Eva Longoria launching after-school center in S.A. for disabled children

Eva's Heroes, a local nonprofit organization founded by actress Eva Longoria, will soon open the group's first after-school program for developmentally challenged children and young adults.

More than 40 volunteers from the Valero Energy Corp. Volunteer Council will be on site at the Eva's Heroes Center on Saturday to help paint interior walls, doors, cabinets and provide other final touches for the facility.

The center is located at St. Matthew's Catholic Church and is slated to open in mid-September 2007. This particular center will provide the foundation of what could be a network of similar centers throughout San Antonio, the state, even the nation.

"Eva's Heroes is an organization that strives to enhance the lives of the young adults that are served under the charity," Executive Director Christiane Perkins-Garcia says, adding that the work performed by the Valero Volunteers will help make the center ready for the new school year. Valero Volunteers is made up of employees of San Antonio oil refiner Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO).

Speaking of Eva's Heroes, Longoria says, "This organization is extremely important to me and close to my heart. I was fortunately to grow up with an intellectually disabled sister, so I am very passionate about the opportunity to help young adults with development disabilities by offering a place for them to enrich their lives."

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