Week in Review September 15-28, 2013

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Women’s Intercultural Center Sept. 15-28, 2013

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

Letter From the E.D. Why shouldn’t our lives be full of brightness, goodness, productivity, and growth? We must hope that every decision we make, every action we perform, will take us to the right direction, the direction necessary for happiness. Even our mistakes can be cause for optimism by offering us opportunities for learning and greater awareness.

Happiness has many definitions, derived by individual perspectives. For some, it is rare and brought on by extraordinary circumstances. As for me it’s quite simple. I find happiness throughout the day and give thanks for it. I find happiness even in feeling pain because that means that I am still alive to feel it. However, my greatest happiness derives from the love and support of my family and friends, especially as it relates to my two sons. Sound and strong commitment must be made in order to make happiness in our lives more regular and more than just a passing feeling. Abraham Lincoln said, “People are about as happy as they choose to be.” At WInC we teach our participants that every single one of them no matter what type of life they have are in the position of conjuring up and shaping their own happiness. In knowing this they learn to bring the things that make them happy and learn how to maintain them. Just the other day I spoke to Lucy, one of the women who participated in the Center since it’s very inception. She shared the happy memories she had of days she used to sing and play guitar with her high school friends in Mexico. And the happiness it brought her to learn that even after their marriages they still continued to get together and play like professionals. She herself had stopped singing and playing when she moved to the U.S. She allowed other things to take the place of what truly made her happy. She bumped into Petra, current WInC participant, at the store. Petra invited her to come to the Center’s guitar. She immediately jumped at the chance regain the happiness she had

lost. She was particularly pleased that the class included vocalization. She made the first step towards making happiness more regular in her life. Now, think back...how many memories of happiness can you remember? I keep a journal to help me reflect on my every day and on the days that I’m feeling blue I just flip through it and relive those moments to get me through the day. This I learned from Mr. Russell, my junior high school journalism teacher. Whenever I turned in my journal for him to read and grade, he always found a way to find a positive twist to my most negative journal entries. It is from him that I learned to build a reservoir of strength...so when the clouds roll in, when I’m wallowing in misery, or whenever I need it the most I have an abundance of happy memories to go back to. Through the work that we do at WInC, we strive to help our participants to create happiness in their lives through patient and deliberate efforts. Happily at Work,

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Elvira took the final step in the long journey of becoming a U.S. Citizen. The ceremony reflects all of her hard work and dedication in her Spanish Citizenship Class. She and her son enjoyed the solemn procession of her attaining American Citizenship without worry. She now has the right to vote, help family members immigrate, become eligible for federal jobs, receive a passport and

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Francisco Perez worked hard to become a citizen of the United States. He attended WInC’s Spanish Citizenship Classes with Olivia Contreras. He just passed his Naturalization Exam and is on his way to citizenship to officially take the oath of allegiance later on in the month. For the civics test, there are 100 questions that an interviewer uses. It is an oral exam, and each applicant must correctly answer six out of ten questions. Test questions are taken from three categories, American government, American history and integrated civics.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 92 percent of naturalization candidates pass the exam. At WInC we have a 100 percent success rate. Applicants get two chances at both tests. If they fail twice, they have to reapply for naturalization and pay the $680 fee again. Congratulations to Francisco for successfully completing his personal goal of become a Naturalized U.S. Citizen and to his instructor Olivia Contreras for continuing her 100 percent rate of success in preparing her students for the exam.

Passed the U.S. citizenship test Franciso Perez happy to have Passed His

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Rosalia Acevedo, shares her passion, creativity and skills in making Chaquira Bracelets with the participants of the Women’s Intercultural Center.

Carmen works on learning the new skills to add new products to her jewelry designs which she sells at the Bronco Flea Market in El Paso.

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Magali is in deep concen-tration as she makes her bracelet design. Chelo is about to place the

finishing touches on her bracelet.

Suki Rodriguez shows off the two bracelets that she made in class today.

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From left to right: Lorna Samraj, Ron Haugen, Mary Carter, Raphael Nevins, Nancy Duhigg, and Jaime Tamez.

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The Health and Sciences Academy Charter School had been in the making over a year ago. Raphael Nevins had sought the support of the Anthony community through the Women’s Intercultural Center. After confirmation with our participants, it became apparent that they wanted options for their children so the women mobilize efforts to get over 400 signatures in support of the charter school. They Presented at the original hearing; however, that year the school was denied. The denial was based on the application itself, the lack of educational leadership and lack of local input within the governing board. Based on the recommendations of the Public Education Commission, Raphael Nevins and his team went back to the drawing board and prepared the 2013 Charter School Application. Once again women from the Center were asked to participate in the public input hearing. The ten women that represented our participant base all presented in favor of the school along with many other community members. There were very few within the audience that were against the approval of the school other than the Gadsden Independent School District and the Las Cruces Independent School District that felt that the charter school was duplicating their efforts. As we moved on to the official approval phase, it was quite unnerving when the highest rated application was denied approval. But we all hung in there. Team members selected to present and respond to the Public Education Commission’s questions were Ron Haugen, Mary Carter and Raphael Nevins. They did a great job of presenting and effectively responding to the questions the commission made in clarification of the application. Health Science Academy Board Member Nancy Duhigg, who had been sitting in the audience watching the exchange said, “After listening to everyone and the questions they were making, deep down I already knew it was going to be approved.” The Health Sciences Academy was approved by a vote of 7 to 2. The founding members and board members of the Academy have a lot of work to do in the following months as they prepare to bring the school to fruition by the spring of 2014. The Boards first official meeting will be held on Monday, November 4 at 6pm at the Women’s Intercultural Center.

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Did you know that recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to power a TV for three hours? (That's right 1 can = an entire football game or PLL marathon.) So your mission is simple: save your aluminum cans and bring them to the Women's Intercultural Center to recycle. Think you can't help save the Earth and educate, empower & engage women? Yes, YOU CAN! (See what we did there????)

The world's fate...is in your CANS.

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Supretha Gubbala I interned at WInC during the summer of 2009. It was the summer after my freshman year in college and I had just received a travel grant to intern at organizations that worked on the U.S./Mexico border. Being from the east coast, New Mexico, Mexico and Texas were completely foreign worlds to me. However, while interning at the center for those few months, I was pretty much from day one welcomed with open arms. There were many things, experiences and people that I still remember fondly from my time there, but most of all I remember learning to always dream big. Mary Carter has just taken over the executive director position at the

center, and she had a vision for the center that I had only caught a glimpse of during my time there. However, she always encouraged me to come up with original ideas for programs, to see past the current functions of the center into it's limitless future and when I presented my ideas, she listened! As a meager to-be-sophomore this was and still is one of the most important lessons I learned in life. Moreover, the women I met at this organizations were wonderful, intelligent and moving in their passion for the organization, their families and the community. I got to know Everyone’s stories, many filled with struggle, and saw how much they loved being at the center everyday,

and it was incredible. Being surrounded by so many strong women was such a positive experience for me because it was not everyday on the east coast that I existed in organizations and structures entirely run by a group of women. The work done at WInC is not only necessarily, but inspirational for the many young girls who hope to become young women someday. Girls who are seeking role models, how to dream and have a safe place to be themselves. I cannot thank them enough for the opportunity they gave me to learn this at such a young age.

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The Women’s Interculturend up in a landfill. D

Women’s Intercultural Center * “Where It Starts!” * 303 Lin

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ral Center wants to make sure that these don’t Donate your unwanted used items to us!

ncoln St. / PO Box 2411, Anthony, NM 88021 * 575-882-5556 * www.womensinterculturalcenter.org

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Thank you to Pat Zerega for making an impact on the Women's Intercultural Center's work to bring about social change from the bottom up by making a recurring donation to us all twelve months of the year. You too can make an impact by donating every month - whether it is $5 or $50 - you will help sustain our programs so that we can continue to educate, empower and engage women. To make your monthly donation visit: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=850411225&vlrStratCode=7rLPuN0Ws%2FOSl55R4KTLXRAL%2Fccmu7Vv8qpJqDXRKFr7ny%2BVh9aG00rmzlY7503J.

Other Ways Supporters Help At the Women’s Intercultural Center we make every effort to find ways to raise funds for our operations in a way where people from every walk of life can assist us.

Special thanks to the following individuals that have embraced these every day things that can help support our operations: Saif Almuhairbi is the type of donor that invests finan-cially in the Center and is part of an elite circle of volunteers that through their work improve the overall operations of the Center. This week Saif gave financially by offering to pay off one of our three electric bills. Thank you for all that you do Saif!

Grace Jacquez-Chase and her sister Angelica who on a continual basis make item donations to our thrift store. Not only do they donate they also encourage their family members and friends to donate their unwanted items to the Center. Through their actions they are helping us make this a better world by recycling, helping us to provide basic need items for those in need either by donating the items to the individuals or by selling them at an affordable price (all basic items such as clothing, dishes, etc. are priced at 25 cents), and the funds raised through our thrift store helps us fund a portion of our programming and operational costs. Hector Padilla for providing 25 hours of his time to help us fix the main Center building. His work saves us in having to pay contract help and allows us to maintain more of our funding into our programming needs. Voting always matters! Special thanks to everyone who voted in the Intuit Big Game and got us into the 2nd round! Now your daily votes can help us make the top 20 that will lead us to the final round! You can vote for us at http://intuit.me/14DxppT.

Other Simple Ways to Help WInC Other ways to help us through everyday tasks can be found at our website at http://www.womensinterculturalcenter.org/donate. If you have other creative ways to help, please don’t hesitate to contact Mary Carter at 575-882-5556 or via email at [email protected].

Thank you for your support!

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Interested in teaching a class, scheduling a workshop, presentation or training at WInC? We are always searching for Volunteer Instructors to teach in their areas of expertise. We currently have a special need for a haircutting instructor. For more info, contact Ilse Arrieta, Program Coordinator at 575-882-5556 or via email at [email protected].

dates to remember For additional information please contact us at 575-882-5556 or the contact number listed next to the event announcement.

October Open Enrollment—Medicare from 10:30am to 3pm

by Irene Sonora from the Sonora Insurance Group. The enrollments will be on Thursdays on the following dates: Oct. 17, 24, 31; Nov. 7, 14, 21; & Dec. 5: Open Enrollment - Medicare

17-Dec. 5

Domestic Violence Vigil at 3pm. Please join us in memory of those who have been killed by family members, spouses or partners. Together local

residents and others join in support of domestic violence awareness month.

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Join our Halloween Party and have fun with us at 5 p.m. 31

Health Fair & Enrollment in Anthony - The health fair will have a presentation on the Medicaid Expansion along with information regarding the marketplace exchange. Eligi-

bility specialists will be enrolling individuals in Medi-caid along with the 4 providers (United Healthcare, Molina, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Presbyterian) that serve NM. La Clinica de Familia will be there to test blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure.

November

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Health Sciences Academy Board Meeting at 6pm. 4

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Come make an altar

with us. A new altar will be added each day in honor of the designated deaths based on the Mexican cultural celebration of the Day of the Dead. The Altars will be on exhibit from Oct. 18 thru November 2. Official Celebration Day will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 29 from 9-10am. Join us for Chocolate, coffee and sweet bread and admire the altars.

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Women’s Camp from 10 am a 2pm. Enrich and enhance your mind, body and soul. 4-8

20th Anniversary Celebration: Join us in one of three celebrations in honor of our 20th Anniversary. Anthony

Mayor Arnie Castañeda will join us in the celebration at the Business Breakfast and Participant/Volunteer Potluck Luncheon. A $20 donation is encouraged. Business Breakfast Celebration—7 to 9 am Local area businesses are invited to a special breakfast celebration at the Center from 7am to 9am. Come learn what we’re all about and how we can work together for the betterment of your business and our community. Participant/Volunteer Potluck Luncheon Celebration—12 to 2pm Bring your favorite dish and your favorite story of the Center to share with your peers. All former participants and volunteers are encouraged to join the fun. Let’s reminisce and catch up. Celebration Dinner—6:30 to 8:30pm Current and prospective donors join us in cele-brating 20 years of being a catalyst for change. Thanks to your generosity, we have been able to provide the tools and resources needed for women to become the authors of their own lives.

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Women’s Intercultural Center WHERE IT STARTS

303 Lincoln Street / PO Box 2411 Anthony, NM 88021

575-882-5556 Fax: 1-866-285-7245

www.womensinterculturalcenter.org

Documents

Week in Review September 15-28, 2013