Megan's Hope

Su Misericordia's Thrift Store in the Dalley Bulletin, Our Local News Paper

2007-05-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

Proceeds from thrift store will help Oaxacan Indians in Mexico

By Liset Marquez, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 05/17/2007 11:00:00 PM PDT

Just six weeks ago it was all a dream.

Ana Gmeiner wanted to do more to help the Oaxacan Indians in Mexico, so she decided she was going to open up a retail shop where the proceeds would go toward her missionary work.

On April 17, with the help of many friends and members of the community, the doors to Su Misericordia (His Mercy) thrift store opened.

"Unbelievable," was the word Gmeiner used to describe the events that have unfolded since she found the location.

"This directly affects people who live in third-world countries. They live in miserable conditions but with joy. They are poor physically but they are not poor in spirit, family values and their faith in God. They teach us, they bless us," she said, tearing up.

Surrounded by the store's vibrant colors, Gmeiner said her dream has become a reality.

"When we opened we only had five bags of stuff - that was it," said Gmeiner, founder and CEO of Su Misericordia.

Su Misericordia is a church organization that began in 1992 after Gmeiner went with a church on missionary trip to Maneadero, Mexico. The nonprofit organization has sent 200 children to school and have built homes, at least one a year.

"We decided we needed to grow as a ministry; the needs are great. There are 200 children we've sent to school and we have 240 on the waiting list," Gmeiner said.

The idea for the shop came from Sister Mary Seibert, who told the Gmeiner of a similar situation at an Indian reservation.

Once the location became available for the store, all the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fall into place, Gmeiner said. A local church youth group painted the walls of the store, people donated clothes and clothing racks.

"Our counter was donated. Our book stand was donated. Every single piece you see here, except for that desk has been donated," she said, pointing to the desk in her office.

Gmeiner said she is very pleased by the support she has received from the local merchants in nearby Historic Downtown Upland.

"We've been welcomed in the center. The antique shop, Antique Alley, what they don't sell they donate to us. How do you thank them?" she asked.

"We've been totally welcomed by everybody. People walk in and say `This is so neat. We needed a thrift store here."'

Prior to opening the store, Gmeiner served for 23 years as the minister of youth services at St. Joseph's Catholic church.

"Our dream is that we can pay for our rent and utilities and double that and put that into our funds. We will evaluate after some time to see if this is what God wants us to do," she said.

One of the key factors in keeping the store operating has been the support from community members, who have volunteered their time.

Joe Nurre of Upland recently retired from working with the city of Los Angeles and comes twice a week to work in the store.

"She said she needed help and I am totally supportive of this and everything she's attempting to do," he said. "I had all this free time, so here I am."

Currently the store, which is opened six days a week, is manned by friends and family.

"I don't come to work at the store, I come here to meet people," she said.

Gmeiner said they got their first month's rent paid for through a donation. Other than that, they don't have a startup fund.

"I tell (customers) every dollar you spend, hopefully some day - not right now, we're just trying to pay the bills - but some day it's going to help the poor," she said.

Ana's husband, Danny, is involved in the program and often travels with his wife to the reservation.

"Historically, people would donate to the organization and we would take it over there," he said. "Over the years, it got harder and harder to take across the border. Then we started to do some garage sales and the proceeds from the sales would go to the organization."

Gmeiner said the organization operates with the help of volunteers not just in Upland, but Mexico as well.

"I have a staff of nine Oaxacan Indians and one Mexican family. Everybody is a volunteer, everybody that works here is a volunteer. No one gets paid, I don't get paid and I'm the founder," she said.

For Gmeiner, the store has been a blessing.

"I get up every morning and I'm in awe," she said. "Five weeks ago, we had nothing and look - doesn't it look like a little store?"

Liset Marquez can be reached at liset.marquez@dailybulletin.com, or by phone at (909) 483-8556.

April 2005 Volume 1 Number 4

2005-04-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Megan’s Hope

This is a publication of Su Misericordia

(His Mercy), Inc.

Enkindle in us the fire of Your love!

April 2005 Volume 1 Number 4

We have a special story for this month’s newsletter. On our last trip, April 8,

9 and 10, we had, as with all other trips a “first timer”. What is different

about this person’s first trip is that they sat down and wrote about their

experience. What follows is that story.

Mission to the Oaxacan People of Mexico, by Yolanda

First of all, I want to say thanks to all of you who so generously donated

what you could for these Oaxacan Indians in Mexico. All the blankets, soaps,

shampoos, baby wipes, etc. all came in handy in our distribution.

I also want to thank my generous and loving PAL, and I still don’t know who

my fiend is for the $25 which I received in the mail along with a personal

loving card; I wish I could recognize the handwriting. I am also grateful to

my son who left me $40 cash when I was sharing about this trip to Mexico

with him. With this help I was able to make this trip which was really a

special calling from God. Since I was interested in this outreach for PAL’s, I

thought this opportunity would be awesome to experience first hand.

I now have so much more admiration for Ana and I look forward to her

coming to share her story. Seeing her in action was almost like seeing

Mother Teresa, especially after studying our book. Ana showed her love for

God by her compassion for these people through her actions. She was the

face of Christ to me. She got totally involved in communicating with each

and every one of them. She seemed to know their needs and she said she

knew almost all of them by name. Ana has a definite relationship with these

people who were lined up from early morning outside the convent where we

stayed. They were the most patient people, mostly women who were very

docile. I never heard them reprimand their kids which were many. They just

waited for whatever handout that was given. I think they must have had

good bladders because they were there from morning till night. Now for the

kids, that’s another story all together. I hand this opportunity, which I

thought was a great privilege, handing our candies. Well, no one told me

what to expect and it felt like I was in a Lion’s den wit hungry lions!!! I

should never have done this alone as we needed security guards to surround

me. I don’t think there was a space between me, the candy and the children.

I felt like I was being mauled. It was actually quite scary. All I saw in front of

me were finger tips and eyes! I should have been smarter by just throwing

the candy up in the air and let them go for it! I didn’t think of it until later.

Ha, ha!

Ana, her husband and some of the Youth Ministry group leaders have come

here for over 13 years so they are quite familiar with the setting and the

needs. When Ana retired from Youth Ministry she decided to dedicate her

retirement to working full time with the Oaxacan Indians. Ana’s missionary

group consists mainly of Youth Ministry leaders and their teens who are high

school age and some a little older. This weekend they came from Hesperia,

Victorville, Upland and Ontario. Each group had a leader in charge of them

so the responsibilities were well divided. These trips are done 4 times per

year.

I was impressed with the youth and their spirit of giving and their

spirituality. It was very rewarding to see “good Christ centered young

people”. That alone was a gift to me, besides being with people who are so

giving, so faith filled. Truly, I was surrounded with God’s love. I also didn’t

have to sleep on the floor and had a room which I shared with a nun and

another lady who ironically I knew as she was from my sister’s parish. Small

World!

This location (Maneadero) was about 2 hours south of Tijuana, Mexico. We

left Ana’s house around 3:30pm, met up with a bunch of other people and

then caravanned down to Mexico in 7 car loads, a total of about 40 people.

These Oaxacan Indians are the poorest of the poor. I witnessed an incident

that brought tears to my eyes. Two little girls, 4 and 6 years old were

brought in to Ana for personal observation and we were told they were

abused. Both didn’t talk and looked like wounded birds. They were filthy,

barefooted with lice on their heads. Ana had some of her local helpers wash

these girls and someone went to the store to buy them clothes and shoes

and it’s amazing, when clean and dressed decently, their self esteem

seemed to jump many notches up. They will be taken care of by follow up

from the local helpers who Ana trusts to deal with their own people. The

mother doesn’t have a home and lives in a car with 5 children.

Friday, April 8, 2005

We arrived around 10:30pm rather tired from the long drive although we

stopped for dinner at McDonald’s. We had a meeting upon arrival once we

got settled and formed teams. Saturday was our full work day. The teams

were: Food and Clothes distribution, I was in this group. A medical team as

we had a doctor with us donating his weekend. We had a nurse and a helper

to assist the doctor in getting information from the patients who came for

medical care. There was a Clean up crew, prayer leader, children’s activities

group, building crew and each of these groups had a staff leader. We ended

up with a prayer service reminding us why we were there which was to serve

God through the service of God’s people. We finally got to bed around

11:30pm.

Saturday April 10, 2005

I awoke at 6:30am, had a quick cereal breakfast and some coffee and off to

work we went. My group bagged rice – tons and tons of it, and beans. Some

others sorted canned goods, clothing, etc. and each was put in a big trash

bag for handout.

The men and older boys went off to complete the house they were building.

It is a small 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 living room home in the middle of a field.

Oh yes, cows were free to roam around, some even were on the road we

had to drive on. By the way, except for the main highway, every road felt

like you were on a roller coaster as we bounced our way in the car and had

to drive very slowly.

The convent was beautiful. It was like a castle in the middle of no where! I

heard that the sisters (cloistered) funded the convent on their own by

making home made tamales and selling them when they came to the States.

All the floors were marble and we had this huge area just for us and the

sisters had their own private area and we only saw them when they went to

chapel.

There were about 6 bedrooms with baths of equal number and showers.

Most of the girls slept on the floor in the kitchen area and on couches. The

men and boys were all upstairs which was a huge room where we all met for

prayer service.

Breakfast was cereal and milk and juice. Ana had a lady who did the cooking

for our lunch and dinner which were simple meals like chorizo and egg

burrito, beans and rice and a great Mexican salad with avocados, lettuce

diced up and tomatoes and cilantro. It was delicious! For about $40 we were

all fed. For our dinner that night we just had tuna sandwiches with leftover

rice and beans. That was good too. What was nice was her “local staff”. They

cleaned up the floors, etc. which left us free form that chore.

Sunday April 11, 2005

We did get to bed quite late on Saturday night. We didn’t have to wake up

early as it was treated as a day of rest! That was nice although I didn’t feel

like I did much work at all. Mass was at 10am in the beautiful chapel. Well,

wouldn’t you know my battery died so I couldn’t take pictures.

We packed and loaded the cars and headed to La Buffadora ( the blow hole)

where there were shops etc. and we were treated to a taco lunch by the

ministry. We spent a couple of hours there and felt like a tourist. Arrived

hope that night around 10pm tired but happy.

In closing, personally, I am looking forward to Ana’s talk and I see a definite

call to do this as a PALS outreach. We could help with clothing, blankets, etc.

4 times a year but I see the need to help the kids with the scholarship

program which is $100 a year per child. So, lets pray about it.

For Information about, or Donations to, Su Misericordia or to receive a free

subscription to Megan’s Hope newsletter, send an email with your request to

Ana Gmeiner at aegmeiner@hotmail.com , phone (909) 985-7160, visit us

on our web page at www.oaxacanmission.org , or mail us at 862 W. 19th

St., Upland, CA 91784

January 2005 Volume 1 Number 1

2005-01-29T12:02:00.000-08:00

Megan’s Hope

This is a publication of Su Misericordia

(His Mercy), Inc.

Enkindle in us the fire of Your love!

January 2005 Volume 1 Number 1

Welcome To our First Edition

This being our first ever newsletter from Su Misericordia, we have asked the mother of Megan, our newsletters name sake to introduce Megan to all and to begin our journey of faith and service.

"Reaching out from Heaven

We lost our daughter, Megan at the tender age of nine after a long 2 ½ year battle with Leukemia. She was a sweet, caring, feisty, outgoing little girl. I thank God everyday He chose me to be her mother. She taught me to, not put off tomorrow what I can do today, to love those around you with all your heart, to be thankful for what we have because it can all be taken away in a heartbeat, and that it is our destined journey here on earth to reach out to those most in need, helping anyway we can. Megan faced her illness with a brave heart and a courageous smile, never once shedding a tear for herself. While I held her helplessly and shed a lifetime of tears behind her back and feigned a fearful, but hopeful smile to her face until the very end, never wanting her to see my fear of losing her...never giving up hope. I couldn’t take away her pain or take away this disease that forced her to go through everything she had to endure to fight it. I could only comfort her and pray. She had the best doctors and treatment available, but it wasn’t enough. Her innocence and future was stolen at a very young age. This evil disease took away her simple pleasures of being a regular kid, going to school and playing with friends and replaced it with long hospital visits, needles, hair loss, weight gain, insecurity, chemotherapy,

immunosuppression, isolation, sickness, bone marrow transplant and finally death. Never would I have thought her struggle to live would have such an affect on countless well children still living on this earth. Her story has

touched not only the many friends and family she had, but strangers as well. My daughter, Megan, watches over us from above now, leaving behind a family who aches for her presence everyday. We struggle daily to function as a family unit minus one important member. Every time we are together as a whole, her absence is magnified. Telling the hostess when we go to dinner there are 4 of us instead of 5, still brings such pain after all these months. Setting the table with 4 plates instead of 5, four chairs circle our kitchen table now instead of 5. Her chair sits in a corner with her name on the back. “Butterflies are Free” decorate her barren seat. Her chair, a reminder of her absence, is a place to sit and remember her beautiful smile and contagious energy and zest for life. Her memory rests gently now in my heart, but the terrors of her illness still wake me from a restless sleep. I have asked God many times. How do I fill this empty void that I will forever have in my heart? How do I go on with my life here knowing it could be a long time before I see my little girl again? The message I received from Him was strong and clear. As a tribute to her feisty will to live, I knew I had to seek out and help those who struggle to live everyday. I learned through our church and my son’s youth group about a Mission Trip to Mexico to help the desperately poor, uneducated, desolate families of the Oaxacan Indians. They do not have enough food to eat. They live in shacks. They line their shacks with worn out clothing for insulation. Many of the children work in the fields by their parent’s side instead of being in school where they belong to learn how to read and write and perhaps someday escape the poverty they are surrounded by. They don’t have running water or heat in their cardboard and tarp shacks which they call home. And a fever in the middle of the night, brings terror, I know so well, to many mothers who do not have the simple medicines we take for granted. I felt strongly God was calling me and my son to go on this mission trip and help those who struggle everyday to survive.

It was not an easy time for us. We were coming upon the 1st anniversary of my daughter’s death, and our pain and grief had made for a very long year. We met Ana and Danny Gmeiner, founders of the Mexico Mission, on that 1st trip as well as many other wonderful catholic missionaries. It was a sad, but exciting experience for both my son and I to work so closely with these people and to bring a little bit of sunshine to the lives of many Oaxacan Indians. We have been on two Mission Trips now and look forward to our 3rd trip on April 8th-10th. We feel honored that our parish, St. Anthony’s has named their Mission Work, “Megan’s Missions” and Ana Gmeiner has asked to name this newsletter “Megan’s Hope”, honoring the memory of our precious daughter, Megan. Megan was blessed to be born in an educated family, and lived very comfortable, surrounded by parents and a brother and sister who loved her dearly. After her illness she received the best cutting edge medical treatment and care available in the world. We had family and friends who reached out to us with unbelievable support and love. All her needs were met and all her wishes where granted. It is our hope through this mission work, that many lives will be fed, clothed, sheltered, educated, and given a chance at a normal life where all their basic needs are met. A life all mankind should be entitled to.

With Sincere Love and Peace, Kim Savage"

From the President’s desk

Dear Friends,

Greetings in the Lord! We are so excited because this is our first newsletter. I continue to be in awe of God. In 1982 when I first visited Maneadero, Mexico and saw how the Oaxacan Indians and the poor lived I knew I had

found my mission. When I was a little girl I used to dream of spreading God’s love to the poor. God put this deep desire in my heart and now He is fulfilling it. God’s plan is always better than ours because He knew it was not

my dream alone but yours too. Some of us are missionaries because we go on the missions and others are missionaries because you support us. This newsletter is going to be a vehicle to share with you about our dreams, accomplishments and challenges as we go on this journey of helping the Oaxacan people and the poor. I am so grateful for your support and love.

May the sacred heart of Jesus be loved everywhere.

Ana Gmeiner MSCa, President/Founder of Su Miscericordia

Education News

For those of you who don’t know, for the last 5 years, we have been sponsoring children so that they may have the opportunity to pursue an education. Our current school program supports 200 children and we have almost 200 more on a waiting list. This all began through a request by our Bishop (San Bernardino Diocese) to, “effect systemic change”.

The Mexico Mission school sponsorship program, on December 29, 2004 was another success. Our students were eager to show us their report cards and discuss how well they are doing in school. We measure their success by what they have achieved from the last time we visited. Many of them have improved their grades. We will have our first high school graduate this year. He is planning to go on to college (we need your help). Another success

story is a young man that did not have a sponsor but presented himself so eloquently and asked if we could somehow fit him into the sponsorship program. His words to me were, “ I know that I can make something of

myself if you would just give me a chance”. In a second flat, I had 3 missionaries offering to sponsor this fine young man. We now have 201 students in our sponsorship program.

Back packs and school materials were distributed to all students and a fiesta was given in their honor. They wore their uniforms to the celebration and had a great time. When we return in April we will be calculating semester

grade point averages and giving incentives for their hard work.

If you would like to be part of this program, please see the contact information at the end of this newsletter. God Bless!

Medical News

Another opportunity that has presented itself to us is to help with the medical needs of the Oaxacan and other poor people in Maneadero, Mexico. We have for several years taken doctors and nurses as their schedules permitted them, to Maneadero to provide whatever medical service we could. We have also begun working with a local doctor that has allowed us to get medication and treatment even when we are not there. Dr. Celia Nunez has been a great help and continues to support us by seeing those in need, many times free of charge or for only what they are able to pay.

Our most recent crisis involves a 4 year old boy with a large facial tumor. Following is an update on his condition by a local doctor (southern Calif.) that has made many trips with us and is following this case closely.

“To update everyone on the little 4 year old boy, I spoke with Dr. Celia Nunez from Manadero, Mexico and the boy has had his MRI. He has a hydromeningoencephalocele (note meninges are protruding) secondary to a

malformation of the frontal and ethmoid bone.

Knowing that the ethmoid bone is involved we should realize that this is a very delicate area. This could complicate the surgery and increases his risk to complications and/or variable sequels. For this a maxilofacial surgeon needs to get involved along with the neurosurgeon.

They (Dr and mother) will try to get an appointment with the neurosurgeon ASAP. She and I will continue to keep in touch and try to coordinate everything. Our goal is for both surgeons to work together and on the same

day under one anesthesia.

We still do not know the cost of the surgery or surgeries. If anyone is interested in helping out let me know so I can give you some flyers.”

The latest information is that the neurosurgeon is hesitant to do the surgery because the situation is very dangerous. We are now in the process of trying to determine what our next option might be. We will keep you informed as to what happens.

As you can see, we have many needs. Any donations will be greatly appreciated. To make a donation or to contact us for more information, see the bottom of this newsletter.

Building News

We have over the last 10+ years been building everything from temporary shelters made out of wood and tarps to room additions with cement footers and wooden walls and roofs to complete homes (3 rooms, 400 – 600 square feet). Our latest project is a 620 square foot home with 3 rooms and a bathroom (this is our first home with an inside bathroom). During our December 2004 trip we were able only to complete about 25-30 percent of

the work on the home due to severe weather cutting our trip short. We are scheduled to return the weekend of January 28th – 30th to complete the work, weather permitting.

One of our next projects will be to build a medical clinic where both Dr. Celia and those medical practitioners that travel with us can have the space they need to provide the best medical care possible to the poor.

Because of the regulations and laws governing what we can legally transport across the border, building materials are all purchased in Maneadero, Mexico. This means we need money (approximately $5,000 per home) to

continue to provide adequate housing to as many families as possible. Again, we need your help to continue this work. If you would like to be a part of this effort, please contact us through the various links below. Thank you and God bless.

A Poets Perspective

Maneadero

The coat of many colors is a symbol of our faith, it comes to us in story from a house, a tribe, a race.

The Indian cloth of Mexico cries back to the colored thread, as they walk the dusty roads that the missionary treads.

The tiniest brown faces smeared with dust and grime and sweat cries out for Gods great mercy as they toil through lives unkept.

Bring us once again to this solitude of walls, where the veils of holy women flutter silently in halls.

There are bags and boxes full of things, that bring the smiles of want on wings, and tears of love and needs unseen, and through the giving, faith is seed.

For Information about, or Donations to, Su Misericordia or to receive a free subscription to Megan’s Hope newsletter, send an email with your request to Ana Gmeiner at aegmeiner@hotmail.com , phone (909) 985-7160, visit us on our web page at www.oaxacanmission.org , or mail us at 862 W. 19th

St., Upland, CA 91784