MLVS is a fiscal sponsor of Maria's Regalitos, a project of the Madrina's committee, a volunteer group working with the Mission Education Center (MEC)

UPDATE: February 2021

The photo above features one of the many sweet thank you notes written by MEC students!

Dear Friends of Maria’s Regalitos,

THANK YOU for your generosity and support! YOU did it! Every one of your donations towards the Maria’s Regalitos fundraiser helped bring sheer joy and smiles to the students, families and staff of the Mission Education Center this past holiday season!

When we launched our 2020 fundraiser we knew we would be facing a unique set of challenges. But the impact of the current pandemic didn’t stop us or YOU from ensuring that the families and staff of Mission Education Center receive the love and support expressed through your donations.

Every one of you is an important member of the Maria’s Regalitos team: The classroom sponsors who delighted in purchasing and wrapping toys and the individual donors who generously contributed funds to help us purchase shoes, warm winter wear, gift cards and additional toys. 

Throughout this project our committee felt the presence of our beloved founding member, Maria X Martinez. We know her heart would be overjoyed with the happiness your generosity brought to the children of MEC.

THANK YOU for a successful Maria’s Regalitos 2020 Holiday Season!

We also want to offer a huge thanks to the MEC staff for organizing a safe outdoor event for families to pick up their gift bags from the school’s courtyard. A few members of the Madrinas committee were lucky enough to witness firsthand the smiles on students’ faces when they received their Regalito (gift) bags full of goodies. 

Maria’s Regalitos can only keep moving forward with your support!

Please remember that your donations allow for MEC families to continue receiving support year-round, and participate in special family events including: student graduation celebrations, Mother’s Day celebration, as well as provide emergency funds used to respond to families’ immediate needs. 

Before you go….PLEASE be sure to read a recent article in the Noe Valley Voice (link below) featuring the Mission Education Center! Hear what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to say during her recent visit to the MEC campus this past September about the amazing work being done by the dedicated teachers and staff led by Principal Carla Llewelyn-Vasquez! Congratulations to Principal Vasquez and her staff!

Noe Valley Voice  January 2021 issue featuring MEC can be found here: 
http://www.noevalleyvoice.com/2021/January/202101.pdf

Muchas Gracias,
MARIA'S REGALITOS Madrinas


2020 Message from Maria's Regalitos:

Dear Friends of Regalitos and of our beloved Maria X Martinez, 

Those of us, Madrinas of the Mission Education Center (MEC), who worked closely with Maria for the last two years, have been heartbroken upon our hermana's passing from this physical world and have pondered how to continue doing this work that she so masterfully organized and kept running oh-so smoothly. 

The answer came easily to us:

At one of our last committee meeting’s since Maria’s passing this past summer, we resolved that, indeed, we are committed to continuing our work. This important project, now named MARIA'S REGALITOS, will ensure that each child at MEC will continue to receive support through your generous donations.

Due to the current COVID pandemic and the limitations around in-person events, we’ve had to think creatively about how to plan for MARIA’S REGALITOS holiday related events (volunteer gift wrapping party and volunteers distributing gifts in the classrooms, plus families attending the MEC family holiday party) while continuing to bring joy to the children.
 
This year we’ve had a group of generous MARIA’S REGALITOS donors step up and sponsor each MEC classroom (PreK-5th). The MARIA’S REGALITOS classroom sponsors will purchase holiday toys for the children and gifts cards for their families. Funds donated to MARIA’S REGALITOS in 2020, will directly support the purchase of warm winter wear, shoes for the children and thank you gift cards for MEC teachers and staff. The funds will also provide toys, gift cards, shoes and winter wear to those children that arrive after the holidays. 

Your generous donations also allow for MEC families to continue receiving support year-round, and participate in special family events including: Holiday party (canceled in 2020, but expected to resume next year), student graduation celebrations, Mother’s Day event, as well as an emergency fund to respond to families’ immediate needs. During this grave crisis of COVID-19, the families have also received much needed financial support and food boxes from the Mission-based Latino Task Force.

How MARIA’S REGALITOS started…

As you know, Maria X. Martinez was part of founding the committee that formed 2 years ago to support the children and families arriving from the border to the newcomer school, Mission Education Center. When she heard from Mission community leader, Tracy Brown, that the newly-arrived children and their families needed immediate support, Maria sprang into action and established a fund for REGALITOS, to ensure that each child would receive shoes, warm winter wear and a special Regalito (gift) during the holidays. Additionally, the family would receive a gift card and be part of a special holiday celebration at MEC (Mission Education Center). 

We hope you will join us once again and help us continue this work of love in memory of our querida Maria! Your donations go entirely to Regalitos and are tax deductible. 

Muchas Gracias, querida comunidad,

MARIA'S REGALITOS Madrinas