I met Isabel Mendez during the 2023 Rotary Auction. I was in charge of registering and managing the harvester program. After Isabel registered to be a harvester she took the time to thank me for letting her sign up and expressed her gratitude for being able to harvest items for free. She briefly explained the work she does sending clothes, school supplies, toys, and food to impoverished churches and families in Guatemala. When I met her in person for the first time I remember feeling just happy to be in her presence. Isabel is a woman who radiates light, kindness, and humility. She is gentle but powerful and literally radiates love. In running Petrona’s Mission she is living out her life’s mission.

I recently met with Isabel to find out more about her work. She is one of 10 children raised in poverty in Guatemala. One of her older brothers came to the US to work and set about sponsoring his sisters to come here as well. She moved to the US at the age of 18 and has an impressive story of hardships overcome by hard work and faith. She says she was inspired by her mother, Petrona who, even though she lived in unrelenting poverty, found time and energy to share food and clothing with others, while raising her own large brood. Isabel was inspired to continue her mother’s work and each year she is able to send more items to Guatemala. She is quick to add, however, that she could not do this work without the help of her sisters. She pays for the significant cost of shipping by cooking and selling her special bean, cheese, and beef enchiladas.

She has been coming to the Rotary Auction as a harvester for four years and this last year was a volunteer prior to the auction as well. I met her in the hall one day prior to the auction and she showed me a box of children’s flutes she had just purchased to send to Guatemala. She enthused about how the children there would love them. It made me so happy to think of all the joy one box of children’s flutes would inspire.

She retired from a 24 year career as a title examiner in March of 2024. She is happily now spending more time to increase the amount of help she is able to send to Guatemala. This year she has sent 9 boxes, measuring 30”x30”x30” to Guatemala. Each box costs $300 to mail. In addition to sending items she regularly visits Guatemala and has also worked to help local churches there repair their facilities and increase the services they can provide to their parishioners. Her greatest joy in life is working with her sisters, husband, siblings, children, and grandchildren to continue and grow the work that her mother started.

I feel so privileged to have gotten to know Isabel and learn about her work. Hers is just one story of many that our Auction is a part of. We are able to measure and report on the dollars the auction raises but there is no way to quantify the value of work like this, that goes on quietly, and brings comfort, joy, and dignity to many lives. Thank you Isabel!

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By Karla Mather