HARLINGEN — The city came together yesterday in a celebration of the cultural connections between the people of Harlingen and Mexico.

The annual Cinco de Mayo Celebration: Batalla de Puebla was held at Lt. George Gutierrez Park, or La Placita. The ceremonies at the park on West Harrison Avenue included several presentations, plus performances by mariachi groups, folkloric dancers and singers. The San Benito High School Flamenco Ensemble performed as did the Long Elementary Folkloric Dance Team.

Numerous dignitaries from Harlingen and Matamoros were present.

Mexican Consul Rodolfo Quilantan Arenas was presented with the keys to the city, which came in the form of a plaque.

It had a special meaning to him considering he will soon move to a new post in Little Rock, Ark., after serving in Brownsville for six years.

“This is a great way to keep the bonds between me and Harlingen,” he said.

The Cinco de Mayo celebration impressed him. He’s been attending the event each year and it keeps getting better.

“Every year it’s more organized, more performances of the singers,” he said.

In another presentation, Connie Salas seemed overwhelmed by the gratitude extended to her and her husband Juan yesterday afternoon.

“I can’t believe it,” said Salas, 80, who’d just received the keys to the city from Mayor Chris Boswell.

“All these years we’ve volunteered with so many wonderful people and never expected anything in return,” said Salas, who’d accepted the honor for both herself and her husband.

The recognition was for more than 16 years of local volunteer work.

Among the singers was Aaron Blount, 11, who belted out powerful renditions of “La Cigarra” and “Los Laureles.”

The Vela Middle School sixth grader has become a familiar face at various venues, including musicals, plays and outdoor concerts. Dressed in a smart black mariachi costume with gold embroidery yesterday afternoon, her voice had noticeably matured over the past two years. She delivered her performance with a new depth and volume, stretching out some notes so long the audience couldn’t help but respond with joyous whistles and “gritos.”

Afterwards she said performing before the crowd was a bit “nerve-wracking.”

“The most challenging one was the first one,” she said, referring to the way she had to draw out her voice a little longer in “La Cigarra.”

Her mother Monica Blount was ecstatic, as always.

“Every time I hear her sing, I am amazed,” she said.

The next performance was given by two children in “Los Viejitos” garb from the Mexican state of Michoacán. They performed traditional dances, moving about the gazebo with small wooden canes. They turned around, colorful ribbons dangling from straw hats, masks portraying wide-eyed, smiling expressions almost like caricatures.

For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.

Subscribe to it for only $6.99 per month or purchase a print subscription and receive the online version free, which includes an electronic version of the full newspaper and extra photo galleries, links and other information you can’t find anywhere else.

LOS FRESNOS — Carmen Cargill, 17, a junior at Los Fresnos High School, said he has been fishing his whole life and dreams of opening a wildlife ranch.

He knows how to assemble a fishing rod, bait it and how to take a fish off the hook, too.

Cargill’s skills were put to good use this past week when he and more than 180 students at Los Fresnos High School dutifully assembled 1,500 fishing rods in anticipation of the annual Hooked for Life Kids Gone Fish’n event that took place yesterday at the Brownsville Events Center.

“I really like doing this. Whenever I have a chance I go fishing, so I don’t mind working on my knots and going through the rigs,” Cargill said.

Cesar Mendez, a Hooked For Life board member, said his brother, David Mendez, who died from cancer in 2014, originally founded the event to benefit local children who couldn’t afford to buy fishing rods.

“As my brother David would say, we want children to trade their XBoxes for tackle boxes. Fishing is family friendly, and every child should have the opportunity to participate, they are our future,” Cesar Mendez said.

For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.

Subscribe to it for only $6.99 per month or purchase a print subscription and receive the online version free, which includes an electronic version of the full newspaper and extra photo galleries, links and other information you can’t find anywhere else.

[email protected]

WESLACO — Air traffic may pick up here in the near future as the Economic Development Corporation recently leased a hangar at the Mid-Valley Airport.

Marie McDermott, interim executive director for the Weslaco EDC, confirmed this week that Davis Net Lease No. 1 entered into a five-year lease agreement with the corporation for use of an 8,000-square-foot hangar.

The agreement is for $12,000 per year and provides the Weslaco-based company with a first offer to purchase, which grants the option to acquire the hangar before the property can be sold to another potential buyer.

“It’s been several years since the hangar has been leased,” McDermott said of the deal’s significance for Weslaco, adding that the first four months were offered rent-free as repairs are being completed.

For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.

Subscribe to it for only $6.99 per month or purchase a print subscription and receive the online version free, which includes an electronic version of the full newspaper and extra photo galleries, links and other information you can’t find anywhere else.

WESLACO — Dub Elisa Rodriguez a real-life Wonder Woman.

It was Sunday, April 10, when the 29-year-old expectant mother felt something “pop” while in the bathroom.

She had just returned home from Holy Family Birth Center, a faith-based organization in Weslaco where midwives have for 36 years provided natural birth services. It’s where Elisa was prepared to give birth to her third child after experiencing contractions earlier that day.

Accompanied by her husband, 27-year-old Daniel “DJ” Rodriguez Jr., she took her bags filled with items needed for a planned water birth and short stay. The only problem was that she was just 2 centimeters dilated and instructed to labor longer.

After arriving home, DJ was asked to help his father-in-law remove the bags from their pickup truck. Elisa, meanwhile, needed to use the bathroom.

“I had another contraction, and another contraction,” she recalled Wednesday. “I felt a pop … my water broke. So I stood up from the toilet and felt him crowning.”

It was at this point that Elisa began to prepare for the inevitable outcome: delivering her own child.

“I felt the next contraction come, so I knew I had to get on my knees,” Elisa said, noting that as DJ rushed to her call for help, a video she watched years ago about an Amazonian woman delivering her own baby while on the ground suddenly came to mind. “And on the next contraction, he came out and I caught him.”

For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.

Subscribe to it for only $6.99 per month or purchase a print subscription and receive the online version free, which includes an electronic version of the full newspaper and extra photo galleries, links and other information you can’t find anywhere else.

SAN BENITO — A volunteer is someone who takes time out of their schedule to help those in need.

Elvia Sanchez and Ester Plata are prime examples of that kind of volunteer.

Both are dedicated volunteers at La Posada Providencia in San Benito.

Sanchez has been volunteering weekly at the shelter since 2013. She is a retired elementary teacher who loves to teach.

1 of 2

Three years ago, while attending Mass, Sanchez heard a group of people talk about their volunteer experience at La Posada. After listening to the group, she knew she wanted to be involved with the shelter.

Since then, Sanchez has made a weekly commitment to tutor and has become one of the shelter’s most valued regular volunteers.

The clients, mainly women and children, have traveled hundreds of miles fleeing countries that haven’t been kind to them.

Most, if not all, are fleeing some type of religious persecution and political unrest.

As a safe haven, La Posada has relied heavily on the kindness of the community and their volunteers.

When asked to describe La Posada, Sanchez said it’s a fantastic place that does wonderful things.

One thing Sanchez looks forward to while volunteering with the clients is meeting new people from different countries and learning about different cultures.

For Sanchez, it is more than just volunteering at the shelter, it is about supporting the work that she believes in and that the shelter delivers.

“La Posada gives people opportunities to learn the language and culture of the United States all while receiving a lot of love and care from staff, volunteers and other clients,” Sanchez said.

She sees how much clients enjoy attending class and how they like learning and singing patriotic songs, such as “The Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America.”

Plata has spent the last three years volunteering at the shelter.

Like Sanchez, she tutors clients in English.

Plata said the reason she volunteers with La Posada is because she enjoys reaching out to people.

Before Plata became a tutor, she worked as an English teacher, a school counselor, and as assistant principal. She said that helping others comes natural to her.

Plata first learned about La Posada from another volunteer who recommended her to become a tutor. After visiting the shelter, she decided to make a commitment to tutor clients once a week.

One reason she has continued to volunteer for three years is that she enjoys talking to the clients and meeting new people from different countries.

“I can relate to them, because at one point I couldn’t speak any English and so I had to learn. I understand how they feel learning a new language,” she said.

“La Posada is a safe haven for people, the comradeship between everyone who works here is evident.”

All of the shelter’s clients are referred to them by the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement or local immigration attorneys.

They are in the legal process of seeking asylum, residency or some other legal alternative.

While they wait for their cases to advance through the court system, most of these individuals have no place to go and arrive at La Posada’s doorstep with nothing.

Staff and volunteers ensure they receive the necessary legal aid, health care, social services and other relocation assistance.

In addition, staff members and volunteers help clients become familiar with the values, customs and social practices typical in the U.S., including currency, personal finance and employment practices.

Many asylum seekers arrive in the U.S. with both physical and emotional scars from their journeys from places as far as Africa, Cuba, Mexico and Asia.

They are fleeing for various reasons, including civil unrest, fear of government control, political unrest and religious persecution.

The shelter sees a lot of mothers with children who have fled their home countries out of fear, sometimes leaving their significant others behind.

Some arrive alone and some arrive with whole families.

HARLINGEN — More than 40 inventions were displayed by students in 5th-8th grade at the St. Paul Academy Science Night of Family Fun — “Invention Convention” on April 21.

More than 150 people attended the event.

The assignment was to come up with an invention that helped solve a problem the student faced.

Students compiled an invention logbook complete with ideas, sketches, materials, steps and results. Students also needed to present a model or prototype of their invention. A foldable with various elements of their invention was also presented.

This assignment was to help promote creativity and problem solving skills in students. It applied the same principles of this assignment to real world problems that need solutions. Overall, the students were challenged to not only come up with an invention, but explain their problem solving and creative processes along the way.

“God blessed all of these students with incredible minds. It was fun to see their creative sides come out,” Jason Kuiper, a middle school science teacher, said.

“I was extremely proud of their hard work.”

COLLEGE STATION — On her first year at Texas A&M University, Viviana Flores has risen to become a champion.

The former Raymondville High School state record-holder took home her first college crown this past month at the 2016 USA Powerlifting Collegiate Nationals in Providence, R.I.

Flores, 19, who competed in the 185-pound-plus division, posted a 551-pound squat, a 292-pound bench press and a 292-pound deadlift at the national competition April 17.

“I feel great,” Flores, the daughter of Olivia Garza, said last week. “I worked hard trying to maintain those numbers.”

Flores qualified for the championships after lifting a total of 639 pounds at the 2015 Louisiana Collegiate Regionals in Abbeville, La., last November.

“It went pretty well,” Flores said of her first season on Texas A&M’s powerlifting team. “It was a new experience in a different environment.”

Flores, who is studying to become a nurse, said she plans to train this summer before competing this fall.

On Raymondville High School’s powerlifting team, Flores twice won the state championship, setting a Texas record with a 625-pound squat.

HARLINGEN — The Million Dollar Round Table Foundation has awarded a $5,000 grant to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Rio Grande Valley to help out local as well as visiting families during times when their children are in the surrounding hospitals.

Through its global grants programs, the MDRT Foundation is committed to building stronger families and communities around the globe. This year, the foundation will award nearly $1 million in MDRT member-endorsed grants to more than 100 charitable organizations worldwide.

Representing the MDRT Foundation, Concepcion S “Connie” Hernandez, agent with New York Life, presented this grant April 26 at the Ronald McDonald House at 1720 Treasure Hills Blvd. in Harlingen.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Rio Grande Valley opened its doors in 1998. Since then they have provided comfort and care to more than 12,000 families in the Rio Grande Valley with their cornerstone program, the Ronald McDonald House and then extending their services with the Ronald McDonald Family Room Program in two local hospitals.

“As a board member of RMHC-RGV, I am extremely grateful that our RGV charity has been chosen as a recipient of a grant from MDRT Foundation.,”said Nicole Marshall, RMHCRGV board member.

HARLINGEN — The caller on the other end of the line sounded just like her nephew.

He told a story about being on vacation in Mexico City where he hooked up with the wrong people.

Before he knew what was happening, the car he was in with these new friends was stopped, and marijuana was found in the vehicle.

Then, she was told by someone claiming to be with the Embassy in Mexico City that he could leave jail if she could send $2,000.

That’s all it took. The emotional plea worked perfectly.

The elderly Harlingen resident followed the caller’s instructions to purchase four $500 iTunes cards from CVS and read the “man at the Embassy” the numbers on the back. She did this even though she had to borrow the money to buy the cards.

But, now, she knows that wasn’t her nephew and the $2,000 is gone.

This is known as the grandparents scam, something the FBI has been receiving complaints about since 2008.

For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.

Subscribe to it for only $6.99 per month or purchase a print subscription and receive the online version free, which includes an electronic version of the full newspaper and extra photo galleries, links and other information you can’t find anywhere else.

HARLINGEN — Cameron County’s fire departments are teaming up.

Yesterday, fire chiefs from across the county met to start the Cameron County Fire Chief’s Association.

The organization will help unite the county’s fire departments to afford them a better opportunity of winning grant money.

Officials want to use grant money to fund development of a county training center next to Harlingen’s Emergency Operations Center off FM 509.

“This is a big push by the fire chiefs in Cameron County,” Harlingen Fire Chief Roy Rubio said after the new association’s meeting.

The organization is expected to help the county earn grant money for projects such as a regional training center, Juan Martinez, a county deputy emergency management coordinator, told the audience of about 16 officials.

For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.

Subscribe to it for only $6.99 per month or purchase a print subscription and receive the online version free, which includes an electronic version of the full newspaper and extra photo galleries, links and other information you can’t find anywhere else.