At 16, Eliza Garza’s father ignited the raspa flame within her. Her dad saw that South Padre Island needed a raspa stand. He believed his family could run it every summer. Garza carried that flame with her as she finished high school and worked as an event planner, fundraiser, energy broker and idea generator. Last year, a friend of Garza’s took charge of the Beach Resort at South Padre Island…
Jorge Sanchez thought he had the perfect plan in place after graduating from high school. He earned a scholarship to St. Edward’s University in Austin, where he planned to major in biology with a concentration in biological sciences. But as he calculated the cost for tuition, room and board, and books, Sanchez realized this plan did not make financial sense. “Even though I was given a scholarship to study at…
Debbie Garcia and Alicia Garza met at a neighborhood block sale on Nyssa Avenue in McAllen over 15 years ago. It was a chance encounter neither guessed would lead to a sisterly friendship and a business partnership. That is exactly what happened. The two women already had a few things in common when they met. Both were teachers in the McAllen school district. Garcia was an English teacher at DeLeon…
When the staff at Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement think of Eva Alvarado, two words come to mind: perseverance and resilience. Alvarado is a divorced mother of three, two who are adults and now live on their own. Her youngest, a 14-year-old son, lives with her in Brownsville. Two years ago, her youngest was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, dyslexia and autism. Alvarado quit working because he required all…
Dalinda Gonzalez-Alcantar felt the frustration growing during the 2015 presidential campaign as she listened to depictions of the Rio Grande Valley. During that time, she tuned into a National Public Radio series about the border. “Obese, crime-infested, dirty. It wasn’t the home I’ve known,” Gonzalez-Alcantar said of the descriptions of her region. “This is why we haven’t given ourselves permission to be proud of where we live. We have a right…
When Jose Cavazos’s co-worker at Barcom Technology Services in Harlingen told him they had a service call at the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement office in Mercedes, he felt a sense of both nostalgia and excitement. Cavazos had considered stopping in VIDA’s former office in Weslaco several times, but it was always closed by the time he got out of work. “As soon as we walked into the building,”…
McAllen ISD International Baccalaureate junior Gaby Markle learned to crochet during the summer of 2020. “My grandma tried to teach me, but I am left-handed, so she gave me a book and a link to a YouTube video to learn,” Markle said. “I was not very good, so I wanted to create a club to improve and to get others involved.” Rather than establishing an official school club, which means…
Sometimes life plunges us into a classic catch-22. That is exactly where Cesar Romero found himself. Working as a nurse technician, Romero was earning $11 an hour. In order to increase his income, he applied to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Learning that the program required full-time-student status peppered his joy at being accepted. He could not afford to pay…
In thinking of entrepreneurs, we usually envision individuals who take on the risk of establishing a business because they have a product or service, which they believe potential customers want, knowing if they are correct it will lead to personal financial gain. The ladies who established The Lamb’s Loom felt the same way, though the personal gain they sought had nothing to do with money. For 14 years, these ladies…
Life was good for Etta King when she moved to Weslaco in 2011 from Lake Tahoe, Cali. Five years later, her world turned upside down. Her husband left, creditors repossessed her car and eviction forced her to move from their home to a small apartment. With no money, she had to attend divorce court without legal representation. Her only family in the Valley consisted of her two sons and daughter.…