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OcT 18-24

Week in Review:Week in Review:Week in Review:

Santa Teresa H.S. students hold canned food drive Making recycled shopping bags Fun way to repurpose books Add your story Dress in style at bargain prices Celebrating the spirit of giving Martial Arts: Creating a Positive Impact

In every issue:In every issue:In every issue:

Letter from the E.D.

Featured way(s) to help WInC Events

Giving ThanksGiving ThanksGiving Thanks WInC Thanksgiving Day Celebration

Women’s Intercultural Center

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A place where WOMEN learn and work together to develop their SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, ECONOMIC, and POLITICAL POTENTIAL.

“You have stage four colon, lung and stomach cancer. “ the doctor said. His words were life changing not only for Carter, the father of my children but our family as a whole. Those words opened our eyes and made us start to look at things differently. It has been a year since he was diagnosed with Cancer. We have had our challenges and survived three close calls with death. What did we learn? Life and happiness are not dependent upon any single situation or person; we don’t have to have everything our way; we don’t have to be loved by everyone; the world doesn’t end if we’re rejected. The most important new insight, however, is having a healthy outlook. It really works wonders. We’ve learned that time passes. Life goes on. Love waxes and wanes. Hearts break. Careers end. Jobs come and go. Children grow up and need to follow their dreams. Parents die. People make promises they don’t or can’t keep. Pain is inevitable. Finally, we learned that we have a choice about how to deal with pain! It was either mope around feeling sorry for ourselves or get out there and enjoy life’s endless delights. Life is short; we are doing our best not to miss it. This Thanksgiving, my family and I had a lot to be thankful for. Carter celebrated his 44th birthday. Family and friends literally gave him everything he wished for. While we’ve had our ups and downs, he remains healthy and enjoying life. The doctors are amazed at how his body has been able to process the chemotherapy as are we. I have a great job, a great Board of Directors and a supportive staff that have facilitated my ability to balance my job with my family duties and ability to care for Carter.

We have strong family and peer support. Carter’s closest friends have been a God send. They have helped us care for him and provide him plenty of opportunities to enjoy life while I attend to the Center. My sons have been my rock and have stepped up their efforts to help me in whatever is needed to be done. They truly are the greatest blessing of my life for which I am most thankful for. The matriarch of our family celebrated her 80th birthday surrounded by her children and grandchildren. Most of those close to me know that my mother is the inspiration for what I do, she is my hero, my mentor and my best friend. Every Sunday is devoted to spending time with her and the rest of my kin. We are blessed and thankful to be able to have a loving home that embraces and re-energizes us the minute we walk in the door. I am thankful that slowly but surely we are improving our diverse methods of funding providing people from every walk of life the opportunity to help sustain the Women’s Intercultural Center which is the heart of the region. And most importantly I am thankful for YOU for giving us the opportunity to be a catalyst for change in the lives of the women of Southern NM and West TX, their families and communities. We couldn’t do it without YOU! With much gratitude,

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS

Tony Martinez Chair

Eldelisa Nava Vice –Chair

Petra Devora Treasurer

Joanne Vullo Secretary

MEMBERS Victor Acosta

Grace Jacquez-Chase

303 Lincoln St * Po Box 2411

Anthony, NM 88021 575-882-5556

Fax: 575-882-7312 www.womensintrculturalcenter.org

Letter From the Executive Director

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A group of young ladies from Santa Theresa High School hosted a canned food drive to help feed the hungry of Southern NM and West TX. They made posters and put them up throughout the campus to advertise the canned food drive to their fellow high school students. All food items were delivered to WInC to stock our

Emergency Food Pantry just in time for the Thanksgiving Day holiday. The students have been coordinating their senior service projects with Ilse Arrieta, Programs Coordinator at WInC. She has advised them on the needs of the Center and the various activities that they can lead.

The compassionate spirit of the students motivated them to do the canned food drive. The Center is thankful for the efforts of the students and most importantly for learning small actions can make a difference in their community.

Santa Teresa High School students hold canned food drive

Making Recycled Shopping Bags

WInC continuously focuses on being green and recycling/repurposing items for our operations and classes. The idea of making paper bags out of newspapers came from visiting our friends at Klothes Lime. Angela showed us a bag made out of newspaper from a group in Mexico. She loved using these recycled bags instead of plastic bags for her customers. The bags se rved as conversational pieces and her way of contributing to a non-profit. Most importantly, it was her way of doing her part

to save the world. She loaned us a bag as a sample and we took it from there. But we went a few steps further. We now make bags not only out of newspapers; we’ve learned to make them out of posters, magazines and t-shirts. Participants and Honeycomb Thrift Store customers love the paper bags and reuse them as gift bags. As for the t-shirt bags, some re-use them as laundry bags, gro-cery bags or bags to carry class items.

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A place where WOMEN learn and work together to develop their SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, ECONOMIC, and POLITICAL POTENTIAL.

For our upcoming Christmas Celebration, the centerpiece will

be our Christmas tree made entirely out of books! We originally

wanted to do a tree made out of cans; however, a majority of

the cans that were donated had been crushed. So we opted

for the next best thing, books. Thanks to donations to the

Center’s Honeycomb Thrift Store we had an abundance of

books to make our tree.

Ilse took the lead on building the tree. She and the volunteers

built it in one day. You could hear her throughout the day, “No,

it’s not right, take it down. Let’s do it again.”

We will be placing gifts around the Christmas tree the week

after Thanksgiving as we prepare for our annual Christmas

Celebration which distributes jackets and toys to the children

and grandchildren of our participants.

If you are interested in building your own Christmas tree of

books, here are some of Ilse’s tips on how to make it:

1. The Base: If you don’t want to/need to move the tree – pick

your spot on the floor and start building. If you may want to

move it, you can do what we did which is to add two small

tables as a base. Keep in mind that the finished product will

weight about 1.5 lbs for every book you use.

2. Layering is the key to shaping the tree. Set aside books of

various heights and thicknesses. What you want to do is make

concentric circles that start big and gradually decrease in

radius. While doing this you need to keep the thickness on

each layer about the same. The height of the books comes into

play as you make the circles. As you get to the top however

you will want very small (5 or 6″ tall) books on hand to make it

taper.

3. Lighting – we put a net of lights over the tree that is normally

used for bushes. This is something to consider, but make sure

it is not a fire hazard. You can also use Christmas light strands

to weave in and out of the book spaces but do so carefully as

you don’t want to disturb the placement of any of the books.

That’s about it for the tips. Feel free to ask questions and have

fun! This is a great way to re-purpose books!

Fun way to repurpose books...

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Add your story!Write a review of WInC

Participants, volunteers, supporters, donors and partners: Take 2 minutes to review us and help us be recognized as an outstanding nonprofit in the 2012 Greatnonprofits Top-Rated Awards at: http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/write/womens-intercultural-center-inc/campaign:top-rated-awards. See the most recent reviews below: I have been fortunate to work with the wonderful staff and members of the Women's Intercultural Center for the past ten years. During the past decade Andele Tutors, an organization that offers free after school tutoring for under served children, was able to use the safe, warm, and wel-coming community room of the Women's Intercultural Center for many tutoring sessions as well as award ceremonies and holiday parties. More recently, with the guidance and support

of the Women's Intercultural Center , current Executive Director, Mary Carter, we were able to reach out to over 350 families to develop dialogue and interest in establishing a health sciences charter school in the local school district. Mary and her staff work tirelessly and effectively for the local community. The Women's Intercultural Center serves as a vital and important cultural, educational and social asset to the entire southern New Mexico region. —Raphael & Lorna, Andele Tutors Inc. The Women’s Cultural Center is one of the best places to learn about yourself. The center’s physical activities help develop your mind and body. I highly recommend it to anyone! —Louie Alfaro

Dress in style at bargain prices

Little black dress—.25 cents Fun and sexy style—.75 cents Casual look—.50 cents

The Honeycomb Thrift Store is a great place to shop and donate the stuff you no longer use. Find great styles at bargain prices for you and your family. All proceeds from the store help fund our operations.

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A place where WOMEN learn and work together to develop their SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, ECONOMIC, and POLITICAL POTENTIAL.

There were many things to be thankful for during the Women’s Intercultural Center’s (WInC) Thanksgiving Day Celebration. Our participants and their families dedicated the celebration to giving thanks for what they have. At WInC, we know that the most powerful thing we can do is to give thanks. Participants and their families were asked to list three things they are thankful for. As participants shared their lists, the common theme was thankful-ness for family and health. Rosie, Center participant said “I give thanks for having a Center like this to be able to be amongst family and friends. A place where everyone is welcomed and where we learn so much from the classes and our peers.” Gratitude filled the gallery as we continued our celebration. We then took part in the Holiday Mail for Heroes Program spearheaded by the Red Cross and Pitney Bowes. Participants and their families wrote Christmas Cards to our military service members wishing them a Merry Christmas and letting them know how grateful we are for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice. Food, drink and great conversations soon followed as we enjoyed other’s company. Special thanks to Mecca Therapies for their presentation, the Camino Real Landfill for donating the turkeys for our Thanksgiving Day Celebration; El Paso Rhinos for game tickets that were given to our participants and their families, and the many volunteers that helped in make the event a success.

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Simple ways to help WInc

Looking for an easy way to support WInC? Here are some ways you can help us that won't cost you but a few minutes of your time through everyday tasks: 1. Have you made an online purchase only to remember later that you forgot to use Goodshop and earn money for our cause?

Now there's a way to make sure you never miss a donation opportunity. Download the latest browser add-on from Good-search at www.goodsearch.com.

2. Help feed the hungry, donate to the Center’s Emergency Food Pantry. 3. Designate us as the charity of your choice at www.goodsearch.com,then use you them for your Internet searches and one

penny will be donated to our cause.

THANK YOU 4 YOUR SUPPORT!

At WInC, we come together to identify the gifts we've been given, what we as individuals bring to the table and what we can give back for ourselves, others and our communities. Whoever you are and whatever age you are, WInC has the tools and resources you need. We help our participants develop their potential, build relationships and make a difference in their communities. We do this by: 1) GIVING THE GIFT OF

LISTENING: One of the best gifts we give our participants is time talking and really listening. We learn from their life stories. We learn about their family, themselves and even history.

2) GIVING THE GIFT OF A DREAM:

A person is never too young or too old to dream! Everyone needs hope. Our participants share their wishes and dreams and we help them set the goals to attain them.

3) ENCOURAGING PARTICIPANTS

TO GIVE THE GIFT OF

THEMSELVES: Life stories can change the world. This is a powerful way we help participants explore who they really are and unleash their potential.

4) GIVING THE GIFT OF

INSPIRATION: Through our strong peer support network our partici-pants touch each others’ hearts, spark smiles, and help transform each others’ lives.

5) GIVING THE GIFT THAT

PROTECTS THE PLANET: We teach our participants to integrate recycling and repurposing efforts into their everyday lives.

6) GIVING THE GIFT OF

EDUCATION: It's about life, hopes and dreams. We provide opportunities for personal growth, education, personal development, improve literacy, economic self-sufficiency, civic engagement, and much more.

7) OUR BIG GIFT TO OUR

PARTICIPANTS: Although, we are a small grass-roots nonprofit, we're

a big-picture organization, so everything we do is BIG. It's about meeting the BIG challenges impacting the lives of our participants and continuously exploring new ways of learning and meeting their individual needs. With over 19 years of experience we help our participants take who they are and what they’re about to become the authors of their own lives and a catalyst of change in the lives of their families and communities.

Join us in our efforts of educating, empowering and engaging women by supporting our work. To make a monthly or one time donation log on to: www.womensinterculturalcenter.org. Not able to make a financial donation? Call us at 575-882-5556 to explore the many simple ways YOU can help support our work.

Celebrating the spirit of giving in a new, big picture way

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A place where WOMEN learn and work together to develop their SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, ECONOMIC, and POLITICAL POTENTIAL.

Upcoming Events Please feel free to share event information with people who you feel will benefit from our services, workshops, trainings and special events. For additional information please con-tact us at 575-882-5556 or the contact number listed next to the event announcement.

Social Security Disability Assistance When: Tuesday, Nov. 27 Contact: Homero Avalos, Ph.D. to schedule a free consultation at 915-691-5555.

Vocational Rehabilitation Services When: Wednesday, Nov. 28 from 8:30am to 5pm Contact: Ramona Contreras to schedule an appointment at 575-524-6135 or via email ramonac@state.nm.us.

Karate Classes for children 6 years old & up. When: Saturday, Nov. 31 from 11am to 12pm Contact: Louie Alfaro at 915-319-4096 Fee: $25/month Unseen Beauty Workshop for

pre-teens & teens When: Tuesday, Nov. 27 from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. Contact: Receptionist Fee: 2 nonperishable food items / thrift store donation

Syringe Exchange Program provides sterile syringes in exchange for your used syringes, provide health referrals to social, human, mental health & substance abuse treatment services. The program is confidential. When: Thursday, Nov. 29 from 1 to 4pm. Contact: Merced Jasso, NM Department of Health, at 575-528-5095

Medicare Enrollment: Enroll & re-view your Medicare Advantage Plan for 2013. When: Thursday, Dec. 6 from 10:30am to 4pm Contact: Irene Hernandez Sonora at 915-833-7065

Interested in scheduling a workshop, presentation or training at WInC? Contact Ilse Arrieta, Program Coordinator at 575-882-5556 or via email at iarrieta@qwestoffice.net

Ability One Hiring Fair: ReadyOne Indus-tries in collaboration with NM Division Voca-tional Rehabilitation and WInC will be facilitat-ing an "Ability One" hiring fair recruiting for sew-ing machine operators (smo). People with dis-abilities are encouraged to apply. When: Friday, Nov. 30 from 12-4pm Contact: Receptionist

Benefits Information When: Monday, Dec. 3 from 9am to 2pm Contact: Elvia Cordero at (575) 524-6191 or via email at Elvia.cordero@state.nm.us.

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End of Semester Celebration: Participants will display their work. Bring your favorite dish to share with your family and peers. When: Thursday, Dec. 14 from 10:30am to 1:30pm Contact: Receptionist

Christmas Celebration: Join us in celebrating the spirit of the season. Bring your favorite dish to share with your peers. When: Thursday, Dec. 20 from 11am to 1:30pm Contact: Receptionist

Trauma Healing Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP): The work-shop will focus on building a sense of security & trust, dealing with memories of loss & reconnect with the community & rebuilding trust. When: Saturday, Sunday & Monday, Jan. 19-21 Contact: Vickie Aldrich at 575-541-9093 or via email at mathstar@zianet.com Fee: $50 ($10 deposit and registration due on Dec. 10th)

Thank you to our supporters who took advantage of the We-Care deals in October. Your purchases generated $2.70 to be donated to our cause. Every little bit helps us to continue our mission. From the bottom of our hearts, "THANKS FOR SHOPPING FOR OUR CAUSE!" Thank you to our supporters for searching, shopping & dinning through Goodsearch, Goodshop & Gooddining. We received a year end donation of $131.58. Thank you Olga Hernandez for donating a much needed laminator to the Center!

Thank you Eleanor Walther, family and friends for your recent donation to the Center's Honeycomb Thrift Store. The donated items completely re-stocked our store and some of the items will be used for our classes.

Martial Arts: Creating a positive Impact

When Louie Alfaro, owner of The Westside Dojo approached us about teaching Karate classes at the Center to make it accessible to children of Southern NM, we didn’t hesitate to say “yes.” Louie said, “My goal is to have a positive impact on the community by teaching as many young people as possible about the values of respect, courtesy, and the self-confidence that come from learning the

martial arts.” The martial arts is a good alternative for children and youth who do not participate in sports to be active while at the same time help build confidence, self-awareness, respect and overall a better individual. For more information or to enroll your child in the class, please contact Louie Alfaro at 915-319-4096.

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Women’s Intercultural Center WHERE IT STARTS

303 Lincoln Street / PO Box 2411 Anthony, NM 88021

575-882-5556 www.womensinterculturalcenter.org