Build A Miracle Success Stories
We could go on forever about the incredible stories of resilience, empowerment, and achievement of our wonderful BAM families. Here are just a few examples to give you an idea of the impact of Build A Miracle and the people we are blessed to work with.
Selene Romero
BAM PSYCHOLOGIST
Jacinto Gutierrez
BAM COMMUNITY INSPIRATION
Aureliano and Josefina
BAM COMMUNITY LEADERS
Ana and Miguel
BAM ENTREPRENEURS
The Reyes Family
BAM Participants
Olga and Ernesto
BAM COMMUNITY LEADERS
Selene's Success Story
Our first ever college graduate in 2009
Selene's story as told by her sponsor, Jack...
“Selene Romero grew up in Build a Miracle house #68. When she came into my life, she was living in poverty and had no hope for a better life. Her family eventually received a BAM house and even had an extra room for her to study in. The Lord touched my heart to have a college graduate from a BAM house and so I asked if I could sponsor her since she had just finished high school. In a few years, she graduated with a degree in psychology. With a little encouragement, she pursued a masters degree which she received in May, 2013. She is now married to Rodrigo, who is an engineer and a wonderful husband to her. They have two sons. Words cannot describe what she has meant to her community. She counsels every Saturday at the Community Center and conducts seminars on parenting, avoiding drugs and other important issues. She is a huge role model for the young people in El Florido. To this day, she and I have an amazing relationship.”
Jack S.
The day Jack and Selene first met and Jack offered to pay for her to go to college
Looking at a book of BAM college graduates
Jack and Selene have stayed close throughout the years
In Selene’s words...
“Jack has become my dad…I believe that Jack sees me as that daughter that he never had and I have been told that I even look like him physically. I believe that I am his daughter not only because he has supported me financially, but because he loves me and is concerned about me. I love him a lot and don’t know what I would do without him; I can’t picture my life without him now. Sometimes I don’t have the words to explain it to him because I can’t completely express myself, but he knows that I love him and I always tell him and hug him. He is the person I feel closest to emotionally apart from my husband and parents. When I have an important decision, I consult him and when I am going through difficult times, I ask him things and he responds with wisdom.”
Selene R.
Jacinto's Success Story
One of our community inspirations
When Jacinto was 10, he fell from a tree and suffered injuries that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Unfortunately, shortly after, his mother passed away from cancer. With his dad working full time to support the family, Jacinto had no one to care for him at home. For years, he hardly left his bed due to lack of help and lack of equipment to allow him to get around. He would constantly get sick and was unable to do almost any activities of daily living by himself.
One of our team leaders heard about his story and went to meet him. She found him in his bed with wounds all over his body and unable to lift himself from the mattress.
Just like they always do, the incredible BAM community stepped up to help.
Here are a few of the many people who have helped to care for Jacinto:
- For two years, Dulce and Ana Karen (two of our scholarship students studying medicine), went to his house twice a week to take care of him. They changed his bandages and cleaned his wounds until they were eventually healed. They did physical therapy with him and took him on walks and outings throughout Tijuana.
- Mario, one of our scholarship students studying nursing, as well as many other BAM scholarship recipients would visit Jacinto and help take care of him.
- Thanks to our generous sponsors, we were able to remodel his home to make it wheelchair accessible.
- Michael Howell, who had ALS and started the meal program at the Community Center, generously bought a wheelchair to give to Jacinto.
- One of our volunteers who is an occupational therapist came to help him learn how to transfer in and out of his wheelchair.
With the help of the community and his own incredible faith and determination, Jacinto’s entire world changed. He learned how to get into and use his wheelchair, cook his own food, clean his house, bathe and dress himself, and go to the bathroom by himself. But he did not stop there, he began adult education classes at the Community Center where he finished middle school and is now studying high school. During this time, he also started his own small business. He is a talented artist and we helped him buy materials to paint and sell shirts with his own designs. He sells his shirts to both volunteers who come on build days with BAM as well as local people through Facebook.
Jacinto is a beautiful example of what we can achieve both as a community and individually. He has tackled many challenges and grown so much since we first met him. He is an inspiration to everyone he meets.
In the beautiful words of Dulce and Ana Karen after they worked with him for two years,
It has been 2 years and 1 month since we arrived at his house for the first time, and in these two years he has become a totally different person from the one we first met. The most important growth that we have seen is that spiritually his mind has healed – he now believes in people, he believes in God, he no longer thinks that the best thing for him is to die. He believes in himself and dreams of being someone with a stable job who is able to help other people who are going through what he is going through. We really believe in him, and we know that he will become much more than what he imagined he could be. We know this because he has already exceeded our expectations, and every day he surprises us more.
Ana Karen
What do we do for Jacinto? It is a difficult question that we would really have to ask him. I think he does more for us than what we ourselves can do for him. Many times, I feel that I can’t take it anymore, that the world is collapsing on me, and then I go to see Jacinto and his good attitude, his good humor, and his desire to move forward give me the strength and encouragement I need to continue on. I believe that, although he and his family call us angels, he is the angel and he doesn’t realize it. He hasn’t realized that with his desire to face life head-on, he brings those around him forward.
Dulce
Aureliano and Josefina's Success Story
Meet two of our BAM community leaders
Aureliano, Josefina, and their 3 children are from BAM house #6
We built their home way back in 2002, when our goal was to build 1 home a year. It was while building their house that we came up with the idea of having families do community service to pay for their homes. This family jumped right in and has been helping ever since.
Josefina once described to us the house she lived in before, saying,
“The room where we lived got wet, everything got wet. When there was rainy weather, my kids could not play on the floor, they had to be up on the bed all the time because if they got down, they would get wet. We were living like this for a long time, because we were paying for the land we couldn’t afford to build a house. When BAM arrived, they told us they could help us to build a house and I thought, how are they going to help us build a house? How are they going to give us a house as a gift? How could these people come without knowing us to help us? We couldn’t believe it. Mr. Adolfo showed us the plans of the house and we still couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t until they came and started construction on the floor that we began to believe it might be real.”
The day the Crisóstomo Suárez family moved into their new BAM home
Aureliano and Josefina have since become integral parts of the BAM leadership team
Aureliano is now in charge of our Dads Program. In this program, he organizes construction projects for hundreds of other BAM fathers to work on home improvement projects for families who cannot receive a traditional BAM home. He helps to organize and lead around 100 men every Sunday to complete 7-10 different projects throughout the community. His dedication to the Dads Program has allowed it to grow into what it is today. He is a humble leader who has an incredible way of uniting the fathers to form meaningful relationships with each other as they show up every week to help others and make their community a better place.
Josefina is part of our core leadership team, helping with community outreach, organizing build days, and finding new families. A lot of what we do would not be possible without her!
In Aureliano’s words,
I am now convinced that BAM turns people’s lives around completely. Before BAM, I used to think very differently. I was isolated from others, but you have helped me re-integrate into society. The other thing that has transformed me is the Dads Program, it is the most important project that I have had in my life. And I am learning so much while doing it. I started running the program thinking that I would be teaching others, but then I realized that they were teaching me.
Aureliano
Ana and Miguel's Success Story
Meet two of our successful entrepreneurs
Ana and Miguel's daughter Mia helping to make the donuts
Ana and Miguel, from BAM house number 455, run a business called Mia’s Donuts, named after their youngest daughter, Mia.
Ana started the business in 2022 in order to help support her family because her husband was working long hours and only making $95 a week. She had taken the baking course at the BAM Community Center and decided to put her knowledge to use and begin making donuts to sell in her community. She began baking them at her house, making about 40 donuts a day and earning about $16 in profit with around 3 hours of labor.
In 2023, Ana presented her business to a panel of investors during one of our Shark Tank Program events and received a loan for $550
She used the money to purchase the following items:
- Aluminum baking trays
- Rack to hold 20 baking sheets
- Stainless steel cookie and donut cutters
- Plastic storage bins with lids
Ana with her new tray rack
Ana and Miguel selling their donuts at one of our BAM business expos
With the loan they received from their generous sponsor, they were able to increase production from 40 donuts a day to 200-280 per day, which are distributed in 4 points of sale, plus to two buyers who buy their donuts at wholesale.
Miguel and Ana now run the business together, with the help of their kids. They are able to make around $200 working 4 days a week, which is more than double Miguel’s previous salary and their production and profits continue to increase. They now have an employee who helps make the donuts and were also able to purchase a new fryer.
Their dream is to be able to have a location outside of their home to make the donuts in order to grow their business further and create more employment opportunities to allow other people to bring extra income to their homes. They would like to thank their sponsors for believing in them and their dreams.
The Reyes Family Success Story
Breaking the cycle of poverty
Adrian from house #147 told us one day that he was born poor, his father was born poor, and that he always assumed that his children would be poor. His kids would cry at night because they were cold and couldn’t be comforted. They were sick all the time. It occurred to us that for him to assume that his 4 children would one day live in a home with running water, would be the same as for us to assume that our children would one day live in a shack where they would not have running water.
The home provided to this family has changed their lives. They are warm and safe and dry. Thanks to our generous donors, the children rarely get sick and Adrian no longer assumes that his children will be poor when they grow up.
Olga and Ernesto's Success Story
Meet two of our BAM community leaders
House #209, which belongs to the Valdéz Rodríguez Family, was sponsored in 2015 by the Brady family from St Edwards Church. The Valdéz Rodríguez family (Ernesto, Olga, and their sons Mario and Daniel) lived in a house made out of scrap wood and old garage doors.
Olga and Ernesto are now two of our greatest community leaders
Ernesto works with our construction team, building BAM homes. Olga is part of our core leadership team and works hard every day to help us to find new families, prepare for the build days, welcome new families, and lead community service projects in the neighborhood. She is extremely dedicated, hardworking, and kind to everyone she meets.
Olga described the change in her life, stating,
Before, honestly, I felt very alone and I never had anyone to talk to. If we had a problem, we didn’t have anyone, because we did not know our neighbors. However, after BAM arrived here, it was just the opposite of what it was before, it is like having my big family. I know that if something happens or I need anything, there will be someone there to help…We are no longer thinking only about our own kids, but about all the kids of the community.
Olga V.
The house that the Valdéz Rodriguez Family lived in before BAM
I work in the community and support in the Community Center, it is kind of like I do a type of social work, more or less. The neighbors know that they can count on me for whatever they need and I will always be there. I always say, if you need me at night time, call me, and I will get up. We are humble, we are from a modest family, but despite the conditions we came from, we have always tried to help others. I think that God put me on this path; this is something that I have always wanted to do and now I have the opportunity to live it out and be in contact with the community…I am thankful to you all for giving us the opportunity to be here, to be able to give support and feel useful in something, because, from the bottom of my heart, I love being here.
Olga V.
