CMI History

Café Corazon began in 1999 as a grassroots outreach ministry of Travis Park United Methodist Church to provide support  to the homeless people who congregated in Travis Park facing the Church in downtown San Antonio. Café Corazon served weekly Sunday breakfast to poor, marginalized, and homeless persons, eventually drawing larger and larger crowds. Café Corazon’s volunteers soon identified an unfulfilled need too large to address with a weekly support program, so in 2004 church members founded Corazon Ministries, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization serving as a comprehensive faith-based support system for homeless and poor people in Bexar County. CMI is governed by an independent board of directors.

 

CMI’s Day Center initially shared space with Travis Park United Methodist Church offices. The success of the Day Center, reflected in the unexpected serving of more than 150 people per day, required it operate in another of the church’s buildings. Minimal staff, supported by church volunteers, expanded the Day Center operation to providing services Monday thru Friday. CMI also sought support from the city of San Antonio. Additional funding partners have included the Orsinger Foundation, Baptist Healthcare Foundation, Kronkosky Foundation, Ellison Foundation, Women’s Bar Association, as well as numerous anonymous private donors and individual contributors.

 

CMI demonstrated its capacity to supplement organizational resources through successful partnerships with the PATH team from the Center for Health Care Services, St. Mary’s University School of Law Poverty Clinic, and several area universities, churches and corporations.

 

The CMI Day Center closed as San Antonio’s Haven for Hope campus opened. But, Corazon Ministries, Inc. still provides meals and support on Sunday mornings during Café Corazon which includes a clothes closet, showers, hygiene kits, reading glasses and an information booth to provide assistance connecting individuals with other agencies and job searches. There is also a free healthcare clinic staffed by volunteer physicians.