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Our Legacy

Founded in 1975, Los Amigos de los Niños of California, Inc., had it's beginning as a south of the border youth group project for students in Merced County. The focus then was to help raise underserved orphaned children out of the depths of poverty and teach them to be self sustaining, contributing citizens. Over the last 35 years, Los Amigos de los Niños of California, Inc., in partnership with volunteers who devoted years of personal time, applied their talent for getting things done and donating cash to help build infrastructure ultimately empowered children in the following regions to improve their quality of life:

• Over 900 girls at the Salvatierra Girls Orphanage in Tecate, Baja California
• 1200 boys at Rancho Nazareth in Tecate, Baja California
• 30 deaf and blind children at Camp Pacifica, Ahwanee, CA.
• in partnership with the global women's health imperatives, we helped orphaned girls and young women protect themselves from AIDS
• Health clinic's and education institutions in Cerro Azul and Puebla, Mexico.

Our objective remains the same over the years... enable a childhood filled with:

• sense of safety and well being
• happy memories and a sense of community
• a solid education and a practice to pursue life long learning
• healthy bodies and fundamental health practices
• hope – that they can change their lives when they apply themselves.

Today, we have narrowed our focus to partner with educators, community leaders and people who care about our California 2nd Graders achieving a competency level in a very important Gateway Skill - Reading.

We have added to our objective... we are dedicated to ensuring that any child struggling with gaining this gateway skill gets the individual attention they need to read confidently and develop a relationship with books.

We welcome you to help us achieve this objective.