Richard Alegría

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas –– Members and friends of St. John’s UMC are cleaning up what's left of a home of Marcela Alegría that burned down May 3rd. Marcela is the mother of six children, including Richard Alegría, former president of the Rio Grande Annual Conference United Methodist Men and organist for eight national gatherings of United Methodist Men.

The house is also the childhood home of Raúl Alegría, president of MARCHA, the caucus for Hispanics within the United Methodist Church, and Frank Alegría, a United Methodist pastor in Duncanville, Texas.

Their sister, Elizabeth Riley, and her 3 daughters were living there when the fire erupted.

"We love this family, the Alegría 's are longtime members of St. John's and Liz and her kids, we love them as well and so we're just here showing that love and doing whatever we can," said Executive Pastor Matthew Pennington.

He and other volunteers brought out wheelbarrows full of torched valuables and tossed out damaged furniture. Frank Alegría, says, even though the home itself is a loss, family pictures and some keepsakes were spared.

Marcela is now in nursing home Elizabeth and her children have lost everything and are homeless.

St. John’s UMC is putting them up in motel until they can find a home.

If you would like to contribute to the family, send checks to Dan Ramsey, 18003 Wild Oaks Drive, Houston, TX 77090.