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Happenings in the Latino CommunityPublishers Commentary

Seeking The Latino Community? Grab A Coffee And Start With Cafecito Caliente

by seinpaul65
written by seinpaul65

So who do you know?

So many businesses and organizations talk about wanting to access the Latino community but don’t know where to start. From our website Cafecito Caliente, I have received emails from businesses and organizations all wanting to understand what Cafecito is about and how can they meet the people we connect with.

In 2023, we held for the first time ever, an awards ceremony recognizing Hispanic Latino individuals for their contributions to the community. Maybe your company or workplace needs to know about this or the next one scheduled for the Cadillac Room in REO Town on Friday, September 25, 2026, and yes, we are looking for sponsors.

We provide support to The Latino Business Conexión of Michigan which acts as a grassroots business association for the Latino community. Collectively, our leadership group offers experience mixed with youthful energy and tech savvy individuals. This year, the LBCM will host their first golf scramble on Sunday, May 31, 2026.

The Cafecito Caliente Group recently purchased the Arctic Corner Ice Cream Shop in which is located in Lansing’s popular Old Town District. We will be celebrating 75 years of operating, and the hope is that we can connect some of the things we do with Cafecito and ice cream.

Our philosophy is “we try to give back to the community in some form by providing connections, resources, workshops, support and by also creating opportunities to meet the Latino community. Do we charge? Well, no, but the hope is that one day I may need something, a contact, a referral, etc. and you see the value that we bring to the table and give dollars, staff or support to them. If you have ever seen the movie “Jerry McGuire”, my philosophy was built on the idea that we should give more personal attention to those we have a relationship with.

Our tagline is: If you want to get to know the Mid-Michigan Latino Community, we know the Hispanic Latino community better than anyone, so let’s talk.

Perhaps your workplace, your business, or your department wants to access the Latino community and doesn’t know we exist. Maybe, you should let them know they should meet with us sometime for a Cafecito at your favorite coffee shop or maybe your place of work. Have them check out our website at CafecitoCaliente.com and especially the happenings in the Latino community here: Mid-Michigan Latino Community Events – Cafecito Caliente. Maybe one day we will serve Cafecito with your favorite pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread), but for now, we will settle for your friendship.

So, who do you know, that should know who Cafecito Caliente is?

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Publishers CommentaryStatewide News

Former Mayor Tony Benavides Passes Away at 84

by seinpaul65
written by seinpaul65

Tony. Benavides. Mayor Tony Benavides. With all due respect to the many Hispanic Latino leaders in the Mid-Michigan area, there was no one like him. And I am certain, there will never be anyone like him again. He was born with a servant’s heart. How many of us in his lifetime, felt like we had hope if we could just reach out to him? How many of us, just knew that Tony, could find a way to lighten our load? And if he didn’t have the answer, then he would get back to you with a resource or two. Add in his wife Carmen, and they together have been a power couple for the ages. 


To so many of us, he was a leader because he was one of us. My earliest memory of Tony was in the kitchen at Cristo Rey on Ballard in the early 70’s. I was probably about 7-8 years old. He had to make the coffee and seen me waiting next to the kitchen door. He apparently knew who my parents were, but I only knew him as the “Director”. He was making the coffee and decided to show me how to make it. While I was getting the pot ready listening to his instructions, he decided to sweep. Confused, I asked him “aren’t you the Director here”? He smiled and said “yes”. I had to ask him, “do you have to do all this too?” He laughed and simply said “leaders serve, good leaders serve”. Outside of my family, he offered the first impression for me of what community service and leadership looked like. 


At the age of 31, he applied and gained the Director position of Cristo Rey Community Center which had evolved from Cristo Rey Church. His love for the Hispanic Latino community included 33 years of leading the Center which used to be a Hispanic Center that offered programs such as counseling, medical services, job placement, youth programs, a Senior Citizens program that engaged an older population with meals and Mexican bingo, parenting classes just to name a few. He had once stated “I went there with the idea of being there three years and it ended up being thirty-three years”. The Center was a haven for Hispanic Latinos and anyone else who needed anything.


Over the last 10 years since I started Cafecito Caliente, my Benavides name has often led to conversation about Tony and Carmen and the impact they made on people’s lives. Tony and Carmen have continued over the years to quietly advocate for others. When Cristo Rey Community Center began to lose its identity as a Hispanic Center not to mention the financial problems that plagued it, he went to the Bishop of the Diocese of Lansing and offered to return to the Director position with no pay. I have no doubt in my mind had the Bishop allowed that to happen, Lansing today would still have a Hispanic Center like so many other cities in the State of Michigan. 


Tony’s love for the City of Lansing, for its people, was endless. Besides his time as Mayor from 2003 to 2006, he spent 22 years on the City Council with a few of those as City Council President.  From the fields of Stockbridge to Schimdt Brothers grocery store (later known as L & L Shop Rite) to Mayor of Lansing. 


Yes, he really was one of us and leaves a legacy of serving others no matter who you are or even what time it is. As I look back, I have to believe that he always took his role in the community as one who could change lives so, that was his job. It seemed that each time that I spent time at Tony and Carmens house, besides wisdom and conversation, they would offer a connection or two.

The community lost one of the best to ever serve this area. My thoughts and prayers are with Carmen and the rest of Benavides family during this time and may you all take comfort in knowing, yes his name is in the Book of Life as he hears the words: “Well done my good and faithful servant”.

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Publishers Commentary

Ever Wonder What Cafecito Caliente Is About? Here Is What We Are Up To!

by seinpaul65
written by seinpaul65

Ever wonder where the Cafecito Caliente storefront is so you can run out and buy some pan dulce? Although I would love to own a coffee shop that served pan dulce and Cafecito, we aren’t there yet and we are not a store or bakery. Why Cafecito Caliente? If you have ever watched the movie My Family/Mi Familia, at the end of the movie, the couple, Jose and Maria, whose family the movie documents, sits at the table with un Cafecito caliente (a hot cup of coffee). Jose reflects and lovingly tells her, “Maria, we have had a good life”. Maria mentions “that it would have been better if” but Jose urges her to not say that and tells her “God has been good to us. Our life, has been very, very good to us”. Maria finally agrees with him as both sit and enjoy their afternoon ritual of their favorite Cafecito.

This probably best reflects what Cafecito Caliente is about. Just a website that tries to highlight the best that Mid Michigan offers in the Latino community. We also made the decision in 2010 to begin creating programs and events that we felt were much needed to keep the culture alive whether it be by creating family friendly events or developing programs that brings resources to our community. It started with a list of 40 ideas in 2007. This list only has nine ideas (with three more we are working on for 2021) so we have a lot of work to do. Here is what we are up as of January 2020:

  • Cafecito Networking Night will return on Tuesday, October, 5, 2022.
  • Networking nights are held in March, May, August and October.
  • Frida 5k Run/Walk March/April 2022. 
  • 2nd Annual Cinco de Mayo 5k Run/Walk May 7, 2022 Lansing, Michigan
  • Loteria 5k Run/Walk Sunday, August 21, 2022.
  • 9th Annual Latino Night with the Lugnuts Sunday, August 7, 2022

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Publishers Commentary

The Current State of Cafecito Caliente

by seinpaul65
written by seinpaul65

I so apologize for being out of the loop on many things. I have taken a night time position at my workplace and it has cost me in terms of being able to show up, take photos and document what the Latino community is up to. I usually take about 6-8 weeks off at the end of the year for family and spend the early part of January planning out the year. As that timeframe approaches, I might have to stay in touch with a few things, as the Latino Advisory Committee is moving forward with a “Latino Family Night” series of 4 nights at 4 different Lansing School locations. The hope is that Cafecito can help revive the oldest Latino non-profit in the Greater Lansing Area.

Lansing’s Latino community once had a Community Center that we could proudly call our own. With the Cristo Rey Community Center now deciding to erase any history that Latinos had there, we now lack a Community Center as the ones in Flint, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids continue to thrive. We sometimes it appears, seem to have nothing. Casa de Rosado has been a jewel and several of the Latino non-profits continue to do their thing, but everything can be hard to find if your looking for resources. Those community centers mentioned are led by folks under the age of 35. Goes to show that the older generation is willing to allow a younger generation to lead. Over the years I had offered the baseball game, 5K Runs, Discount Card Fundraiser to other non-profits offering to do all the work and at the end of the day, we would hand them 100% in the form of a check. We were always turned down. So, we kept the ideas and put them into place. We finally have decided to share them again. I won’t claim to know it all, but its not 2002 or 1972 anymore. Times have changed and the way you reach and help people has too. If your still in love with ABC, NBC and CBS, well, you have no clue what I just wrote.

If you have read this far, thank you, as you have no idea what that means to me. I hope to see many of you at both of our 5K Runs, Latino Day with the Lugnuts, and supporting a couple other projects we will announce later this year. One theme coming in 2020 will be providing support for other Orgs such as a couple Michigan State University groups as well as a yet to be announced fundraiser in April 2020. We also have been wanting to go after a long ago idea that we brought up to several folks and Orgs in the hopes of finding a partner. This one will impact many and that might be an understatement. We may have found a partner for this Summer 2020 project.

Please take the time and check our website as I have updated a few things. Hope you enjoy the hundreds of photos from the community along with the Latino owned businesses in our business directory. Did you know we have over 160 Latino owned businesses in the area?

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Cafecito Caliente EventsPublishers Commentary

Selena Comes Back to the Big Screen at Celebration Theaters

by seinpaul65
written by seinpaul65

Cafecito Caliente recently partnered with Celebration Theaters to bring the 1997 movie Selena back for the weekend in Lansing, Michigan. The movie Selena was played the last weekend to time it with the 23rd Anniversary of her death on March 31, 1995. The Saturday showing sold out.

According to Wikipedia, Selena was an American singer, songwriter, spokesperson, model, actress, and fashion designer. Called the Queen of Tejano music, her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers of the late 20th century. Billboard magazine named her the top-selling Latin artist of the 1990s decade, while her posthumous collaboration with MAC cosmetics became the best-selling celebrity collection in cosmetics history. Media outlets called her the “Tejano Madonna” for her clothing choices. She also ranks among the most influential Latin artists of all time and is credited for catapulting a music genre into the mainstream market.

It was a fun experience but at the same time it was heartbreaking. Of course we all knew the ending. I heard from a couple parents who stated that their younger kids were asking “mom, why are you crying?” There were plenty of tears shed over the weekend. We sold out the Saturday morning showing and had a healthy attendance at the other two showings.
When Selena first came out in 1997, many of us would go see the movie and then we went out to eat. Why? Well, the two go hand in hand but people also wanted to talk after the movie. We didn’t want to go home. We looked for comfort in watching a movie that relived a memorable, but tragic death back then. This time, in a completely different way, many of us walked away with plenty of emotion. Not only did we relive the tragic ending, many of thought back to the time we heard the news of Selena’s death. Almost as if we got punched in the gut twice.

I myself was enjoying the humor, the music, the family and then bam, I suddenly remembered what was coming when she dropped the rose. At least a few people admitted when Yolanda Saldivar held the gun to her head, they wanted her to just pull the trigger. As a friend of mine said the next day after her death, “well, no more Bidi bidi bom bom”.
Again, thanks to everyone who came out. History will remember Selena for being another senseless tragic death. Our culture will remember her as someone who was one of us and her life was just beginning. Selena was truly a beautiful soul who inspired us with her personality, her music and her playfulness. Sadly, we never got to watch her grow old but there are quite a few young ladies born in after 1995 who were named Selena in her honor. Rest in Heaven Selena Quintanilla-Perez 1971-1995. You are still loved.

There were many doubters who said people wouldn’t buy tickets for a movie that everyone has seen 20 times and own the DVD. My response was, explain to me why over 400 people buy $13.00 tickets to a baseball game in August (Cafecito’s Latino Day with the Lugnuts) and don’t watch the ball game? In 2017, Cafecito took over a school district event that was barely alive. We nearly tripled the attendance and if they had given us the time as they promised, we predicted we would bring in 700 folks at their event. People go for the experience. Latinos are family oriented and want more happenings that cater to our families. Nostalgia plays well. And when you have the relationships built, gaining peoples attentionYes folks, the culture is alive and well. We just need to create the space. Cafecito Caliente, can do just that.

Is your business attempting to attract the Latino market? Perhaps your business would like to engage with the Latino community but isn’t sure where to start or your current marketing vehicles aren’t generating the value your looking for? Contact us and we might have some ideas for you.

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