The words “rainbows” and “sunshine” have rarely been used to describe raising a child. Motherhood can be an emotional rollercoaster, with intense happiness but also constant worry and fear.

In Brownsville, Felicia Rangel-Sampanaro knows this anguish intensely.

For six years, she has provided maternal love and care to thousands of refugee youths and their families along the Mexican border as co-founder and director of Sidewalk School, a program offering free education, food and water to children living in encampments and shelters in Matamoros and Reynosa.

“My work day is from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed,” she said, about balancing her humanitarian work with partner Victor Cavazos, making a living and raising her now-teenage son.

Sidewalk School launched out of necessity w

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