Por Sue Smith
Meetings with Pastor John Gallegos and leaders of Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana de LaBelle rarely take place inside a church office. Instead, conversations happen outside under a shaded pavilion on the church grounds, surrounded by several large trees and cooled by a steady breeze that moves across the southwest Florida farmland. From this serene gathering place, church leaders talk about the families who live and work i
n the surrounding community. Families whose lives are shaped by hard work, deep relationships and a shared determination to build better futures for their children.
LaBelle and nearby Immokalee are home to many farmworker families, including seasonal and migrant workers who have come to southwest Florida seeking opportunity while continuing to support relatives in their home countries. Local leaders, many of whom come from generations of farmworkers, often speak first about the strengths they see in these families. Extended families stay closely connected, and when hardship strikes, relatives and neighbors frequently gather around to support one another. Community members share resources, information and encouragement in ways that reflect a deep culture of mutual care.
Yet these conversations also turn to moments of crisis and grief that leave lastingmarks on the community.
In recent years, several children in the neighborhood were struck and killed by vehicles on local streets. These tragedies shook families deeply, but the grief extended far beyond the households directly involved. The losses were felt throughout the entire community. Church leaders responded with prayer, pastoral care and advocacy for safer streets. Even so, many families continued to carry the emotional weight of those events long after the accidents occurred.
As they reflected on these experiences, church leaders began to ask deeper questions about how they might help families move toward healing—not only in moments of crisis but over the long term.
Listening to the Community
Before introducing any new program, conversations were held with local providers who work closely with migrant and Latino families in LaBelle. These discussions confirmed what church leaders were already seeing: the community possessed remarkable resilience, but many families were navigating significant challenges.
Providers identified barriers that often make it difficult for families to access resources. Language differences, limited availability of Spanish-language services, transportation challenges, housing shortages and immigration and legal concerns all contribute to the difficulties families face.
Mental health resources are also limited in the region. Many families carry trauma related to migration, economic hardship and experiences of violence. When those experiences go unaddressed, children often carry the emotional burden within their families.
These conversations highlighted the importance of approaches that support not just individuals but the entire family system.
A Church Already Serving the Community
Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana de LaBelle has served migrant and farmworker families for decades. The bilingual congregation has become a trusted place where families gather for worship, practical assistance and community connection.
In recent years, the church has also partnered with the agricultural ministry Cultivate Abundance. Together they planted an orchard on the church property to provide fresh fruit for families experiencing food insecurity. Volunteers have also been working to renovate an education building that will serve as a multipurpose space for visiting ministry and disaster-response teams and community programs. The church has served as a pick-up point for a school-based program designed to help families with food insecurity during the summer months when school is not in session.
Because of these long-standing relationships, the church was well positioned to introduce new initiatives that could strengthen families across the community.
Introducing Strengthening Families
The Strengthening Families program is a Strengthening Families is an initiative of CBF Global Missions— a faith-based parenting initiative designed to support families who have experienced trauma, generational poverty or significant stress. The 12-session curriculum helps parents heal from trauma, strengthen parenting skills, build secure attachment with their children and integrate spiritual practices into family life.
When church leaders first learned about the program, they quickly recognized how closely it aligned with the needs they had been hearing about in the community. But one practical question remained: who would lead the program? With bi-vocational church leadership in a community where everyone works, there were few people who could take the time needed to attend the three-day training for the initial phase of the program.
One evening, while Pastor John and other family members were discussing the challenge of finding someone to facilitate the sessions, Cristela Martinez, who is Pastor John’s granddaughter, overheard the conversation. She realized the church needed someone willing to step forward.
Cristela volunteered. She traveled to North Carolina to participate in the training that prepared facilitators to guide families through the Strengthening Families curriculum. After completing the training, she returned ready to help launch the program in LaBelle.
Because many parents work long hours during the week, the church decided to offer the twelve sessions across three weekend gatherings in November and December. Facilitating the program required significant commitment from Cristela, including nearly three and a half hours of travel each way. Still, she believed the opportunity to serve families in her home church’s community made the effort worthwhile.
A Community Response
Church leaders were unsure what the response would be when the program began, but 10 adults from the community attended the first weekend session, most of whom were not members of the church. Participants brought eight children with them, who were engaged in age-appropriate activities while the parents participated in the program.
One family even traveled from Immokalee, about 20 miles away, to take part. Over the course of the program, participants returned consistently, even if they had missed a previous session.
Through shared meals, conversation and guided activities, parents reflected on their own experiences, explored ways to support their children’s emotional well-being and practiced simple spiritual rhythms that could be integrated into daily family life. As church leaders sat around the table with participants at the end of each session, they noted changes in the way families interacted. “The parents were immediately integrating their learning, putting new ideas from the day’s session into practice with the kids. That’s what every educator loves to see.”
For Cristela, the experience was deeply meaningful. The program created opportunities to build trust, share faith and strengthen relationships within the community. Encouraged by the program’s success, Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana is already planning to host another Strengthening Families cycle.
And on many afternoons, conversations about the future of the community still take place under the shaded pavilion at the church. As the breeze moves through the trees and leaders reflect on the needs of the families around them, the hope is simple: that through relationships, faith and shared commitment, families in LaBelle will continue finding new paths toward healing and strength together.
Strengthening Families supports parents and caregivers in healing from trauma, strengthening parenting skills and building secure family relationships that nurture faith and spiritual growth.