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From the Executive Director:
While winter seems endless these frigid February days, we are heartened by the warm outpouring of support for ACLAMO. This month we are featuring our close collaborations with local college students who have shared their talents by tutoring in our education program, providing health services to our community, and beautifing our center through a mural arts project. We also want to acknowledge the support of a local bank, and our strong partnership with our neighborhood senior center. Lastly, we are looking forward to our upcoming Health Fair which in partnership with other health-care providers and educators, will offer free screenings, testing, and information to our low-income community. These and other services could not continue without the generous support of friends like you.
To help please donate today. To learn more about us, go to our website at aclamo.org. For our latest updates, photos and stories, see us at facebook.com/aclamo.
Thank you!
- Juan Guerra
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Jenkintown High School Students Bring Valentine Fun to After-School Children
Cupcakes and cards, buttons and bags, reading and games were all part of the fun when Jenkintown High School students came to celebrate a Valentine's Day party with ACLAMO's after-school children in Norristown.
The 31 students are sophomores, juniors an seniors in the school's Spanish and French National Honor Society "It's a good opportunity for all the students to interact with the kids from ACLAMO and do something fun with them," said Richard Detwiler, Jenkintown High School Spanish teacher, who chaperoned the group along with French teacher Edith Guay.
"Jenkintown is not far away, but this is another world that the students wouldn't see otherwise," said Detwiler. "And this is a volunteer project in which they actually do something with the kids, rather than just a fund-raiser."
Click here for the full story.
For more photos go to facebook.com/aclamo.
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ACLAMO Health Fair on Feb. 22 to Feature Fox-Chase Mobile Mammography Unit
ACLAMO will host a bilingual Health Fair to provide free health screenings and information to the local community from 12 noon to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, February 22nd, at our Norristown center.
The Fox-Chase Cancer Center's Mobile Mammography Unit will be in front of the building on West Marshall Street during the afternoon of the event.
Information will be provided in Spanish and English. Other local partners who are scheduled to participate include:
Aetna Unity -- medical insurance information
Carp and Moses Dental Associates -- dental health
Central Montgomery Mental Health -- assistance for behavioral health needs
Community Action Development Commission (CADCOM) - nutrition, healthy eating
Dekalb Chiropractic & Rehabilitation Services -- spinal alignment for health
Drexel University College of Nursing -- nutrition, prenatal, disease-prevention
Kidz Partners-CHIP Program -- child health insurance
Montgomery County Health Dept. -- HIV prevention and testing
Visiting Nurse Association -- home care services
ACLAMO's health-access and health-promotion programs and this event are made possible by many generous donors and funders, including: the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Healthy Woman Program; Fox Chase Cancer Center; Norristown Regional Health Center; Montgomery County Office of Aging and Adult Services; National Penn Bank; American Baptist Churches USA; United Way of Southeast Pennsylvania; and Amigos de ACLAMO/Friends of ACLAMO.
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Liam Marston talks with third-grade student Gladys.
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PERSONAL PROFILE: Liam Marston
Volunteer Tutor from Ursinus College
The Mexican-American third grader at ACLAMO Family Centers that afternoon was full of questions about which words to use in her sentences for homework, and tutor Liam Marston worked to help her find just the right choices.
"He doesn't tell me the answer, but he reads the problems when I don't understand something," said Gladys, a student in ACLAMO's after-school program, designed for children whose first language is Spanish. "He helps me with how to figure it out."
Liam is one of about 40 Ursinus College students who tutor in the After-School Program, which serves about 50 children in kindergarten through 7th grades from Norristown public schools.
"I love tutoring. I love working with the same kids, and watching them grow and do better," said Liam, 19, a sophomore with a dual major in business and economics, plus international relations. "It gives me a strong sense of enriching the community."
Click here for the full story.
For more photos go to facebook.com/aclamo.
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Liam Marston, last on the right, with some of the other Ursinus tutors.
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New Drexel Partnership Brings Student Nurses to ACLAMO for Health Screenings  | | Kate Coughlin, 4th-year Drexel nursing student, shares wellness information with Maria Angelica Chavez. |
A new partnership with Drexel University brought a group of nursing students to ACLAMO recently to provide wellness information to our low-income families.
Supervised by their professor, the students will return to ACLAMO for our health fair on February 22nd to share nutrition, prenatal and other health information.
"The goal of our program is to give future nurses experience in a community, teaching health-promotion and disease-prevention," said Dr. Jeannine Uribe, a nurse and Assistant Clinical Professor at the Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions in Philadelphia.
The students are part of Uribe's clinical class in public and community health nursing, a requirement for a bachelor's degree in nursing at Drexel. She said it is important for the nursing students to experience working with healthy Spanish-speaking families outside of the hospital setting.
Click here for the full story.
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TD Charitable Foundation Gives $2,500 Grant for ACLAMO Education Programs
 | | The preschool children at ACLAMO Family Centers help receive the big check from TD Bank executives. Holding the check, pictured from the left, are: Patrick Owens, TD Bank Blue Bell branch manager; David Groves, TD Bank King of Prussia branch manager and vice president; Geoffrey Brandon, TD Bank regional vice president for Montgomery County; and Juan Guerra, executive director of ACLAMO Family Centers. |
When Geoff Brandon was a child growing up in Norristown, he would go to the stately bank on West Marshall Street with his parents, who had a safety deposit box there. Brandon, now TD Bank Regional Vice President for Montgomery County, returned with a $2,500 check, not to deposit, but to give to ACLAMO Family Centers from the TD Charitable Foundation.
"TD Bank is committed to supporting the community where our customers and our employees live and work," said Brandon after showing ACLAMO's preschool class of 20 children an enormous version of the check. "ACLAMO is a shining example of how corporate giving can positively impact the community."
Click here for the full story.
For more photos go to facebook.com/aclamo.
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ACLAMO Dedicates Wall Murals Created with ACPPA Art Center, Bryn Mawr College
 About 50 people attended the dedication of mural panels painted for the main entrance of ACLAMO Family Centers in Norristown.
The collaborative project was directed by Amy Grebe, artistic director of ACPPA Community Art Center, in partnership with Bryn Mawr College's Graduate School of Social Work and ACLAMO. Those who attended the dedication on January 14 included representatives from local government, education and the media.
"We are so pleased to be a part of this partnership," said Darlyne Bailey, Dean of the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. "It is the power of partnership. It is the power of focused, committed people. When we come together like this...all is possible."
The 14 mural panels, which work together to create a lush landscape and depiction of small-town life in Latin America, now fill the entrance to ACLAMO's stately building on West Marshall Street.
Click here for the full story.
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From the left: Nell Anderson, Co-Director, Bryn Mawr College Civic Engagement Office; Amy Grebe, artistic director, ACPPA Arts Center; Juan Guerra, Executive Director, ACLAMO Family Centers; Diane Frankel, Bryn Mawr College Director of Field Instructionr; Kelly Sheard, Assistant Director, Bryn Mawr College Civic Engagement Office; Darlyne Bailey, Dean and Professor, Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research; PA State Rep. Matthew Bradford
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For more photos go to facebook.com/aclamo.
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ACLAMO Children Sing at Senior Center
The preschool children from ACLAMO sang to groups of senior citizens at the Norristown senior center recently. The 18 boys and girls sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Wheels on the Bus" in English, and "Vivara Vivara," which is like "London Bridge," in Spanish. Teachers Linda Maldonado and Laney Durland formed the "bridge," for the children to go under. The children visit the Montgomery County Senior Adult Activities Center several times a year to sing to the patrons. The center, a private non-profit, is around the corner from ACLAMO's West Marshall Street location. "The seniors really enjoy having the children here," said Pat MacKenzie, center activities director. "Whenever we can partner with fellow non-profits in the community it is a good thing."
For more photos go to facebook.com/aclamo.
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ACLAMO celebrates its 34th year of providing economic, educational, health and cultural opportunities for the low-income residents of Norristown and Pottstown, especially those of Spanish heritage. ACLAMO is derived from the Spanish word "aclamar," which means "to acclaim"!
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ACLAMO Family Centers ACLAMO Family Centers
512 W. Marshall Street 515 Walnut Street
Norristown, PA 19401 Pottstown, PA 19464
610 277-2570 610-970-2134
 www.aclamo.org
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