Hello! I'm Sarah Rojas, a Senior at Harvard College fundraising for and runnning the Chicago Marathon on October 12, 2025 with Esperanza Health Centers — an organization that provides bilingual healthcare to the Latinx population of Chicago!

This charity team is really important to me – when my grandparents immigrated from Mexico, they settled in Chicago to start their lives in the United States. It can often be difficult, however, for Spanish-speaking families to find proper medical and mental health care without healthcare facilities with Spanish-speaking doctors and nurses. I am so excited to help Team Esperanza raise the funds necessary to sponsor their bilingual medical program and specifically cover the medical bills for select Latinx families lacking adequate healthcare coverage.

Read More about Esperanza Health Centers Here!

In 2004, residents of the low-income and primarily Latino neighborhood of Little Village joined with administrators from nearby Saint Anthony Hospital to address the critical lack of accessible health services on the Southwest Side. Realizing that thousands of residents lacked quality medical services and relied on the emergency department for routine care, they decided to open a primary care clinic on South California Avenue and name it Esperanza the Spanish word for hope. Today, with seven sites and a team of more than 400 dedicated staff, Esperanza is one of the most respected Federally Qualified Health Centers in the nation, delivering accessible, bilingual care to more than 50,000 patients every year. From adult medicine, women's health and pediatrics to behavioral health services and wellness programs, Esperanza meets the needs of its community with innovation and a sterling commitment to quality. Esperanza today is recognized as a National Quality Leader by the Health Resource