Alex Fuentes is well known El Sol’s Featured Worker to everyone who has visited El Sol on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day ~ the extraordinary spirit of giving that is being celebrated is due in large part to the skills and energy and love that flow from Alex as he oversees the preparation and serving of the holiday meals. It takesa minimum of 35 volunteers to successfully prepare and serve anywhere from 50 to 350 hungry people.Alex manages to collect volunteers like he collects turkeys and ham and all the trimmings ~ many of the volunteers sign up year after year not only because it does their heart good but because Alex makes them feel so good. Alex says:”I am indebted to El Sol for allowing me to do this work. El Sol’s work is done in the spirit of giving and I believe in this mission.” Alex was born in New York City and moved to Miami as a teenager. His family, originally from Ecuador, has been in the food business for many years. Alex and his family have represented national and multinational manufacturers such as Gatorade and Coca-Cola, have owned two Hispanic companies and have provided Hispanic food products for retail supermarkets throughout the country. They provided MRE tamales to personnel serving in the Iraq war and Desert Storm. His family originated the Breakfast Burrito for McDonald’s.
Alex moved to Jupiter from Miami in 2005 because Miami was too busy and Jupiter looked like a great place to live. When asked what brought him to El Sol, Alex said
his mother was like Mother Teresa ~ she did charity work 24/7, so it’s in his blood. A good friend introduced him to El Sol volunteer Tom Walsh. Tom told Alex about Jupiter’s newly opened resource center, El Sol, which turned out to be a perfect place for Alex to share his spirit and his skills.Alex coordinated El Sol’s first Thanksgiving Day celebration and has been coordinating this event ever since. He has begun overseeing the kitchen part of the Christmas Day celebration at El Sol as well. Both events take a tremendous amount of skill and coordination and strong contacts in the food community. Alex has all three and El Sol is grateful for
his service. Alex had five children, ages 14 to early 30s. His son,Alexander, died last April. Alex dedicates his service to ElSol in memory of his 19 year old son, Alexander Fuentes.
Thank you, Alex, for sharing your spirit of love and caring.