Tours that benefit the children of San Miguel! [] Patronato Pro Niños

Published February, 11, 2023

By Alix Nicoll

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, several visitors and residents of San Miguel de Allende approach our volunteers asking them the question “Are you the tour guides who collaborate to benefit children?” And those volunteers respond with a “Yes, we are!”

Donations from the tours help fund the Medical/Dental Units that leave for San Miguel communities every day of the week at 7:30am. Medical visits end until all children have been cared for. This is how we offer medical, dental, nutritional and psychological care to children from families who otherwise could not pay. These visits from our medical teams are lifesaverses for disadvantaged families, without which these children could never have a small complaint reviewed before it becomes a serious condition. Care is diagnostic and preventive: toothbrushes and toothpaste are always distributed and always received with smiles.

Patronato Pro Niños has hired the services of four exceptional, bilingual guides, certified by the state of Guanajuato.

Dali Amaro, our oldest guide, has over 20 years of experience and is originally from San Miguel de Allende.

Marimar Gonzalez has her own company and is a passionate advocate for charitable giving. In his words, “One of the reasons I love giving back to the community is to teach my son that it’s our responsibility to do so if given the opportunity.”

Tenshi Israel Arteaga, born and raised here, is a cultural educator interpreter with nine years of experience as a guide. He is adventurous, lover of nature, fine arts, mezcal and Mexican history.

The team is completed by Alejandro Gutiérrez, a proud sanmiguelense even more of its history and culture. He has seven years of experience as a guide. In his words: “because I like what I do, I do it well.”

Regular tours run in English, lasting around 2.5 hours, mostly outdoors, on flat roads and cover all the important sites that make San Miguel de Allende interesting. These tours are offered as an “invitation”, so the donation of 400 pesos will be received at the meeting point. We also offer private tours, with your previous donation are booked online and coordinated at your convenience. We’ve reintroduced two special tours: an architectural tour that covers 400 years of fascinating architectural styles, and a church tour that delves into art and artifacts. All special and private tours can be booked and your donation can be made online (most major credit cards are accepted).

For more than 50 years, Patronato Pro Niños has been a Mexican non-profit organization, relying on the support of residents and visitors to help us offer medical, dental, nutritional and psychological care to the children of families who cannot afford these services.

For more information on regular tours and/or how to pre-arrange a private, architectural or church tour, email historicwt@patronatoproninos.org or call 415 152 7796.

By promoting good health and oral hygiene, by providing necessary medical and dental care, by working with other health care providers as advocate and funding source, we help children from economically disadvantaged families in San Miguel de Allende lead healthier, fuller lives. And we’ve been doing this for 45 years. We now see second and third generations of the same family. These families trust Pro Niños.  And we’ve earned that trust by helping literally thousands and thousands of children through the years. With your help, we will continue this tradition and add to the many programs we already have in place.

Please donate now so that more children may THRIVE.

Click to donate NOW!

Founded in 1970, Pro Niños was able to provide medical care to only 20 children in our first year of operation. Since then, we have grown in size and scope so that we now provide dental care to over 9,000 children, and medical care to 2,500 children in and around San Miguel de Allende. In total, we give more than 23,000 treatments a year. To serve these children, we have on staff four dentists, a doctor, a full time social worker and eight support staff.   We are accredited in Mexico as a charitable, non-profit organization (Asociación Civil), registered in the Federal Registry and awarded with tax exemption status. We are also incorporated in the United States as a 501 (c)(3) under the name “FTC International, Inc.” to accept U.S grants and individual donations.   All Mexican children from birth to 16 years of age who do not receive medical care from private insurance or social security benefits are eligible for our medical and dental care programs. It is estimated that 44,000 children fall into the 0-to-16-year-old category. Less than 15% receive social security benefits, leaving many without adequate medical care. We coordinate our services with two Mexican government programs (Seguro Popular and Nueva Generación) and fill some much-needed service gaps. Dental care, for other than the middle and upper-economic class, is nonexistent.   To preserve dignity and promote parental involvement with necessary follow-up care, families are asked to participate in the cost of their child’s care according to their ability, which in many cases is as little as ten pesos.   Every morning at 7:30, our three mobile dental vans depart San Miguel to visit some of the hundreds of villages needing dental services. Teachers, parents and children often meet our dentist and her assistant/driver at the entrance of the village. In a typical day, our dentists are able to dispense 25-30 treatments and the vans will return to the village for as long as it takes to serve every child.   The medical and dental care we provide can dramatically change lives and in some cases, even save lives. Once we have determined an individual child’s needs, we work closely with medical providers – as advocate and funding source – to make sure the child gets the best care possible.   On any given day in the clinic, our doctor treats as many as 20 children directly and refers others to specialists and various service providers as needed. The doctor also conducts follow-up to ensure that the children receive the required care from outside service providers. The in-clinic dentist treats an average of 15 children per day; those whose villages are not being visited by the mobile vans.   The Mexican Government, recognizing that Pro Niños fills gaps in the health services provided to citizens, provides support through grants of various amounts from various departments.  Other funds are raised through donations from members, local residents, and visitors to San Miguel. We also receive additional funding from other active charities in San Miguel and from foundations.