First Niagara Bank Gives Community Development Grant  

Community Development Officer of First Niagara Bank, David Grow, presents a check to ACLAMO Executive Director, Juan Guerra, and Development Specialist, Darek Raguza. 

This summer ACLAMO received a $2,500 community development grant from First Niagara Bank.

"At First Niagara we strongly believe in supporting the communities where our customers live and work. The work that ACLAMO does throughout Montgomery County is vital to helping families reach their full potential," said David Grow, First Niagara's Community Development Officer. "The Bank is thrilled to partner with ACLAMO, an organization that we believe helps our communities to thrive, through the educational, health and social benefits they provide. The early educational programs are very important to the success of our communities."

"ACLAMO is grateful to First Niagara for their investment in the local community," said Darek Raguza, ACLAMO Family Center's Development Specialist. "It is through such support that we are able to continue our work."

On a warm, cloudy day in July, nearly 150 people participated in ACLAMO Pottsown's 6th-Annual Health Fair. The majority of our participants were low-income families with little access to health coverage. The overall goal of this fair was to increase health knowledge, develop awareness about medical access, and to motivate them to adopt healthy lifestyles.

The health fair received the support of 21 local agencies, including the American Red Cross, Community Health and Dental Care, Montgomery County Aging and Adult Services, the Maternity Care Coalition, CADCOM, Birthright, and the Montgomery County Health Department. We were able to provide a broad range of information and screenings, such as blood pressure, nutrition, health insurance, dental care, children's health insurance, pre-natal care, senior services, immunization and behavioral health. We also provided screenings and information on HIV, and Hepatitis A, B and C.

"Holding our Health Fair each year demonstrates the large number of local families who are eager to learn of available health services," said Wanda Rivera, ACLAMO Pottstown's case manager. "With the help of the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, we are proud to join with so many health providers to offer this venue for needy families."

Maria Morales with her newborn son, Rubio, at ACLAMO's recent Health Fair.

Annual ACLAMO/Citizens Bank School Backpack Distribution   

Richard Rubin, 8, eagerly opens the backpack he received along with his friend, Fernando Gonzalez, at ACLAMO and Citizens Bank's yearly backpack distribution program.    

Nearly 400 low-income families lined up early one morning this August at ACLAMO Family Centers in Norristown to receive free backpacks filled with school supplies for their children. This marks the fourth consecutive year that ACLAMO has partnered with Citizens Bank in their backpack distribution program. "We can all recall how important it was for us as children to get that new pencil case with pencils, erasers, and rulers as part of our yearly ritual for school," said Linda Maldonado, ACLAMO's Director of Education. "Thanks to Citizens Bank, our local children will be better prepared to meet the challenges of a new school year."

Fox Chase Cancer Center Gives Free Mammograms    

Fox Chase Cancer Center's Mobile Mammography Unit sets up shop at ACLAMO. From the left, Lab Technician, Lynn Kolmetzky; ACLAMO's Case Manager, Wanda Rivera; and clients Margaret Harrison and Loretta Bullock.

A few weeks after technical difficulties prevented their participation at the ACLAMO Pottstown Health Fair, members of the Fox Chase Cancer Center's Mobil Mammography Unit returned and provided mammograms for low-income and uninsured women. ACLAMO's Case Manager, Wanda Rivera, helped promote, identify and schedule 21 women who qualified for the free tests.  

After a successful day of tests, here are some of the comments recorded that day by the women who participated:

"I'd like to say thank you for your help because you gave me the opportunity to obtain a mammogram. For people like me, who don't have the money, it is a true gift."

"I have no health insurance. I am privileged to take part in this program. Thank you."

"I was scared to come...didn't know what to expect. Everyone was very knowledgeable and friendly. They cared about the patients and helped us to relax. I'm very glad I came! Thank you so much!"

Of the 21 tested that day, five of the women's screening results showed irregularities that required follow-up tests. Fox Chase Cancer Centers' lab technician, Mary Piccolo, cautiously explained: "Early detection  is key to survival of breast cancer." All of us at ACLAMO are grateful for Fox Chase Cancer Center's ongoing collaboration in this life-saving effort.  

Profile: Morgan Ramsey, From Carnegie Hall to ACLAMO!  

 Anayeli Telles, 10, learns the recorder from her teacher, Morgan Ramsey.  

Hello, my name is Morgan Ramsey, and I am an 18-year-old Germantown Friends School graduate and currently a freshman at Duke University. I have wonderful parents, two younger siblings, and enjoy sports, music and community service. 

When I started school at the age of 4, I also began my interest in piano. My grandmother, GG, constantly tells me that when I was brought home from the hospital, the first thing she did was introduce me to the piano. She would play lullabies on the piano for me to fall asleep and so it's easy to see how I became partial to music. At the age of 4, my parents noticed my eagerness for wanting to play the piano and enrolled me into private piano lessons. I have continued with lessons ever since, and now have been playing classical piano for 15 years. Recently I competed in my first piano competition, the 2011 Golden Key Festival in Westminster, NJ, and won second place. I was also awarded the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City that upcoming spring, one of the highlights of my life!

I enjoy traveling and experiencing different cultures as well. My interest in the Spanish language emerged from the exchange program I participated in my high school freshman year to Tlaxcala, Mexico. While there I immersed in the language, living with a host family for a month. I enjoyed speaking the language and learning about the culture so much that I chose to experience another Latin American country my junior year for my schools' required "Junior Project" program. The Junior Project is a month-long independent project of each student's design in which he or she must work in a particular field of interest. I was very interested in the effects of global poverty in society, as well as the education system and Latino studies. Therefore I found a program which would pair me with a host family in the countryside of the Dominican Republic, and for a month I lived with a family and taught English to the elementary and middle school students in the surrounding areas.  

While in Cruz Verde, Dominican Republic, there were no functioning cars and electricity was limited, so it was very interesting to witness life without modern conveniences. I quickly learned to adapt and zealously spoke Spanish 24/7. In fact, I spoke so much Spanish; the natives often mistook me as a Dominican! When the electricity did work for 20 minutes each day, I often watched Telemundo, especially the Spanish soap opera, Decisiones. Everyday, I woke up to the smell of burning trash and the sounds of the chickens being slain for lunch. Every night, I would sway in my bed to the rhythm of Bachata being played outside my window. Life was slow there, and yet so beautiful. I realized in the Dominican Republic, and in Mexico as well, how colorful and rich the Latino culture is and how connected it is to the African Diaspora as well.

Once I returned the United States, I also realized I learned so much about the economic system in developing countries, and knew I needed to do something about it. Thus, my senior year, I founded a community service club in my school to raise money and awareness for international education inequalities, called Global Connections. To date we have raised over $2,000 for schools in Ghana, China, and The Dominican Republic. After graduation, I still had a desire to partake in some philanthropic endeavor but also wanted to incorporate Spanish into my activities, so I began to search for possible internships nearby. My neighbor, Julie Knudsen, had a friend named Juan Guerra who ran a local program that served Latinos called ACLAMO Family Centers. I met with Mr. Guerra, and once he offered me a job as a music teacher in the upcoming Summer Bridge program, I immediately accepted.

The Summer Bridge program was such an enormous blessing in my life. Everyday I was excited and ready to teach the students music that they probably wouldn't have been introduced to otherwise. I would become so excited every time I would realize how much the kids enjoyed learning about Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach. They could name every note in the Treble Clef - something many adults today are not able to do! The students' eyes especially lit up when we learned the recorders, an inexpensive instrument that we were able to obtain for each student. It brought me such joy to know that I could give them an important gift that will last a lifetime. Music is a universal language. I love it so much because it's something that you can alter, invent and critique without ever being wrong. Music is up to the pupil to discern, something for which there is no right answer. It's a tool used to express emotion and evoke thought, and that's why I loved teaching it.

Because I have lived in a few Latin American countries, my perception about the Latino culture was based on my experience. The people were friendly, and very proudly patriotic. ACLAMO was no exception. Everyone I came across at ACLAMO was so warm, welcoming and so willing to learn. I wasn't aware of how extensive the Latino community is in Norristown, but am so glad I discovered that the rich culture is alive so close to home!

At Duke, I am currently taking "Intro to Latino Studies and the Global South" because I have a real interest in the Latino culture and African Diaspora, in addition to continuing piano lessons and the traditional Spanish class. Next summer I plan to embark on another month (or two) long international excursion to discover a different Latin American country, while performing community action as well. However, I would absolutely love to return to ACLAMO. I really enjoyed the students and the entire organization in general, and look forward to my future relationship with you all.

Thank you so much for having me and I hope to meet you soon!

Love,

Morgan Ramsey