I see you're based in AZ, but you go to Mexico to help and do charity work instead of taking care of people in your own country? Then you claim non-profit here so you do not have to pay taxes on that money you take out of the country to help others instead of your own? Did I get that correct or did I miss something?

 

Uthbuild is primarily about building the kids, not houses, and it also has a local outreach function that helps the needy locally (though it's not able to build houses because of the myriad of rules and regulations in the US). I've seen kids who think they're being abused because their X-box is a couple generations old come back from a Mexico building trip finally understanding how fortunate they really are. It does more to get these kids' heads screwed on right than anything I've ever seen (and I've been working with high school kids for 30 years now).

And yes, poor Mexican families do receive help. But "poor" in Mexico means something much different than it does in the US. The previous family of five we built for were living in a camper shell (the kind that is on the back of a pickup truck), and they were lucky relative to many others. And FWIW, I've never been involved in a charity that does so much with so little. And maybe it will impress you at least a little that a family who gets a leg up by having a safe, dry house to live on is less likely to head north across the border.

If you could meet the kids and/or families involved I suspect you'd change your mind.

 

The SDA church has many mission trips into the Mexican interior. They use Dodge and Ford vans in a rather long convoy. They build churches, schools, local community centers and at times repair or make new roads. A change of heart for Christ with lots of love goes the extra mile for the people. Their outreach is going on 50 years.

Most American kids do not go to bed hungry nor are they lacking much. Sure, there are some issues in the inner city, but the safety isn't available to reach them at large. In the interior of Mexico, that is another story.