This is Francisco, from Zacatecas, Mexico. He is a day laborer and construction worker in Seattle, Washington. You may recognize him as the artist who created the beaded Virgin de Guadalupe from 450,000 glass beads (see below for more details). He is currently facing a critical health crisis with no access to health insurance or governmental benefits. He is making the difficult decision to journey back to Mexico and he needs community support.

This past month, Francisco suffered a heart attack and underwent open heart surgery. The trauma from these experiences has left him frail and partially blind. While the doctors have hope he may someday recover his vision, he is unable to work and has no way to generate income for himself.

Francisco has given the best years of his life to the Seattle community, tending to our yards and homes, devoting his time and talent to making our community more beautiful for nearly 25 years. Several years ago this community, through your donations, made it possible for Francisco to donate his beaded Virgin Mary to his Parish in White Center. Francisco recovered and has been working, supporting his family in Mexico and giving to his Seattle community since. Please see photos for more information.

Despite his profound contributions to our community, Francisco has no access to the governmental programs in place to support people as they age and can no longer work. I am calling on our community once again to support Francisco as he faces a challenging future.

Francisco planned to work this year and save in order to return to Mexico. His fragile health condition however is forcing him to make the difficult choice to return to Mexico immediately as a means of survival, despite not having the means to do so.

Please join me in thanking Francisco for the years he gave to this country by sending him off with the financial means to buy a plane ticket home, access the care he will need upon arrival, and return and settle in to Mexico in a dignified way. Let's offer him the "retirement" that all humans deserve.

Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo- Only the people will save the people.

To see a story about Francisco's art work from 2016, see here: https://www.kuow.org/stories/how-lonely-man-turned-solitude-beauty/

To see the original GoFundMe for him and read his story, see here: https://gofund.me/a1312810f