Kendal Blust/KJZZ

Phoenix Sister Cities volunteer Frank Beltran (second from right) talks to the Hector Esparza, the children's hospital director, as they prepare to unload a trailer full of medical supplies.

Last week, members of the Phoenix Sister Cities program drove to neighboring Sonora, Mexico, to deliver medical supplies to a children’s burn unit in Hermosillo. Phoenix and Hermosillo have shared a Sister City relationship since 1976.

For years now, Phoenix and Hermosillo sister cities volunteers have collaborated to provide the local children’s hospital with training, medication and other supplies to treat burn victims.

"It started with a sad story," said Frank Beltran, a longtime volunteer who has been the lead on the project.

Kendal Blust/KJZZ

Volunteers unload medical supplies donated from the Phoenix Sister Cities to a children's hospital in Hermosillo.

He said years ago two children in Sonora died of burn injuries after an explosion in San Carlos, and his Hermosillo counterparts asked for help establishing a burn unit.

"Now with this equipment we’re sending them today they’re going to be really advanced in their taking care of burn victims," he said.

The Sister Cities worked with the nonprofit Project Cure to bring a wide range of supplies to Hermosillo, most importantly a skin grafting machine.

Phoenix joined the Sister City movement in 1972 and has 11 sister cities around the world.