funding

It costs about $800 per student to go. Each student contributes $350, which covers airfare and fundraises for the remaining $450.

The NCCM has been fundraising since October for this trip to Tijuana.

“Most of our fundraisers were held at Sacred Heart,” Fehrenbarch said. “They’ve been really generous with the amount of they been able to donate and fundraise. Both through monetary donations, also through giving time and talent to the cause.”

Sacred Heart Church hosted a pancake breakfast in January, which raised $1,800 towards the collective trip fund.

 Sacred Heart also hosted a “Mexico dinner” with a silent and live auction. Becker said that local Mexican restaurants donated rice, beans, and chips for the dinner. The local businesses donated items they sold in their store or gift cards. The “Mexico dinner” raised $9,200 before expenses were taken out.

In addition to the other fundraisers, NCCM did a “cow plop” raffle where the winner was picked by a cow pooping in a gridded area.

“All the students are asked to sell 20 tickets,” Becker said, explaining how the fundraiser is set up. “Then they get between four and five dollars credit for the ticket. When we sell tickets at Sacred Heart, the money is distributed to all the students.”

Each ticket corresponded with a number in a gridded field. A cow is released into the grid, and the winner is determined by which square it poops in first.

“It’s a fun way to do a raffle, instead of doing it out of a hat,” Becker said.

The winner is awarded $200 and the excess money raised is then divided up among the students equal the credits they accumulated.

The “cow plop” brought in $2,780 into the general fund.

“In Washington State you can make up to $4,999 without needing a gambling permit,” Becker said explaining the limitations on how much they can make through a raffle.