Phoenix-based nonprofit Esperança made Día de las Madres a little brighter for local Latino families. The team is hosted a fiesta on campus for 75 low-income moms, complete with games, live music, gift baskets, a themed photobooth, traditional food and flowers.

Día de las Madres is celebrated in Mexico and other Latin countries every year on May 10. Next to Christmas day, this is the second most celebrated holiday by Latino families - many businesses even close for the occasion. Oftentimes, as immigrants assimilate to American culture, they lose touch with important customs or have limited financial resources with which to celebrate. As an organization that predominately serves Hispanics in Arizona, Esperança is in the perfect space to fill this gap and has assisted the most vulnerable in Maricopa County for the past 22 years through their Día de las Madres event.

The moms selected for this program have participated in Esperança’s preventative health classes and are from families without the financial means to be recognized in the traditional fashion.

“In our ‘cultura’ mothers are the glue to the family,” said Maria Valenzuela, Senior Program Director, who immigrated to the United States as a child. “Working for Esperança with predominately Latina women from the communities I grew up in, I make it a mission to celebrate them the way my mother taught me growing up. This is their special day.”

And just like the Día de las Madres program, other needs around Maricopa County have spiked during the past few years of financial strain, for which Esperança is happy to service. The organization provides virtual education programming and delivers nutritious meals to seniors in subsidized housing every week with produce from their new on-campus community garden.

Visit esperanca.org.