Immigrant franchisee in Houston gives back through scholarships
Nelly Quijano came to America in the early 1960s as a young Cuban teen, part of an exodus of 14,000 unaccompanied children sent into exile in the U.S. by their parents after Fidel Castro’s socialist “revolution” took control of the island.
Quijano was 15 when she arrived on a flight with a suitcase carrying her scant possessions and no money. Today, she’s a legend among restaurant franchise owners after operating more than 20 McDonald’s in the Houston area with her late husband Dominic Quijano. The couple is credited with developing the breakfast burrito that is now served at McDonald’s around the world.
But her proudest accomplishment is helping establish McDonald’s Hispanic American Commitment to Education Resources Foundation — known by its initials, HACER — which has awarded $4.5 million to disadvantaged Hispanic students since it was established in 1985. The Spanish word
“hacer” means “to make.”
This year, HACER awarded five scholarships of $100,000 each to socioeconomically disadvantaged Latino students, including two from Houston.
“To me, this is about making reality the dreams that we all have when we come to America through the power of education,” Nelly Quijano said. “I wanted to help other kids to get the education that I so much wanted when I came… but with nothing to pay for it.”
Overcoming obstacles
One of those fortunate high school students to receive a HACER scholarship is Bridgette Ramirez, a graduate of Heights High School.
Ramirez, a first-generation American born in a family of immigrants from Mexico, is using the money to attend Harvard University.
The HACER scholarship is “a very humbling experience and a very motivational one as well,” said Ramirez, who is pursuing a degree in human developmental and regenerative biology while following the pre-med track. “To have complete strangers support me in unimaginable ways is very inspiring.”
Ramirez was raised by a family with few resources who worked tirelessly, she says.
“My sister and I referred to my dad as the moon when we were young,” she recalled. “He would appear when we were sleeping, and he’d be gone by the time we awoke.”
Ramirez keeps in touch with her extended family in Mexico and remembers that her maternal grandmother never learned to read or write.
“Attending Harvard at no cost is a beautiful way to avenge what was ripped from her grasp just because of society’s norms for women,” she said.
Working tirelessly has also been the life story of Quijano, who built a business empire from scratch with her husband.
Sitting recently at one of her restaurants, she remembered her early struggles after she boarded the quick flight from Cuba to America as part of a U.S.-coordinated program known as Pedro (Peter) Pan. The operation, run in conjunction of the Catholic Church, lasted nearly two years from its inception in late 1960. Quijano’s parents, like others who sent their children abroad, remained behind in the mistaken belief that Castro would be quickly overthrown.
Quijano’s recollection of an excruciating farewell on the island fill her eyes with tears.
“I was the only child; you can imagine the sacrifice (my parents) were making to be willing to separate from me to make sure I had freedom,” she says, referring to a five-year separation.
Step by step
Quijano arrived in Miami with meager belongings: three sets of undergarments, a purse, the dress she wore, a spring coat and the most cherished of all — a small ring engraved with her initials. Her mother ordered a seamstress to make the coat, which she recalled looked “beautiful” on her, especially for the trip.
On that day in February 1961, she arrived in the U.S. to live with relatives in New Jersey and go to work in a packing facility.
“I wanted to study,” she said. “I dreamed of being a doctor, but they didn’t put me in school.”
Quijano said it became clear the future was hers to make.
“I understood that (path) wasn’t going to take me anywhere. ‘Nothing is going to stop me from making something out of myself,’ ” she thought.
She found her high school sweetheart from Cuba, and the two were married.
When a New Jersey textile business they created burned to the ground, her husband wanted to rebuild it, but she didn’t see their future in an industry already decaying amid growing imports.
Quijano focused on the opportunity of owning a McDonald’s restaurant, and they moved to Houston to open their first franchise in the heavily Hispanic East End on Harrisburg Boulevard.
It was there that the couple began to experiment with ingredients to create the burrito.
“We Cubans don’t have burritos in our cuisine,” she said, but they realized that in Texas, the offering should be included on the breakfast menu. And so McDonald’s Mexican plate was born in their first restaurant kitchen in 1985 after six months of attempts and local customers’ recommendations.
The corporation expanded the offer nationally and later to the world in 1989. Today, Quijano is renowned in the annals of the McDonald’s corporation and was honored last month in Chicago with the Legacy Award.
She insists that to advance in a career, you must believe in the power of small steps.
“We began HACER in Texas with only $500,” she said. “It was a little disheartening if you think about the amount, but we thought that it could at least help five students with $100 to buy college books.”
Growing movement
That is a long way to the $100,000 received by Miles Aceves-Lewis, the other national scholarship winner this year from Houston.
Aceves-Lewis is an Afro-Latino from the Midtown area, where he was homeschooled due in part to financial constraints as well as being at his mother’s side as she battled a chronic illness. Using the HACER scholarship, he plans to pursue a double major in government and justice and peace studies at Georgetown University.
“It fills me with joy to know that my hard work has been recognized and rewarded,” said AcevesLewis, a high achiever who has won several recognitions, including the Memory Master Award for three consecutive years.
Quijano, who is a member of the HACER board, said that she is impressed by both Ramirez and Aceves-Lewis.
“It makes me proud to be part of the people from my company making an impact in their life; it’s my way to give back,” she said.
In addition to the national McDonald’s grants, the franchise owners in Texas combine their efforts to award 50 scholarships of $2,500 per year, she said. The owners donate one penny for every pound of wholesale French fries they buy, regardless of how many they end up selling at their restaurants.
Beginning later this month, McDonald’s will expand its scholarship to two scholarships of $100,000, two of $50,000 and 20 of $25,000.
“I urge our Texas (high school) seniors to apply; it can make a big difference in the life of kids that are good students but cannot afford college; I want them to go ahead non-stop as I did,” she said.“And honey, I haven’t finished yet; we have to keep growing,” said the successful business woman “No is a word that isn’t in my vocabulary. You have to persist.”