The Avilas will tell you their recipe for success. "You have to have the best quality ingredients, and you have to put in a lot of hard, honest work." Isabel and Guillermo Avila believe, whether you are making enchiladas or economic development, it can all be factored down to those basic ingredients.

Both of them are from pioneer El Paso families. Isabel's grandfather came to El Paso in the 1850s from Spain, through Cuba. Guillermo was born in 1929 in his grandmother's house. He met Isabel through mutual friends. "He used to come and visit my grandmother," remembers Isabel. They married in 1953.

By that time, Guillermo had stopped working at his dad's grocery store, and father and son bought Leo's, a small Mexican restaurant downtown. In 1963 they moved Leo's to North Mesa Street. "We were one of two restaurants on Mesa," chuckled Mr. Avila, who worked hard to make the restaurant grow. "I did all the cooking and planning, and bought all of the supplies."

As Leo's became a popular restaurant, Guillermo became a popular man. There are very few patrons of Leo's who do not remember Guillermo visiting their table and making friends. "I remember we were traveling in Europe, and he ran into someone who knew him," said Isabel. When Guillermo's children wanted to get into the restaurant business, he changed the name of Leo's to Avila's, to better represent the family's hard work. Avila's still serves as a beacon to the hungry, and you can almost always count on a "hello" from the owner—an Avila.

The Avilas are more than good restauranteurs. They are great El Pasoans. Isabel and Guillermo have four children (three in the restaurant business) and six grandchildren in El Paso, and have set examples for all of them by avidly supporting the arts, business and quality of life in El Paso. Guillermo is the only living El Pasoan to be named to the Texas Restaurant Association's honor roll, and he is currently a member of the board of the El Paso Community Foundation.

The Guillermo and Isabel Avila Fund for General Charitable Purposes in the El Paso Community Foundation is only a part of the Avila's Great Gift to El Paso. They will gladly share with you the other part: their recipe for success. They believe El Paso has all the quality ingredients, and that the El Paso Community Foundation does hard, honest work for El Paso. The rest is up to you.