EL PASO

Art highlights hope at Child Crisis Center of El Paso

Samuel Gaytan
El Paso Times
Enrique Davila, CEO of the Child Crisis Center of El Paso, left, stands with El Paso artist Diego "Robot" Martinez in a hallway painted by Mario Ulloa and Sophia Gonzalez. Lizette Ochoa donated prints

Borderland artists helping youths served by the Child Crisis Center of El Paso know that members of the community love them.

Artists, including Diego “Robot” Martinez, Mario Ulloa and Sophia Gonzalez have brightened the walls of rooms at the center, and Lizette Ochoa donated prints.

Martinez, 34, said he became involved through Ulloa’s outreach.

Martinez has donated several paintings to the center and he and Ulloa have painted rooms there.

The donations have had an uplifting effect on the children and the staff, center CEO Enrique Davila said.

He told of one boy who was disappointed when a girl was placed in a foster home, while the boy, who has been at the center at 2100 N. Stevens St. in Central El Paso for a while, wasn’t.

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El Paso artist Diego "Robot" Martinez on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, stands by a hummingbird mural he is painting at the Child Crisis Center of El Paso.

“His demeanor just changed, like, ‘Wow, I’m still here,’" Davila said.

But as soon as he was shown a room Martinez painted with a Spider-Man theme, the boy’s demeanor changed again, Davila said.

“Do you think maybe he can put a Hulk in here, too?” Davila said the boy asked.

“I’m gonna put a Hulk in here now,” Martinez said.

“But the thing is, it took his mind off of it,” Davila said. “It shifted everything for him.”

Davila explained the center’s mission: “Our center is the emergency shelter for children zero to 13 who are victims of abuse, neglect or exploitation, and we're open 24/7.”

He said the center offers a temporary home to children until the issues that brought them in are resolved, family members are found or they are placed in foster homes.

He said the center is licensed to serve as many as 31 children, but usually averages about 25.

He said children typically stay from two to three weeks, but “our normal stay right now is averaging about four to six months.”

He said the pandemic didn’t create longer stays, but did change one factor.

“One thing that the pandemic did cause was an influx of infants versus school-age children,” Davila said.

“Now that things are starting to open up, we're seeing a return back to the school-age children and usually that's because the schools serve as a safety net,” he said. “The counselors, teachers they identify victims of abuse and report it, and they wind up here.”

Davila said it’s heartbreaking to hear of the abuse children have endured. He also said when he hears them talking about themselves as foster children, he wants to help them see themselves simply as children who deserve the same hopes, dreams and treatment as others and not see themselves with a “foster children” label.

He said the artwork is helping.

“They hear shelter,” he said, and “they think of something gloomy, so this literally just breaks any preconceptions ... This is not your typical shelter. And anything that gets their mind off their particular situation helps them a lot.”

He said the artwork has brought joy to the children.

“It really has lightened up the lives of the children just by being in here. It's totally different. They get a sense of happiness ... They kind of forget the circumstances. The kids loved it, the staff loved it, so we're very grateful for that.”

Davila said the need for more foster homes, not the pandemic, is the reason for the longer recent stays, explaining that many children from El Paso are placed in homes in San Antonio or Houston. He said there is a need for good foster parents.

El Paso artist Diego "Robot" Martinez works Tuesday, April 13, 2021, on a hummingbird mural he is painting at the Child Crisis Center of El Paso.

Helping meet the need to shelter children until safe havens can be found is a challenge.

“Our organization is a nonprofit, so we heavily rely on donations,” Davila said, adding that the center could not have afforded to pay Martinez for his work there.

“We wouldn't be able to afford something like this, so we rely heavily on the community for donations,” whether it’s monetary, time or volunteer work — “anything that can help us see the children through their circumstance.”

Martinez said the freedom the center gave him to create for the children was a special experience artists too seldom receive.

He said too often community members take for granted the efforts of good-hearted people who work to protect children. Donating his work is a way for him to thank them and show his appreciation.

“I'm walking out of here a little different and hopefully I can keep that feeling with me forever. I think it will stay with me.”

He said other others who want to help or volunteer can fill out applications.

People also can donate to the center through http://www.childcrisiselp.org/make-a-donation/

Donations raised from his friends and followers on Instagram helped raise about half the funds for the paint he used, Martinez said.

The value of the donated paintings and mural work run into the thousands of dollars, but Martinez said helping the center means more to him than the financial impact.

He said too often the things people value in life are things that ultimately don’t matter, such as the emphasis on money and selling.

“Artwork is kind of subjective and it's not really guaranteed, and so it's not really important for me at this point. … I guess I'm not really worried about the sales anymore. … I just want to feel like I have a purpose, a voice.”

He said by helping the center, “I feel like I’m giving these kids a voice and giving the people here some kind of hope. I think that's where it's at.”

Being the father of two daughters, Lailah, 11, and Alana, 2, also has brought added significance to the project.

Enrique Davila, CEO of the Child Crisis Center of El Paso, on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, stands by a Spider-Man mural by Diego "Robot" Martinez. It is one of the artworks donated to the center by El Paso artists.

“I'm seeing my kids in all this and all the children's faces here, realizing how hard it is to be a parent and realizing how I've been lucky to have support with April, my wife, and just kind of like having a team support.”

He said he’s grateful for the blessings in his life.

“You're seeing the little blessings that you have throughout … just the fact that my kids have their own room … so, yeah, it's really just humbling and surreal.”

But while the artwork lets the children sheltered at the center know members of the community are thinking of them, it can’t cover up the fact expansion is needed.

Davila said the 40-year-old building has served the community well, but expansion is needed to provide more stability to children who need longer-term care, especially when it comes to keeping siblings together.

He hopes someone will donate land or help raise funds for a larger site that can offer medical care, longer-term housing and even on-site education for children.

For now, though, colorful walls are reminders of the brighter futures hopefully in store the children served by the center.