Every week, Eugenio Ramirez visits La Morenita Market in Napa. He’s not just buying groceries.

The Napa vineyard worker is sending money to his family in El Llano, Mexico. On a good week, Ramirez sends as much as $200 home, using one of the half-dozen wire transfer companies whose services are available at markets all over Napa County.

“I really try to save my pennies so I can provide my family with what they need, but it becomes pretty difficult,” said Ramirez. “Especially when I have my own expenses to take care of here.”

In wiring money to Mexico, Ramirez uses a traditional method of supporting his family abroad.

In 2006, 150 million or so immigrant workers sent some $300 billion to their families in developing countries, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, an agency of the United Nations.

Locals might think the lion’s share of that money goes to Mexico, since the overwhelming majority of immigrants working in the Napa Valley wine and hospitality industries are from Mexico. But in fact, Asian countries including China and Vietnam received some $113 billion in 2006, nearly double the roughly $68 billion sent from the U.S. to Latin America.

Families in Mexico receive some $24 billion a year from relatives in the U.S., according to the IFAD.

Recognizing the positive impact of this money, the Mexican government operates the Tres-por-Uno (Three-for-One) program, which leverages the donations of groups like Club Patzimaro and the El Capricho Association, quadrupling the investment in infrastructure and community projects in Mexico.

Three for one

The brainchild of former Mexican President Vicente Fox, Tres-por-Uno was launched in 2002 to help immigrant clubs and associations raise funds to aid their hometowns. If, for example, an organization raises $10,000 to build a church, Mexican government agencies at the local, state and federal levels come up with another $30,000.

Agustin Pradillo, press consul for the San Francisco office of the Mexican Consulate-General of Mexico, said the policy was drafted to encourage economic growth to create jobs at home, dampening the desire of able-bodied workers to leave for work in the United States and elsewhere.

Tres-por-Uno funds have built factories and produce stands, repaired churches and constructed highways. Essentially, any project considered beneficial to a community is eligible.

The government imposes regulations to weed out inappropriate projects and deter fraud, according to the Mexican Consulate-General’s office.

Sedesol, Mexico’s Secretariat of Social Development, requires that established clubs and organizations have representatives in both Mexico and the country where the club is formed to propose a project. Categories for projects include environmental health, conservation of natural resources, health, education, agriculture, sports programs, cultural development and urban improvement.

Club Patzimaro includes more than 150 members and is raising funds for everything from improving health care to rebuilding roads and churches.

Rigo Castillo, president of Club Patzimaro, said Tres-por-Uno is underutilized.

“There is no organization or a community yet that’s doing its part to use it,” he said.

While the Mexican consulate officials did not provide an estimate of how much money moves through the Tres-por-Uno program, Castillo said he believes that only about 3 percent of the money sent by individuals from the United States to Michoacan is for public or civic projects.

He said some of this money is used for the repair of churches and health centers, but that greater donations would reap substantial rewards.

“It’d be good to have a better economy there so that people could stay instead of having to come here (to the U.S.).”

Castillo and others are working to harness the energy and contributions of workers around the North Bay, launching a group called Federacion de Michoacanos del Norte de California.

“When it first started two years ago, there were about seven clubs involved in it. Now, there are around 25 clubs involved,” Castillo said. He added that he hopes the federation will help motivate more people from Michoacan pull their resources together to improve conditions in Mexico.

Money on the move

Meanwhile, hundreds of individuals are directly assisting their families in Mexican towns by using Orlandi Valuta, Western Union and other services to wire money home.

La Morenita Market, on Jefferson Street across from Napa High School, is one of the biggest in Napa that caters to a nearly exclusively Spanish-speaking clientele. Owner Everardo “Bacho” Curiel said as many as 100 customers a day come in to wire money to their native lands, usually in the Mexican states of Michoacan, Oaxaca or Jalisco, but also within the United States, to Central American countries and once, Curiel remembered, to India.

“People come in, cash their checks, send money to their wives and then buy calling cards, meat or any groceries they may need,” said Curiel.

Curiel said most people who use the services at La Morenita send an average of $300 per transfer per week. “They come every Friday — payday.”

At Mi Familia Market in west Napa, manager Maria Medrano estimated wire-service patrons send around $500 in each transaction, and that 50 or so customers come in for that each week.

They tend to be middle-aged, married men sending money to their wives and kids in Mexico, according to Medrano, though some are young and single. Medrano said offering groceries and the financial services is the perfect combination for her clientele.

“It’s easier to do two things at once rather than go to two different places. It also helps that we’re well-established in the community,” said Medrano.

Both Medrano and Curiel say they see a dip in transfers — and in business generally — during the winter months.

On the other hand, there are occasions when extra money is wired south. “There’re days when there are more people wiring money than usual,” said Curiel, “like on Mother’s Day and Christmas.”

At La Morenita earlier this month, Samuel Estrada was, like Ramirez, sending money home.

The two men’s circumstances are not exactly the same.

Ramirez’ wife and children live in El Llano. Estrada, who works at an Upvalley winery, said he lives with his grown-up sons in Napa. The one he misses is his wife, Maricela, who has stayed back in Patzimaro.

“I wish she could be here with us,” said Estrada. “A woman makes a house a home.”

“She stayed behind because her parents are very old and too set in their ways to adjust to this country. They are too used to the life they have led (in Mexico) their entire lives so for now, Maricela will stay with her parents. I look forward to the day she can come and stay here for good.”

Estrada wires between $200 and $400 to his wife twice a month. “She’s not a big spender but sometimes she gets sick and has to pay visits to the doctor,” Estrada said. “It all depends on what she needs.”