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Welcome Home WINTER TEXAN • • • October 14, 2020
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We’re just connecting the dots.
VOLUME 6 • ISSUE 1 • October 14, 2020 • • • your official connection to the rio grande valley • • •
hello FROM KRISTI
Welcome Home!
I’m
so excited for the season to begin! Even though it will likely be different than the seasons we’ve become accustomed to, we’re all in this together! Knowing that it will be different regardless of where we winter is what we need to remember this season. Here in the Rio Grande Valley, there is so much to see and do outdoors, so we can practice social distancing and still have a whole lot of fun! This season, we will highlight these activities and keep you informed on where to go and what to do! Our first stop is the National Butterfly Center in Mission. This little piece of paradise is one of my favorite places, and I hope you take the opportunity to visit! Just like our Winter-Texan friends migrate south for the winter, so do our Monarch butterflies, so the timing is perfect! Make sure to stop by their nursery to grab a few native plants to plant at your site! I look forward to seeing you out and about this season...from a distance, of course! • We’re just connecting the dots,
Kristi
THANK YOU TO OUR
2020-2021
SEASON SPONSORS
Maximino “Max” Munoz
How the National Butterfly Center Changed Max Munoz • Story and Photos by Eryn Reddell Wingert •
M
aximino “Max” Munoz grew up in the small town of McCook, Texas. He says his family was the only Hispanic family in the predominately Polish community, located northwest of Edinburg. Munoz says his father farmed land owned by former Green Bay Packers linebacker Tommy Joe Crutcher. Crutcher owned a ranch in the Rio Grande Valley and was co-owner of the Southwest Grain Company in McCook.
“Growing up, we didn’t have roses, tulips or beautiful gardens; we had brush land,” says Munoz. “If you got sick, you hated it because mom would go outside, grab a leaf, and say, ‘Chew on this.’ I hated it.” Munoz says, during his childhood, he didn’t appreciate the plants, trees, and home remedies garnered from the land. But that all changed when NATIONAL BUTTERFLY CENTER CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 >>