This map shows the colonia of Ramon Perez Garcia in Reynosa, where the feeding center is being constructed. Use the zoom/navigation controls to explore the area more.

    Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico is a booming city located directly across the border from McAllen, Texas; it is home to over 2,000,000 people.  The whole area on both sides of the border is very developed. It certainly does not live up to the rural, western-style stereotype of the Mexican-American border. Reynosa is a place of opportunity for many people seeking better lives. Unfortunately, it is also a place of extreme poverty. Over time, the poor people of Reynosa have been pushed to the outskirts of the city, where they live in slum-like neighborhoods called colonias. Colonias, by definition, are unincorporated border communities that often lack proper water and sewage, safe and sanitary housing, and paved roads. Thousands of people live in these very poor and unsafe conditions. Lack of food and water is very common in these areas, as well as inadequate shelter. Many of these people traveled from southern parts of Mexico and Central America in search of jobs near the border or even over the border (in the U.S.). In this way, Reynosa has two faces. It has a healthy and prospering side to it, but also a struggling and impoverished face as well.