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ACLAMO Family Centers Newsletter
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Providing our community with the services and skills for success
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February 20121
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Seven year old Xochitl clutches her new teddy bear from last month's Tres Reyes Fiesta at ACLAMO Pottstown
From The Executive Director:
Dear Friends,
This month I want to share some more good news! We recently learned that ACLAMO was awarded a $40,000 grant to help us plan and implement our financial future. With cutbacks and reduced giving, such a gift could not come at a better time.
Our educational programs continue to flourish, as do our partnerships with local civic groups, schools and colleges. While we have much to be grateful for, we still have much to do as we prepare for our Summer Bridge program and next year's educational and health programs.
Please remember us through your tax-deductible gift . Thank you!
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Philadelphia Foundation Awards Major Grant to ACLAMO
The Philadelphia Foundation has chosen ACLAMO to receive a $40,000 "capacity grant" this year through their Edward M. Story Memorial Fund. Capacity grants are intended to assist organizations improve the expertise of staff members and boards through activities such as training, skills development, implementing strategic plans and funds development planning. As a result, ACLAMO has employed EHL Consulting Group of Willow Grove to assist us in our fundraising goals. We will keep you posted on our progress in future newsletters. Many thanks to the Philadelphia Foundation for its generosity and support! |
ACLAMO Families Visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art 
ACLAMO families gather at the front of the museum. The mothers and preschoolers who participate in ACLAMO's Even Start Family Literacy Program visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art earlier this month during an educational field trip. "This trip is a perennial favorite of the moms in our program," said Marla Benssy, Lead Teacher. "Their cultural inclination for art really makes this particular trip something that our families really look forward to." While the preschoolers were involved in an art lesson focusing on color and shape in the children's "School Visits" section of the museum, their mothers were given time to peruse other pieces of art that interested them. They then came together again to view some of the art works together. To prepare for the experience, the moms studied some of the paintings they would be seeing. The families were very excited to see the paintings they had become familiar with during class. One example was "Noah's Ark" by American artist, Edward Hicks. When the mothers came upon his painting, their enthusiasm was no less than their children's. The mothers stood in front of the painting and identified the animals in English for their children. The experience was even better because they had seen a live hippo at the Camden Aquarium during a field trip in January. "The museum trip stimulated the imagination of both child and parent in the Family Literacy Program," Benssy said. "It gave richness and continuity to their overall educational experience." 
Noah's Ark by Edward Hicks at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. |
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Marisol and her son, Romero, both students in ACLAMO's Even Start Family Literacy Program, share a table with Rotarian Frank Noland and several members of the King of Prussia Rotary Club.
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Rotarians Get an Authentic Taste of Mexico at ACLAMO To show their deep appreciation for a generous gift, the mothers in our Even Start Family Literacy Program served up a homemade luncheon for members of the King of Prussia Rotary Club. The King of Prussia Rotary Foundation last month purchased and dedicated a SmartBoard interactive computer system for our educational mission. As a way of saying "gracias," the mothers offered the Rotary Club an authentic "taste of Mexico." Drawing from their combined family recipes, 17 ACLAMO moms prepared a smorgasbord of local treats, from tamales to chicken mole, and flan to tres leches cake. More than 20 members of the local Rotary shared a memorable lunch with the ACLAMO families at our Norristown center, and then held the club's weekly meeting there. As part of the program, the preschool-aged children in our Even Start program entertained the guests with their rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Relishing the menu items, former Rotary Club president Ernest Zlotolow jokingly asked the mothers, "So...what time is dinner?!" ACLAMO Executive Director Juan Guerra thanked the Rotary Club members for their support of ACLAMO, and also thanked the mothers for planning and cooking the feast, decorating the dining area, and putting together such a terrific fiesta. |
100th-Day of Class Celebration |
Fernando, 7, dances during the exercise portion of the party.
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By Catherine Chezik,
Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Research
Civic Engagement Office
When ACLAMO asked the Bryn Mawr College Civic Engagement Office to throw a party for the children in ACLAMO's after-school education program to celebrate the 100th Day of Class, we jumped at the opportunity.
The plan for the celebration was to focus on how much the children had acquired in school so far, and what they hoped to learn during the remainder of the school year. Always seeking new and fun ways to learn, the activities included counting games and art projects that used 100 objects.
As a social-work graduate intern at the Civic Engagement Office, I have the role of maintaining our already strong partnership with ACLAMO Family Centers. I reached out, with the aid of our director of service and activism, to our undergraduate tutors for assistance in this project with the hope of involving the Bryn Mawr College student body in the partnership with ACLAMO.
Many of the tutors fondly remembered their 100-Day celebrations from previous years, and they came up with great ideas for the children at ACLAMO. The tutors created a party plan for the after-school program that included exercise, crafts, races, and prizes. So on February 9th I came to ACLAMO with a van filled with games, toys, soft pretzels, along with three undergraduate tutors: Zoe Odenwalder, Kayla McDaniel and Lisa Merrick.
When we arrived at ACLAMO I assigned each of us a group of students and an activity. However, the first task to accomplish was homework! The Bryn Mawr tutors blended right in with tutors that help every day at ACLAMO.
As soon as a large enough group finished their homework, Lisa took charge of organizing some exercise. In the middle of the main entrance she had the children doing: 10 jumping jacks, 10 arm swings forward and 10 backward, 10 toe touches, 10 seconds of stretching etc. until they reached 100. Then Lisa took the kindergartners to make pictures using 100 tiny sea shells. Kayla took the 1st graders to make crafts with pipe cleaners and 100 beads. I combined the 2nd and 3rd grade groups partake in a contest to create the largest rubber band using hundreds of rubber bands. Zoe took the oldest groups to facilitate 100 puzzle-piece races.
The ACLAMO building was abuzz with laughter, shouting and cheering. The back rooms were filled with decorated construction paper covered by shells. Children donned pipe-cleaner-beaded jewelry and magic pipe-cleaner wands. Zoe reported that the older group focused intently on their puzzle races aimed at winning a large bowl of candies. I don't think much could have topped the boys vs. girls rubber-band races that took place in the main foyer of the ACLAMO building. Each team was in a hurry to tie cut rubber bands together to create the longest rubber band in the world (or in Norristown).
In the end the girls won a prize of candy, but I realized that everyone had really won that day when one child came up to me at the end of the afternoon and said: "Miss Cathy, that game right there, that was cool!"
Editor's note: Bryn Mawr College students join other student volunteers from Haverford, Eastern and Ursinus universities as well as local high schools who tutor and mentor our After-School Program students. We are grateful for their enthusiasm and support.
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Personal Profile: Chante Smith, Student Volunteer
Four days a week, Chante Smith assists ACLAMO's preschool-aged children at our Even Start program. The 22-year-old senior at West Chester University learned about ACLAMO through her school's student-internship program.
"I came to ACLAMO because I wanted to help others and use some of my Spanish skills. I like that people can come here and get practical solutions to their problems," Chante said. "I think it's a really good organization in helping people better themselves. ACLAMO gives families assistance that they couldn't otherwise find."
The youngest of five children, Chante was born in Norristown and raised in Pottstown. A teacher introduced her to Spanish early in high school, which led to her participation in a service-project trip to Costa Rica assisting in minor construction projects.
"My time in Costa Rica became the start of a life-long love of Spanish culture," Chante said. Later in college she majored in political science and Spanish, and she attended a semester abroad in Granada, Spain.
"I can't imagine being 3 or 4 years old and needing to learn a second language as well as all the other things the kids must learn to master," Chante said. "The children are so smart and eager to learn, they inspire me!"
After graduating from West Chester University, Chante wants to work through the City Year program. She would like to then pursue a graduate degree in Public Administration, which she hopes to use to continue to help others.
We are fortunate to have interns like Chante who, by their skills and enthusiasm, inspire us all.
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ACLAMO celebrates its 35th year of providing economic, educational, health and cultural opportunities for low-income residents of Norristown and Pottstown, especially those of Spanish-language heritage. ACLAMO stands for Accíon Comunal Latinoamericana de Montgomery County, or the Latin American Action Committee of Montgomery County. ACLAMO is derived from the Spanish word "aclamar," which means "to acclaim." 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 
aclamo.org |
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