María Ruiz – Winner of the Certain Women Award 2009

María Ruiz was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. She came to know the Lord at the young age of 13 and has continued to do His work since. She and her family are the founders of JEM Ministries, a ministry that works to provide hope and a future in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. In Marías words, "It all started when I went to my grandmother’s funeral in Ciudad Juárez". After the funeral, María took her aunt home, and saw that she was living in a house made of pallets with a bed sheet for a door. When María protested, her aunt responded, "Don’t worry about us, m’ija; if you want to help out, go visit the school." That visit broke María’s heart. The school had no water, no electricity, and no sewage system. She could not simply pretend that she had not seen the poverty there.

When she returned to El Paso, she told her husband about what she had seen. Though they did not have much extra money, they decided to use what they had to buy snacks to take back to Juárez. The next Monday, María returned to the school to distribute the food. That day, the head teacher said to her, "I don’t know who you are, where you come from, or what you do, but I was wondering if through you a feeding program could be established." María knew that she did not have the means to undertake such a task, but she began to pray about the opportunity. As she walked back to her car, two other ladies approached her and asked again about the possibility of starting a feeding program. She prayed the whole way home.

Once in El Paso, she told her husband about her experience at the school and the request to start the program. Her husband said, "Well, do it." The two of them did not have the money to do it alone, so Jesús suggested that they approach businesses in El Paso to ask for donations. They did just that and received donations. By the next Monday, they were operating the feeding program. For three and a half years they worked in Juárez, feeding 1200 children a day.

After three and a half years, the donations stopped, but by then, the vision had expanded. They collect furniture, clothes, shoes, and toys to distribute in Juárez. They provide seminars on parenting, marriage, hygiene, and other issues. They now have a property on which they are building an orphanage, a community kitchen, and a trade school. God has taken their vision and allowed it to grow beyond what they had imagined.

Today, María lives in El Paso with her husband and their children, Elizabeth and Jesús, Jr. She and her husband continue to travel to Juárez three to four times a week, though they continue to work full time jobs apart from their ministry. Their story has made María a CNN Hero and also gained the attention of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. María urges people to listen to God’s promptings, "Do not be afraid, for He is with you. He will not only provide you with strength, but with all the necessary tools to fulfill His promises in your life."

To read more about María’s work, visit jemministriesep.org.