BajaNews - 12-22-2010 at 03:21 PM
http://lajollalight.com/2010/12/21/couple-sells-business-in-...
By Amy Lynne Bowes
December 21, 2010
Five years ago, local business owners Joe and Esther Valenzuela sold their Fay Avenue store, Spoiled Rotten, and answered a call from God.
They started a nonprofit organization called the Casa Estrella Foundation that rescues abused children who are no longer safe at home with their
parents due to stressful conditions.
Casa Estrella currently oversees 16 state-placed girls in their facility in Rosarito, Mexico, which is headed by a foster mom and a foster dad.
“God put in our heart, you want to do it, so get into it. We sold our business (operated from 1998-2005) and dedicated our years in this world to
these children,” Joe said.
In 2003, through their church, the Valenzuelas had an opportunity to visit an orphanage in Tijuana. “Esther couldn’t make it because she was sick, but
what we saw impacted us so much,” Joe said.
He described the orphanage visited two weeks before Christmas as “having conditions that we wouldn’t even keep our animals in.” There were mats
everywhere as sleeping arrangements – even on the kitchen floor. The orphanage had 125 boys and girls, with ages ranging from infancy to 18. The
facility had two showers and one toilet for everyone.
A couple of weeks later, the Valenzuelas returned together and visited three more orphanages and saw similar conditions. “Esther, being the leader she
is, quickly started the nonprofit organization,” Joe said.
Today, they operate one home that can accommodate up to 20 girls. The Valenzuelas prefer not to have a mixed-sex residence and it just so happened
that when they started the home, girls were entrusted to their care. In the future, the Casa Estrella Foundation wants to open more homes and help all
children.
“We are not an orphanage, we are a home and a family,” Joe said.
One person the Valenzuelas moved to help nine years ago was La Jolla resident Olivia Peña Anderson.
“I met them when my daughter was first born and I was shopping at their store,” Peña Anderson recalled. “I wanted to know what to do with gently used
clothes because they used to go to orphanages on weekends and bring supplies and clothes.”
She was encouraged by the Valenzuelas’ mission to help children, because of her own experience of being orphaned at the age 5 with her nine siblings.
“I know exactly what it’s like to not have parents to take care for you, to not have a home or financial stability. It was very challenging to say the
least – eating tortillas and beans was our only diet,” Peña Anderson said.
It was her 15-year-old sister who kept the family going and Peña Anderson considers that her own inspiration for giving back to society by keeping
children, like the Casa Estrella girls, off the street.
“I made a pledge (to Joe and Esther) that I would financially help them every year until I couldn’t do it anymore,” a tearful Peña Anderson shared.
“For me, it is very important to teach my daughter by example.”
The home requires between $7,000 and 8,000 per month to stay operational. With the turn in the economy, Joe said the foundation has felt donations
drop like other nonprofits.
They also operate a state accredited 31-student school for the girls and other members of their church, Calvary Chapel. The foundation needs monetary
gifts, but always welcomes volunteers as well. “We currently have a psychologist who is volunteering for a year,” Peña Anderson said.
The home also houses a foster mom and dad who live full-time with the girls and who have dedicated a year of their lives to help the cause.
“We really aren’t there out on the map (as a charitable org),” Peña Anderson said.
The foundation’s goal is to have a junior high and high school serving 500 students, and at least 5 to 10 more homes within the next five years.
“They (the children) are souls put in this world to accomplish something, too,” Joe said. “We feel that everyone needs a chance.”
Learn more at:
http://www.casaestrellafoundation.org
http://www.casaestrella.org
BajaNews - 12-22-2010 at 03:24 PM
http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/ci_16823636
By Phil Friedman
12/10/2010
Former South Bay lifeguard Jeep Shaffer, who passed away on Aug. 14th, and Joyce Jerome of Redondo Beach made a trip in April to Rosarito Beach to
help take more than 300 orphan children fishing and treat them to a day of sports. Last weekend, in memory of Shaffer, a group of Southland anglers
were back in Rosarito Beach to take the all-girls orphanage Casa Estrella on a fishing trip and provide a Christmas party.
The girls fished, went through a sports clinic, had a great Christmas party/lunch and each received a new rod and reel provided by Big 5 Sporting
Goods.
Fifteen-year-old Iris Arguellas of Hawthorne was part of the team that traveled south, experiencing her first trip to Mexico.
"I was a little afraid before going on this trip after listening to the news," the Bishop Montgomery High junior said. "I expected near-anarchy on the
streets, but what I found was a whole new world that I feel in love with.
"Everyone we met from taco stands to the people working at the Rosarito Beach Hotel to the girls from Casa Estrella was so nice."
Don Ashley, representing the Sportfishing Association of California, said it was another magical trip.
"Thanks to SAC and so many others, we brought down over 700 pieces of clothing, 75 pairs of shoes, rods, reels, food and a lot of love," he said.
For Arguellas, the trip was an eye opener on many levels.
"I learned so much on this trip," she said. "The people of Baja were so nice; I loved driving past Ensenada, and I had the best shrimp burrito I have
ever had in my life."
But perhaps her most important lesson learned was one we can all heed during the holiday season.
"I learned to be thankful for all that we have here," she said.
Woooosh - 12-22-2010 at 03:41 PM
Thanks for posting the Christmas cheer. 
[Edited on 12-22-2010 by Woooosh]
Donjulio - 12-22-2010 at 07:10 PM
Awesome
desertcpl - 12-22-2010 at 07:37 PM
WOW thats really great
BajaGeoff - 12-23-2010 at 02:57 PM
Really, really nice stories.
Gracias!