Serving People in Need in Mexico by Removing Barriers to Physical and Spiritual Wholeness, One Community at a Time
Transformacion
Fall 2009 |
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Medical Director
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| Dr. Nancy Rodriguez |
Mission Director
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| Larry Cox |
Executive Director
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| Ellen Curnes |
Contact Us
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Juntos Servimos
12801 Central Expressway
Suite 1560
Dallas, TX 75243 www.juntosservimos.org
To
Contact Larry or Dr. Nancy:
956
763 0326 (mobile)
011 52
868 111 1553 (Casa Bugambilia)
larry@juntosservimos.org
To Contact Ellen:
214 484 2275
ellen@juntosservimos.org |
Become a Juntos Servimos Facebook Fan
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Save the Date
March 6, 2010
Esperanza 5K Run Benefiting Juntos Servimos
Custer Road UMC
Plano, Texas
For information on sponsorship, participation and volunteering please visit:
www.esperanza5k.com
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Greetings!
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Helping children educate themselves has always been at the heart of Casa Bugambilia's and Juntos Servimos' mission.
Early on it was apparent that small things -- bus fare, book fees, a new uniform -- could be a large barrier to a student from the colonias continuing their education. So we provided financial assistance to students to help them meet these needs.
But we were invited by the community to do more to give the children their best chance at escaping poverty -- a quality education. With the support of parents, dedicated donors and volunteers, in 2007 a classroom was built next to the Derechos Humanos elementary school. Here elementary students are tutored under the guidance of a local teacher.
A year later, we began teaching basic reading and math skills to preschoolers so that they would be ready to learn from their first day of formal schooling.
Your generosity with your talents and financial resources have already greatly improved the odds for many children in the colonias. With your continued support, we intend to expand our education programs to reach as many children as want to take advantage of them.
Ellen Curnes
Executive Director
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Removing Barriers -- One Child at a Time
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Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
- Nelson Mandela
The fundamental goal of the Casa Bugambilia education programs is to empower children to succeed, first in their education and then in their work life after they finish school.
Our education programs also serve another vital purpose. Children in the colonias receive an almost constant message that it is their fate to fail. We counter that with another message - that they need not be resigned to failure; that they can transform themselves into whatever they chose.
La Escuelita
Camilo Gamez Mena has taught at the local Derechos Humanos public elementary school for nine years. Each school day afternoon, Camilo leads two hour tutoring sessions for students that he and the other teachers have identified as in danger of falling behind and likely to benefit from additional drills in a classroom setting.
Subjects covered in La Escuelita include reading, language arts and mathematics. In addition to drills led by Camilo, the students also coach each other in small groups. Since it began in 2007, over 60 students have participated in the La Escuelita program. 22 students are being tutored this semester.
The results of the La Escuelita program has been very encouraging, but we know we are only scratching the surface of the need. It is our desire, in time, to expand La Escuelita to offer tutoring to every child in the colonias who has a need for it.
Las Estrellitas
Teachers at the local elementary school tell us that most children enter the school almost seven months behind in the skills usually expected of a child beginning their formal education. To help prepare children to succeed from their first day in school, we started the "Las Estrellitas" classes in 2008.
The program stresses basic language and math skills. The curriculum was developed through a collaboration between volunteer educators from the United States and local teachers.
Saira Portuguez Bautista, a university student majoring in education, teaches the Las Estrellitas classes. Parents are involved, too, working with their children to help reinforce the skills learned.
The first Las Estrellitas class of five students graduated in July 2009, and there are sixteen children in Saira's class this semester. Through the La Escuelita program, we will continue to work with the students who have graduated from Las Estrellita as they progress through elementary school, to assure continued academic achievement.
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One Community - Sharing the Gift of Education
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Volunteers visiting Casa Bugambilia, as well as volunteers serving from their home communities, are vital to the success of our education programs.
Volunteer teachers, including Juntos Servimos board member Alisa Allen, have helped develop the curriculum for our education programs. Volunteer special education teachers have helped develop individual programs for children dealing with physical or mental challenges.
But most volunteers helping with the education programs are not educators, Instead, they come to Casa Bugambilia with an open heart and helping hands.
One such volunteer is Sherry Natzke, a member of First United Methodist Church -- Allen (Texas). Sherry told us: "I am not a teacher. I am an accountant. I actually don't like to teach - one year at vacation bible school taught me that! Somehow, this is different.
I have been to Casa B. twice now, both times with FUMC-Allen on week long mission trips coordinated by Rick Ostroski. I speak a fair amount of Spanish and was asked to work with the kids to facilitate communication.
There was one other adult in our group, and between five and eight youth volunteers. Our activities included reading, math, crafts, and we tried geography. When the kids got antsy, we would play a game. We all played Pato, Pato, Ganso (Duck, Duck, Goose). They taught us a different version of hot potato, which I like better than the one I played as a kid."
Sherry expressed what volunteers often do. "To see the children's success expressed in their faces is such a joy and a gift. To be with them as they are reading something they enjoyed or correctly answer a math problem on a concept they have just learned lifts me up."
Sherry concluded, "It is my hope that we helped the children feel successful in learning and reinforced the value of education." |
Serving People In Need
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It is our goal to make our education programs available to every child in the colonias who wants to participate. We want to tutor more students, prepare more preschoolers and provide enriching activities like supervised internet access and a library. Please consider a donation.
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A New Website
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If you have not done so recently, please visit the completely redesigned Juntos Servimos website at www.juntosservimos.org.
It
has been expanded and reorganized to bring the mission at Casa Bugambilia
to our entire community of friends and volunteers, no matter where you are located. Larry will be posting regularly to the Juntos Servimos Blog of all that is happening at Casa Bugambilia.
We hope you
will take advantage of the "photo gallery" page by adding photos from
your visits to Casa Bugambilia, as well as photos of events and activities in your home community that support Casa
Bugambilia.
We have also added a calendar to keep you informed of volunteers visiting Casa Bugambilia which we hope
will assist you in communicating and coordinating with other missions
teams, as well as keep you informed of events supporting Casa
Bugambilia. If you have an event you would like to add, please email
Ellen at ellen@juntosservimos.org.
Many thanks to North Texas Web Design, and its president Mike McLeland, who donated untold hours of expertise to bring the Casa Bugambilia community to you. |
Thank You
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Third Annual Juntos Servimos Golf Classic
The Third Annual Juntos Servimos Golf Classic was held October 26 at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club. We raised over $25,000, despite the worst weather we have ever had. Thank you to all of our sponsors -- David B. Miller Family Foundation, Concero Global, LLC, Absolute Inspections, Cade Much & Co., Cobb Fendley & Associates, Epiphany Supply Chain Solutions, ExponentHR, Gardere Wynne Sewell, LLP, Haynes & Boone, LLP, SaleSynergy, Southern Concepts, Inc., Southwest Airlines and Wagner, Nichol & Eubank -- and to our dedicated volunteers -- Lee Forland, Joan Hamilton, Janice Klein, Bev Sharp and Amber Weiss. And most especially thanks to all the golfers who braved the deluge, making this our most successful golf tournament to date.
A very special thank you to Rob Klein who has led the golf tournament effort since its beginning. Through his tireless efforts, each year has been more successful than the last, allowing us to reach more of the colonias community.
Other Notes of Thanks ---
Thanks to the many organizations who have visited Casa Bugambilia over the summer and autumn, including -- Custer Road United Methodist Church (Plano, Texas); First Church of Christ - Stillwater (Oklahoma); First United Methodist Church - Allen (Texas), First United Methodist Church - Dallas (Texas); First United Methodist Church - Mansfield (Texas); Grace Lutheran Church of Harlingen (Texas); Lake Highlands United Methodist Church (Dallas, Texas); and LeRoy (Illinois) United Methodist Church.
We also thank the many individuals who have visited us, including summer music therapy intern Ryan Klinck; Doris Flaiz and sons; Doris Ostroski (who delivered a motorized chair being used by Edgar, a 16 year old with muscular dystrophy); John Gajdica and daughter Brittany; Rev. Tim Crowe and Rev. Phillip Reynolds of Mississippi; and many visits by volunteers with Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries.
Casa Bugambilia has also been honored by the visit and support of Marisa Castenada de Silva, President of DIF - Matamoros (Sistema Nacional para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia, the social services agency of Mexico) and spouse of Erik Silva, mayor of Matamoros, and many visits by DIF leaders.
Thank you to First United Methodist Church -- Mansfield who have been instrumental in distributing over 1,000 wheelchairs and mobility aids to persons in need in Matamoros. The most recent distribution, over Labor Day weekend, helped over 200 people, some of whom are now experiencing true mobility for the first time.
Thank you also to the members of First United Methodist Church - Denton. They collected 12 boxes of used child resistant prescription medicine containers. These are used by Dr. Nancy and Dr. Delhi, who assists her, when dispensing medicine to colonia patients, keeping the medication clean and safe.
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