Many residents organize through their church to get their message out. Father Alfonso Guevara is a pastor at St. Joseph the Worker Church, in McAllen: "We take government officials down to the colonias, and we educate them on who they're supposed to be representing. We say, 'Congressman. Senator. Walk with us.' They can see the conditions at their worst. There's a level of respect that a politician has in dealing with members of a congregation. Because it's a church community, the organization has staying power. This kind of organizing is very important in campaigns for getting out the vote. In the last election, one of our precincts had the second-highest turnout in the city of McAllen. This parish organized the people and, with other churches, changed the city. Valley Interfaith has a phrase: 'We make private pain public.' That is the source of our energy."