“I reached out to them and they said, ‘Yeah, we’ll be more than glad to help you’,” says Albert Cavazos, city commissioner of Lyford, TX, who runs a local food drive.

The El Valle Detention Facility in nearby Raymondville, TX has assisted with the drive for quite some time. Facility leaders learned of the service opportunity at a community gathering.

“I was talking to the warden and I talked to Ms. Saldana and Aisha, and I told them what was going on, and they said, ‘Whenever y’all need our help, if we can get the permission, we’ll go ahead and help you,’” says Albert.

Francisco Venegas is the El Valle facility administrator. “Well, we’ve participated in the food drive because it’s a great cause for the community. MTC believes, and we believe, that it’s important that we become embedded within the communities where we work.

We want to show the people that we care about them and that we’re not just here to run a business, we’re here to be part of this community.”

“I’ve approached him, I’ve told him thank you for his assistance,” Albert says of Administrator Venegas. “And he’s always saying, ‘You know what? Whatever you need, just come to me.’ And that means a lot.”

Helping with the food drive is not the only way El Valle serves the community. The facility has a long track record of supporting all sorts of local causes, organizations, and community events, participating in a variety of ways.

“Well, for me, I believe it follows with the BIONIC philosophy – the ‘Believe It Or Not I Care’ philosophy – because the way I look at BIONIC, it’s people helping people,” says Administrator Venegas. “Whether it’s co-workers helping co-workers or our staff helping the detainee population that we care for, or help building the communities that we work in. It’s people helping people. And I think that by us participating in community events, we are fulfilling our pledge to BIONIC.”