Children's Dining Room Futbol y Corazón A.C.

In 2006, the Futbol y Corazón A.C. Children's Dining Room was opened in Saltillo by the Rafael Márquez Foundation, a project that provided food and support to children from low-income families in the La Minita neighborhood, located in the southwest of the city. However, after 11 years, only memories remain.

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Rosa María García said that the dining room was open for four years and the children who attended also trained in soccer. Rosa offered her home so that the children would have a comfortable place to have their meals every day.

María indicated that initially they served 100 children, but the number increased to 400. However, over time, the children started to withdraw until support from the Rafael Márquez Foundation was discontinued and the dining room closed in 2010.

"They just notified me that there would be a meeting to return the ownership of my house because the Foundation was leaving. It started in 2006 and ended between August and September 2010," she commented.

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"Rafa came in September 2006, because he was coming from Germany and he came directly here to the house, very happy because he was with a star, he was very kind," she added.

Now that the news of the footballer's alleged ties to drug trafficking has come out, Doña Rosa said that since she got her house back 7 years ago, she shouldn't have any problems in any sense, even though the Foundation was one of the companies used for money laundering.

"I actually don't believe it, but I realized that people are kind of strange. He only came to see the facilities twice and then he left," she expressed.

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In 2009, the installation of a new dining room was planned with the support of the then-elected mayor, Jericó Abramo, and the governor of the state, Humberto Moreira.

The goal was for the second dining room to offer not only food and workshops but also technology to educate low-income children.

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