By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rioan Mary Mota has once again marshaled an army of volunteers and sponsors to make the
holiday season brighter for dozens of the area’s neediest families.
Mota founded “Christmas Around the World” 20 years ago after she retired from a career as a
parental liaison in the local public school district. As part of her work at the school district, Mota
was part of the “adopt a family” program, where she saw the need among so many local families.
Mota worked with the school district to obtain the names of families most in need, and after she
retired, she began working with local sponsors – both businesses and individuals – to provide the
children in those families with gifts to celebrate the Christmas season.
Antonio “Tony” Faz III County Annex. The event is organized every year by Del Rioan Mary
Mota, an army of volunteers and generous individual and business sponsors from around the
community. (Courtesy photo/Mary Mota)
“Christmas Around the World” has grown since those early days. During the 2025 holiday
season, Mota and her volunteers handed out mountains of donated toys, as well as new clothes,
shoes and jackets.
“Our sponsors adopt a family, and what does that mean? You ‘adopt’ a family with one, two or
three children. There is a form that tells you the clothing sizes for each child, including jacket
sizes, and whatever toy they are desiring, and then the sponsor buys those things, puts them in a
bag and brings it in to us, and we distribute it to the families during our ‘Christmas Around the
World’ event,” Mota said.
One of the highlights of this year’s event was the distribution of 15 electric bicycles donated by
Del Rio’s Promise Land Church, led by Pastor Orlando Venegas. Mota said Val Verde Regional
Medical Center stepped in to donate 15 safety helmets to go with the bikes.
Through Del Rio’s McDonald’s restaurants, Mota is also able to provide each one of the children
who attend the event with a Happy Meal.
“Christmas Around the World” settled in a new home this year, too, at the Judge Antonio “Tony”
Faz III County Annex. Mota said the event has been looking for a larger venue, and she said
County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez approached her with the idea of using the
county annex, and the idea was blessed by county commissioners court.
Before this year’s distribution event, Mota said, “This year, I am overwhelmed with the support
from the community. Our community is so good. I can’t believe everything that was given, and
we were able to help between 70 and 75 children.”
Mota is quick to credit much of the event’s success to the sponsors who stepped in to provide for
the organization and who continue to help further its aims.
Mota said one of the event’s first sponsors was Jose Ernesto Salazar of JESCo Contracting
Services. She said Salazar continues to support the program to this day.
Another local business also stepped in, Mota said.
“Along came the late Mrs. Martha Mendoza from McDonald’s and asked what I needed to start
my program. I needed a computer and printer, and she went to Walmart and bought them for the
program. Secondly, she told me, ‘You do this program, Mary, and we will do a Happy Meal for
the children.’ This has continued with Mr. Frank Mendoza and Mr. and Mrs. Manuel and Elenita
Pacheco,” Mota said.
Mota said this year she also wanted to thank the following sponsors: The Bank & Trust, Texas
Community Bank, Sylvia Owens; H-E-B #2; Brown Automotive, Pete Ortiz; R.P.V. Construction
LLC, Roy and Yara Perez; Promise Land Church, Orlando Venegas and Sandra and Raul
Biscaino; Keller Williams Realty, Laura Rojas; Border Federal Credit Union, Abram Rodriguez;
Julio’s Chips, Miguel Garcia; The Ramada Inn of Del Rio, Polo Del Rio, Blue Oasis, Jim
Roberts; Food Bank San Antonio Texas, Andrew Scarbo; RedBird Realty, Arturo Paniagua; and
Sirloin Stockade, Mr. and Mrs. Don Beeson.
Local elected officials who assisted with the event included County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr.,
County Commissioner Pct. 1 Kerr Wardlaw, County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez,
County Commissioner Pct. 3 Fernando Garcia, County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus”
Flores, County Tax Assessor Collector Elodia “Loly” Garcia, Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus,
Councilwoman Ernestina “Tina” Martinez and Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez.
Mota said individual sponsors included Elissa Barrera, Ale Dovalina, Ana Markowski Smith,
Mari Acosta, Hatali and Clifford Castle, Vivi Reposteria, Viviana Mares, Ana Delgado, Annette
Mendrkr, Blanca Esparza, Rosamaria Pina, Rosie Munoz, Maria and Abner Martinez, Angela
Garcia, Karen and Mike Gleason, Santa Sandoval, Rosario Rubio, Gloria Zuniga, Susan McBee,
Velma Vela, Luisa Zaragoza, Angela Zaragosa, Melori Zaragosa, Bertte Guerra, Cecilia Valdez
and Chayo Sanchez.
Also, Deya Diego, David Scarbo, Stella Scarbo, Idalia Gonzalez, Olga Sandoval, Olga Hidalgo,
Ruth Hidalgo, Rey Salgado, Alexia Trujillo, Bettie De La Rosa, Dr. Lee Keenen, Trarystyne
Green, Mary Villalobos, Dotty Vogt, Carolyn Hill, Mari Rios, Linda Cardenas, Bea Robles and
Dulce Mota.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
