Local non-profit Manos de Cristo serves poor community members with dental care and education, and will be featured throughout February. When the Rev. Frank Diaz worked with the poor and homeless at El Buen in Austin more than 35 years ago, he kept hearing men ask for baby food and he assumed they had children to feed. But he was mistaken and eventually noticed, “These men would smile but they had no teeth.”

At the time, local hospitals had a 6-month wait for help, and many suffering from severe toothaches could not endure the pain. Their only option was to pull their own teeth. Thus, with help from both Rev. Dias and Roland Casteneda, an elder at El Buen, Manos de Cristo opened its doors in 1988 to give the impoverished community a humane, dignified option for dental care.

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin elected Manos de Cristo as one of its recipients for a monthly special offering in 2023. Manos will be featured during and after the Worship Service, Sunday Feb 12, and Executive Director Julie Ballesteros will join us to share more about them including ways people can volunteer with them.

Through grants and support from Austin-area churches and organizations, Manos founding principle is to serve by reaching out with compassionate concern. Manos now has headquarters and programs in North Central Austin, serving our community through an 11-chair dental clinic, adult education services and basic needs. Manos’ reach has continued to grow through a Back-To-School program to teach adults computer skills, citizenship and English classes.

Our own Alirio Gamez, who took sanctuary at First UU, has received low cost dental care from Manos and Hilda Ramirez, who takes sanctuary at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, has taken English with them. First UU will recognize Monthly Special Offering recipients each second Sunday of the month and then divide all of the donations equally among the recipients. To learn more about Manos de Cristo go to http://manosdecristo.org and during the service, Sunday, Feb. 12 plan to donate what you can to this good cause.

Join Austin Sanctuary Network as we celebrate Ivan, Hilda’s son, having received his Legal Permanent Residency. We’ll celebrate Ivan’s momentous occasion Saturday, March 11 from 3-5 p.m. with games and fun at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 14311 Wells Port Dr., 78728. Feel free to bring any snacks or drinks to share. He loves Takis, Tres Leches Cake and Flan! RSVP on our Facebook page: The Foundation for the Austin Sanctuary Network. We are so excited to celebrate Ivan and reconnect with our Austin Sanctuary Network friends including Alirio Gamez! We still have work to do to free Hilda and Alirio, but it’s time to celebrate Ivan and his freedom now. We hope to see you there! For questions email Peggy Morton at insideamigos@austinuu.org.