San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
A Mother’s Day first
Fuerza Unida hosts inaugural holiday celebration at community garden
Matilda V. Olivarez, 84, and Delfina Abundis, 83, were among 50 guests marking a first for Fuerza Unida — the nonprofit’s inaugural Mother’s Day celebration. As the sun beat down Saturday, they sat in the shade of a canopy of tree branches spread over the backyard the nonprofit had transformed into a community garden.
The pair enjoyed the view of the new space behind the headquarters of the nonprofit founded in 1990 by garment workers displaced when the Levi Strauss plant transferred jobs to Costa Rica. The flames of votive candles flickered at serape-covered tables. A statue of Virgen de Guadalupe prayed over cinder-block garden beds flush with spinach, mixed greens, basil, rosemary and rue.
Staff members handed out corsages: white for those whose mothers had passed, red for those whose mothers are alive and in their lives.
The center, located at 710 New Laredo Highway, has been part of the two women’s lives for more than 20 years. They have attended bingo games, other events and meetings where they learned about resources and rights that are available to them.
Abundis said the celebration was a very beautiful idea.
“It makes us happy,” Olivarez said. “Rather than doing nothing and being at home by ourselves we come here.”
The inaugural Mother’s Day celebration was the first event the nonprofit had hosted at its new community garden that’s tended to by nonprofit members and nearby residents. The event included Loteria Mexicana games, Mexican food and yoga.
Founder and director Petra Mata welcomed guests from the community and nonprofit members with a prayer of thanks for their years of support.
“They deserve something given back to them,” Mata said. “They give us their love and understanding. We’re going to keep providing resources and services for the community that supports us.”
Maggie Mullins, project coordinator, 26,
said the garden had been in the works since August 2021, when the nonprofit became a part of Green Spaces Alliance of San Antonio. In February, the nonprofit broke ground on the green space. The garden has grown with vegetables, herbs and native plants donated by the community and planted on family workdays and volunteer days.
“It’s a community garden but also kind of a gift for women who have fought for their rights,” Mullins said. “We restored the space for them, those who have fought so long for justice.”
She said the agricultural lessons will be integrated with the youth program that starts June 7.
As guests settled at their tables, Santiago L. Oropeza, 82, tended to the garden. One of the nonprofit’s gardeners, Oropeza
added a small cactus to a garden plot. He cupped soil around the green cactus and doused it with water from a yellow watering can.
“See what God makes,” Oropeza said, pointing to the plant.
Behind him, staff members invited guests to a table filled with rows of vases featuring an assortment of garden-grown and store-bought flowers.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar stopped by the event for a surprise
visit. He learned about the event on the nonprofit’s Facebook page. Salazar visited each table of guests, handingout Fiesta medals designed as a tribute to his mother, who died last year.
“She was obviously, like a lot of us, a very big influence on my life, my career, my everything,” Salazar said. “To lose her was devastating. To get out to the community on Mother’s Day weekend and connect with all of the mamas I see here, it fills my heart with all kind of feelings.”
Oropeza serenaded the women with a song of love as Mata’s daughter Patty Quintero and granddaughter Olivia Quintero, 17, stood ready to dole out fare that included rice, frijoles and fruit salad to the guests of honor.
But before the luncheon began, Monica Sosa, 33, led the group in a series of yoga breathing and stretching exercises.
“It’s really about the term ‘give us flowers while we’re still here,’ ” said Sosa, founder of Flower Friends, a floral exchange. “The goal at the end of the day is to try and make sure we’re giving flowers to our community.”