History
Casa De Peregrinos
In April of 1979, four compassionate La Mesa residents founded Casa de Peregrinos (Casa) with $3,000 and a vision: to provide shelter, a food-and-clothing bank, and cooperative activities for the homeless.
Three years later, Casa set up an advisory committee. Chaired by Sister Marsha Carrigan (a family counselor for the Catholic Diocese of El Paso), it included eight other members. Deciding to narrow Casa’s focus to food distribution, the advisory committee moved it from La Mesa to Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Tortugas and then to Holy Cross Parish. Later in that same year, Isabel Romero came on board as office and volunteer manager, and Sister Rose Kidd began seeking out food sources and doing bookkeeping for the organization.
In August of the next year (1983), Casa’s advisory board evolved into a board of directors, reaching out to other faiths and organizations for support and volunteers. Casa de Peregrinos thus began moving toward its ultimate identity as an autonomous, nondenominational organization, adopting bylaws and creating a logo along the way. In August 1987, the organization received its nonprofit status from the IRS. That same year, Casa filed its Articles of Incorporation.
Eventually outgrowing the Holy Cross facilities, Casa moved to the Calvary Chapel building (Downtown Mall) in September 1984, with Holy Cross paying the rent. In August 1987, Casa moved again: this time to 825 Spruce, where it remained for several years.
In December 2005, Casa moved into its present facility on the Community of Hope campus (999 W. Amador, Suite F). There, paid and volunteer staff screen each applicant to determine eligibility, provide emergency food to those needing assistance, and refer applicants to other community resources when necessary.
During the years since its founding, Casa de Peregrinos has provided well over a million food distributions to hungry people. This agency, a critical link in the safety chain and a first line of defense against hunger for many, many residents of Doña Ana County, has no plans to go away—until hunger goes away as well.
