Local author speaks on decades of work on the U.S.-Mexico border

Gil Gillenwater, the author of the book Hope on the Border, contributed decades of work on the U.S.-Mexico border with The Rancho Feliz Charitable Foundation. Gillenwater is the founder and president of the award-winning Rancho Feliz Charitable Foundation, which has reimagined border philanthropy since 1987. For nearly four decades, he has worked hands-on along the U.S.–Mexico border, building programs that empower communities through reciprocal giving and shared dignity.

He is a recipient of the Hon Kachina Award, Arizona’s highest honor for volunteerism, as well as the National Association of Realtors’ annual “Good Neighbor Award,” likewise honoring volunteerism. In 2021, he became the first non-Mexican to receive Sonora’s Premio a la Filantropía, as the individual philanthropic person of the year, recognizing his cross-border philanthropic work. He has also written a book called “Hope on the Border.”

Gillenwater joined “Arizona Horizon” to talk more on his book and his work experience throughout the years.

A key aspect of the Rancho Feliz Charitable Foundation is their reciprocal giving cycle. According to Gillenwater, when you give people something that they did not earn, it disempowers and creates resentment towards the givers. To combat these disparities, the foundation structure all their transactions reciprocally, so the recipients have their own investments.

Growing up, Gillenwater had a privileged life in Arizona; however, when he took one step over the border to Mexico, he got a reality check on what life outside of his looks like.

“I was sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner… and I could write the script,” Gillenwater said. “We’re going to drink too much, eat too much, watch football. When I knew just south of the border there were people, like me, living without the basics of the human condition.”

The shift Gillenwater had in his own mindset, about helping people outside of his community, is what encouraged him to write a book, hopefully spread this mindset to others.

“There’s something wrong with America right now, and I believe that we have a remedy,” Gillenwater said. “We get ’em downt there and make them better people.”