Our History
Historical Background
The Rancho Feliz Charitable Foundation, Inc. was founded in 1987 by brothers Gil & Troy Gillenwater. Initially formed to provide food, clothing and shelter to abandoned children along the Mexican border, over the years Rancho Feliz has grown to the point where its principal focus is housing and education in Mexico while at the same time providing American volunteers with the opportunity to better their lives through serving others. At Rancho Feliz this is called, “enlightened self-interest” – helping yourself through serving others.
Rancho Feliz’s programs include volunteer opportunities, shelters for abandoned children and seniors, housing for displaced families, computer learning centers, education-based child care facilities, and both private and public school scholarship programs. “With our various educational programs, we now control the educational destiny of these barrio children from 40 days old up through college. That is how you change the world.” states Gillenwater.
Rancho Feliz is a low-overhead, IRS registered, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. It has one part time administrative employee. Well over 90¢ out of every dollar goes directly into its charitable programs. In 1999, founder Gil Gillenwater was a recipient of the Hon Kachina Award, Arizona’s highest honor for volunteerism. In 2000, Mr. Gillenwater was one of five members throughout the U.S. chosen to receive the National Association of Realtors Good Neighbor Award, likewise honoring volunteerism.
To date, over 10,000 Rancho Feliz volunteers have traveled to Mexico and served the less fortunate. Rancho Feliz has invested over $5.5 million in cash donations into its various charitable developments and over $3 million in donated items along the border communities.
Philosophy
Rancho Feliz does not believe in welfare. Rather, it understands that philanthropy is most effective when each party gives to the other and when both parties are actively involved in the exchange – givers become receivers and receivers become givers. This operating philosophy is called, “reciprocal giving”. Through service to others it is Rancho Feliz’s goal to work and alleviate both sides of the poverty equation – from the material poverty of Mexico to the purpose poverty often found here in the United States.
“Why don’t those Mexicans just stay in their own country!”
This sentiment has become a popular mantra here in the U.S. One of the main reasons is that Mexico doesn’t offer many of it citizens the opportunity to live in dignity. Nowhere else on the planet is there the disparity in standard of living as found here between the U.S. and Mexico - along the Arizona border. Mexico is a country strangled in the growing pains of transition. Though furiously trying to maintain pace, the Mexican economy cannot provide jobs or housing for all its citizens. (An average factory job pays $10 per day.) Consequently, millions of desperate people are flooding north towards the American border. For the most part, these undocumented workers are common people taking a large risk in search of a better life – a way to provide for their families.
A Better Way
The U.S. answer to date has been to beef up border patrols and build higher walls. Rancho Feliz believes there is a better solution. “When provided the opportunity for adequate housing and quality education, the Mexican people don’t want to come to the U.S.” states Rancho Feliz founder and president, Gil Gillenwater. “We must address the poverty and hopelessness of the Mexican poor or the war against illegal immigration will never end.” Consequently, since 1987 Rancho Feliz has been developing shelters, housing, volunteer opportunities and educational infrastructure in the Mexican border towns. Gillenwater goes on to explain, “We do not believe in welfare. Rather, Rancho Feliz focuses on: The democratic redistribution of opportunity. Why should a family be sentenced to a life of poverty and despair, simply because its members were born on the wrong side of a barbed wire fence? We are human beings first and Mexicans and Americans second.”