Dining Room Colonia Panamericana: Making new space for kids.
		Meet Chuy Badial (right) and Olivia Morentin. Chuy has been managing a Children of The Americas dining room for almost 20 years now. Olivia is our staff coordinator in Mexico. Olivia makes sure that the dining rooms are stocked and the programs maintained. As Chuy's head count grew at her dining room (her home), it was obvious she needed more space. She had some extra land near her house and gave us permission to build.
		Here's the crew that showed up on framing day at Chuy's in Colonia Panamericana. Norm had already surveyed, poured the foundation, and most importantly, built a restroom with an actual flushing toilet. Building the restroom first was a stroke of genius--just ask any of the women in this photo.
		Getting organized.
		That was quick. The first wall goes up.
		The usual suspects providing the skills.
		And then there's the rest of the group. Actually, Nelson Brewington (center) is an experienced drywaller, and Robin March is learning on the job.
		Wall too.
		Ron Shrout of Laguna Hills, CA cutting out the windows.
		Here's Robin supervising general contractor Jim Van Schaack.
		Colleen Shrout, Ron's daughter, and Tisha Thompson taking a quick photo-break.
		A very nice box to start with.
		Guys' turn to pose.
		Roofing joists.
		The view up top.
		From below.
		Russ Crispin of Capistrano Beach, CA and Duane Brooks of Irvine, CA at the skill saw.
		Not sure what's going on here...
		Taking shape. It was interesting to all of us that the land we used to build on was covered with trash and an old storage shed, parts of cars, etc. As the dining room started to take shape, each time we came back, more trash and debris was gone, eventually the old shed was gone and the whole lot cleaned up. It only takes a spark to light community pride and care.
		A few weeks later, windows are in and the painting begins.
		A group coming to inspect progress and bring food for the month.
		Almost complete in this group shot. Norm insists on building to U.S. code. Though much of the building in Mexico is roughly equivalent to a storage shed in the U.S., Norm believes our kids should have the best we can offer. Note the skylights on the roof. Still missing the eventual railing along the porch area, but getting close.
		And here's the finished interior. Norm got all the cabinets for free from a church that was replacing them, the commercial stove at auction at a steal, along with the tables and benches for the kids. It's a beautiful facility, and now five years later, Chuy keeps it as clean as the day it was finished. She feeds around 100 children a day right here.