A couple months before I began working with ENP I made the decision to live in an intentional community for ten months at the Pink House located in the inner city of Fresno.

During the ten months of living with 11 other brothers and sisters within a facility of four apartments, we learned about numerous topics, such as: Reconciliation, Christian Community Development, Biblical Community, Leadership Development, and Evangelism, to list a few. Among all the topics we studied as interns, the simplest of them all was one that resonated with me the most . . . the topic on God’s commandment to love our neighbor.

One month after having completed this program, I married an amazing handsome, gentleman by the name of Daniel Dominguez. During my time at the Pink House, he was developing a sister project, Casa Shalom. Casa Shalom is a ministry of TheBridge Church, dealing with the same principles as the Pink House, except under a different church and in a different neighborhood. Daniel moved into the neighborhood where his interns would be living and serving for ten months. This was a move that I too would follow after we were married.

After a full month of living in the Ericson Elementary school neighborhood (McKinley and Chestnut area), my husband began to establish a relationship with the school principal, Mrs. Karen Walker and in no time at all, with the great support and help from ENP, a Saturday Sports program was established. A wonderful connection between the school and The Bridge’s Casa Shalom Urban Ministry program was on its way.

Saturday Sports gave us the opportunity to invite our neighbors to the fun that happens every Saturday morning on the Ericson campus. No longer was I commuting to a Saturday Sports as member of the ENP staff. I was serving at Saturday Sports in my own neighborhood. Ericson Saturday Sports was just two blocks away – a fun two blocks that I would sometimes race to, with the kiddos! These children that lived in my neighborhood were no longer “those kids that live in South East Fresno”, but they were my neighbors.

Last year, I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Chicago where Rev. Dr. Gabriel Salguero, said “No Child is indispensable”, and “that the Children of our community are OUR CHILDREN.” I began to continually think of my neighbors and the immense command that we are called to love them.

Living in the Pink House allowed me to rediscover the importance of being a neighbor; working for ENP allowed me to discover the dignity of every person and living in the Ericson Neighborhood has given me the heart to say, “These are our Children – our neighbors, let us take care of them and love them as Jesus would.”