The smiling face of Isabel Celis has kept volunteers staffing a makeshift center and working nearly nonstop for more than 20 days in -a grass-roots effort that has one goal: to bring the girl home safely.
Within hours of Isabel's being reported missing April 21, volunteers - many friends of the family and colleagues of the girl's mother - have organized their own search efforts.
From plastering the city and region with posters showing the smiling 6-year-old, to printing up T-shirts and banners with her face, to creating websites and Facebook pages seeking information, volunteers have remained focused.
"I will put all my energy in trying to find Isa," said volunteer Janel Sanchez, a Tucson Medical Center unit clerk.
She works 12-hour shifts and makes time to sit at the "Bring Isa Home" ramada in the hot parking lot of a shopping center at South Craycroft Road and East Broadway.
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Many of the volunteers work at TMC, where Isabel's mom, Becky Celis, 35, is a nurse.
Becky Celis has at times helped at the center, volunteers said, and both parents told reporters last week that they planned to become more public in the search. The parents have also expressed their gratitude for the volunteers' efforts.
A national expert on missing children said it's not unusual for the community - family members, friends, co-workers and strangers - to form large search efforts.
The day after Isabel was reported missing, the Bring Isa Home volunteer center went up in the parking lot. The Celis home is visible from that lot.
It is there that Sanchez and some 40 hospital workers and community volunteers take shifts - spreading themselves over seven days a week between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.
They pass out fliers - now at 500,000 - with Isabel's face. At times, their faces can't hide their exhaustion - even when they smile and hand out candles, T-shirts, rosaries, bracelets, pens and water bottles to raise money for search costs and to help the Celis family.
TMC cafeteria workers sell Bring Isa Home items at the hospital, and employees donate to the TMC Foundation fund for the Celis family.
"TMC workers are all family. We always come together and help each other out. Something like this just brings us even closer," Sanchez said.
Valerie Ballesteros, a close friend of Becky Celis' and a TMC employee, said she is proud of the community's support. "There is no way we would have been able to do this without the community," she said.
Nearly two dozen businesses have helped through the contribution of fliers, donations, food, water and billboards.
Ella Boyles, 38, and her two daughters have joined the volunteers. "I want Isa home, and if it were my child I would want the same support from the community," she said.
TMC employees also created a website, BringIsaHome.com, to keep those without access to social media sites in the loop.
Kristin Wook, one of the website's administrators, said the site is important because it helps people stay informed and learn how they can help. "We want her face to be the most recognizable face out there."
Bob Lowery, executive director of the missing children division of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said it's common for community members to coordinate efforts to help in cases involving children.
"When a child goes missing like Isabel, it touches a lot of lives more so than people realize," he said. "Children are the most vulnerable of our society, and people react to that in that they want to help and want to do all they can to see a child come back home."
He said volunteer efforts are crucial in keeping missing children at the forefront of people's minds.
"The community events themselves, we believe, are helpful because they remind us that Isabel is still missing, and we know that it's very important to keep the public engaged," Lowery said.
Police SEARCH COSTS TOP $1 MILLION
What's new
The Tucson Police Department's investigation into missing 6-year-old Isabel Mercedes Celis has climbed to more than $1 million - including $250,000 in overtime pay. Today marks Day 21 into the investigation.
"We need to keep an open mind to what might have happened," police Sgt. Maria Hawke said at a news briefing Thursday. "We do not want to pigeonhole ourselves or give ourselves tunnel vision."
So far
More than 1,000 tips have been reported. Isabel was reported missing from her midtown home April 21. Police understand that as more time passes, it is less probable the case will be solved. However, investigators remain hopeful Isabel will be found safe, Hawke said.
Contact reporters Carmen Duarte at cduarte@azstarnet.com or 573-4104 or Veronica Cruz at vcruz@azstarnet.com or 573-4224.
