Santa Fe Chapter

For the past twenty years, Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe has made one international grant per year to someone known to the chapter. At this year’s annual potluck luncheon for donors and grantees, Fred and Kim Masoni (“Sleeping Bags for the Homeless in Santa Fe” project grantees) met Jim Kavanagh (“Young Peacemakers” project grantee). Originally from Kenya, Fred has been trying to help people there who have been displaced by political unrest and subsequent challenging living conditions. Since Jim was planning to go to East Africa, he offered to take along baby blankets that the Masonis had collected. Fred arranged to have some friends in Kenya accompany Jim to one of the refugee villages, and asked if BFJ might pay for some maize to be distributed along with the blankets. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to grant $400 for this purpose.

Originally from Wales, Glenys Carl successfully trained and organized over 400 volunteers to help care for her son during the four years of his survival after a tragic accident. Now living in Santa Fe, she has recruited volunteer nurses, physical therapists, and physicians to help her provide members of the community with free training in home care. She approached BFJ of Santa Fe for funds to pay for a training manual and for a brochure that would publicize this resource within the community. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave Glenys $1000 for this important work.

Viva Bikes

Nine years ago, Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave bicycle enthusiast Richy Green a small grant for tools so that he and some friends could repair and give away old bicycles. Since then, Richy has formed a nonprofit organization called Viva Bikes, Inc. He is aware that many young people between 13 and 18 years of age would love to ride a bicycle, but cannot afford to own one. As a solution, Richy plans to loan a bike and helmet to ten young people for participation in a five-mile bike ride — twice a month for six months — on a beginner’s trail out in the beautiful countryside east of Taos. Instructors will teach safety checks, and everyone will be required to wear helmets, as well as bring water and snacks. The ride will include a stop along the way to rest, enjoy a snack, and discuss the environment in that setting. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave Richy $1,000 to buy ten helmets and to cover the estimated $216 in fuel costs for van transport of the kids and the bicycles on a total of twelve trips.

Planting Time

Miguel Santistevan loves the land in northern New Mexico where he was born and raised. Currently a Ph.D. candidate in biology at the University of New Mexico, he has planted small fields with youth over the years, and now wants to expand this work since inheriting two acres that have been in his family for generations. Students from Antioch College in Ohio, University of California in Santa Cruz, and a Native American charter school in Albuquerque — as well as other local schools — have come to participate in his workshops and experimental seed-saving farm. As Miguel is opposed to burning, he always cultivates by hand and turns the plant scrub back into the soil. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to support his youth mentorship program in agricultural work by granting Miguel $1000 to purchase a cutter bar and a hiller/furrower.

Young Peacemakers

Dr. Jim Kavanaugh (a licensed child psychologist, freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker) and Dr. Selena Sermeno (the Ambassador of the Bartos Institute for the Creative Engagement of Conflict) intend to create a film that will illustrate the power of approaching our inevitable human differences with an open mind, a commitment to human rights, a forgiving heart, and respectful dialogue. This will be accomplished through the voices of former alumni, current students, volunteer mentors, and community leaders and other young people from around the world. Dialogues among students in oppositional cultures will form part of the training aspect of the film. The film will be distributed to schools and communities throughout the USA. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was delighted to provide $2,500 for the short demo film, which will be used to raise awareness and additional funding to complete the full-length version.

Palliative Care

Marcy Grace and a small group of people in Santa Fe want to create an in-patient freestanding facility for dying patients without the restrictions of traditional Medicare Hospice, and to set up a point of entry into the system for patients with life-challenging illnesses. They have formed a nonprofit group called Palliative Care Services of Santa Fe and have connected themselves with Baylor University Palliative Care in Dallas in order to be able to access the most cutting-edge information in the field. Marcy approached Bread for the Journey with a request for $2,500 to defray the costs of printing a fairly substantial packet of materials for prospective donors. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to grant their request to help get this project off the ground.

The Pueblo of Pojoaque, located in New Mexico, established the Poeh Cultural Center and Museum in 1988 to serve as a “resource place for Pueblo tradition and to support the culture of Pueblo people by teaching the arts.” The Poeh Center has developed an intergenerational methodology of teaching as a strategy to pass on traditional arts and life experiences. Children and adults come together to learn about the arts, language and philosophy in the same relaxed, non-regimented fashion as their ancestors.

Plans are in place for a two-day First Annual Gathering of the Rio Grande Native American Basket Makers Association in October 2007, to include a public exhibition of the baskets at the end of the classes. Red willow, cottonwood, and other native species will be planted as part of the gathering. Bread for the Journey was pleased to grant $1,000 for this new association and for all that it will mean to the people of the Pueblo.

BRRR … It’s Cold Outside!

Santa Fe is a city of contrast, with multi-million-dollar homes and a population that includes approximately 1,500 people that are without homes at all. Kim Masoni had been working with fellow church members to provide meals to homeless people every Saturday morning. Once she learned that seven people had died of exposure the previous winter, she bought a sleeping bag at a garage sale and brought it with her the following Saturday. Another volunteer told her of a man who had been asking for a sleeping bag all morning, so Kim gave it to him. The man was so grateful that she became inspired to address the problem on a larger scale.

Kim went to a sporting goods store in town and the manager told her that he would sell her sleeping bags that go for fifty dollars for a mere twenty dollars each. She asked Bread for the Journey if they would pay for fifty bags, which she and her group would distribute in cooperation with other groups that were assisting the homeless. Bread for Journey of Santa Fe was happy to give Kim a grant of $1,000.

There Are No Borders

Anne Fullerton, a board member of Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe, learned from a friend about Katie Knauck, an emergency room physician in Albuquerque, NM, who volunteers with Doctors Without Borders in her “free” time.

Katie is spearheading an effort to remodel a small garage building in Arua, Uganda. The space is to be used to house a sewing shop for a group of HIV-positive women who create beautiful items out of batik cotton fabrics. This will be an income-generating project for these women, most of whom are single mothers. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe has provided $1,000 for the renovation project.

School’s Out

It has long been known that the late afternoon — from the time when school lets out through dinnertime — is a critical period in the lives of children, especially when they are unsupervised. This is particularly true for children of middle-school age as they are confronting personal identity issues and at risk for becoming involved in gang and other inappropriate activities.

Roger Montoya is working in partnership with the Espanola public schools to provide an after-school dance program that provides classes in Spanish flamenco, contemporary ballet, hip-hop, and break dance. Roger says that dance “awakens the imagination and allows the magic in. Dance teaches one to explore playfully without a preconceived plan, to learn from mistakes, to be taken by surprise. Dance reaches across stereotypes, social barriers, and cultures. Dance develops focus and increases attention, improving academic success. Dance nurtures the human soul.” Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe believes in Roger and in what he wants to accomplish for the youth of the Espanola Valley. We gave him $2,500 to help achieve his dream.

And A Little Child Shall Lead Them

Roberta Salazar is the Executive Director of Rivers and Birds in Taos, New Mexico. Nurturing the next generation of stewards of the earth, this school-based experimental education program has served over 2,000 fifth-grade students since 1998.

Last year, home-schooled eight-year-old Rivala Garcia sent in nine dollars along with a small note that said, “I want to donate this money to Rivers and Birds to Help Trees.” The Rivala Tree Fund was born and native trees are now being planted on BLM lands along the Rio Grande River, as well as in local schoolyards and in the yards of Habitat for Humanity homes. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was honored to donate $500 to the Rivala Tree Fund.

Over the years, Charles Kading has spent countless hours working to promote cycling as a highly beneficial form of transportation. Because he believes in increasing the use of bicycles in all of our communities and in making the world a more bicycle-friendly place, he has been quite active in planning the second annual Tour de Taos Bicycle Ride in New Mexico.

Charles came to Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe with a request for funding to help publicize the event. We were happy to donate $300 to this worthy cause.

For a number of years, Jewel Cabeza de Vaca has been organizing a summer camp for families of HIV victims. The camp enables families to spend quality time together and to create lasting memories.

Jewel wanted to present each family group with a professional photograph of their family to keep for the future, whatever that might have in store for them. Acknowledging the importance of family photographs to both current and future generations, Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to donate $300 for Jewel’s worthwhile project.

Families who have for generations owned and operated small ranches and farms in New Mexico are finding it difficult to survive as property taxes increase, profit margins diminish, and wealthy outside investors purchase huge plots of grazing land. A retired professional photographer, Jim Howard dreamed of producing a documentary to honor these multigenerational family enterprises that are now being threatened by super-stores and mega-corporations.

Seeing this project as a labor of love, Jim has so far absorbed most of the cost; however, he needed some extra support for editing and producing the DVD that would record the histories, successes, challenges, and transitions experienced by these families. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was pleased to contribute $300 to this project.

New Mexico has the third-highest rate of teen pregnancy in the nation. The Community Wellness Center in Taos, New Mexico, has an after-school and summer program for middle-school girls at risk for teen pregnancy, aimed at increasing their refusal skills and their understanding of reproductive health.

Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave the center a grant of $2,000 to help pay for publicity about their services, as well as other services available in the area that support prevention of teen pregnancy. A brochure will be distributed to all groups working with teens, and peer health education programs that include men will also be delivered within three rural towns.

The Red Willow Community Center at Taos Pueblo in New Mexico was constructed of adobe bricks made by members of the pueblo and vigas (wooden beams) that were brought down from the mountain. The center provides opportunities to community members of all ages that involve cyber education, biomass generation and solar irrigation; members can also grow produce in greenhouses or sell at the on-site Farmers Market. The energy, creativity, and enthusiasm for learning new ways to live in harmony with the earth are inspiring. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was pleased to be able to grant $3,025 to help complete the building of the center’s second greenhouse.

The Three Sisters

The name "Three Sisters" represents the corn, beans and squash that sustained the people of northern New Mexico for centuries. Daniela Di Piero is the head of an organization called “Movimiento,” which is one of three small organizations involved in the Three Sisters Project. This project represents the three inter-connected components of ecology, education, and economy.

Movimiento believes that a youth-organized sustainable agriculture project is an excellent way for young people to earn a living wage while growing and selling food. In order to launch a youth-run food products business, they needed to obtain food handlers' licenses, learn about ordering supplies and labels, and more. Bread for the Journey of Santa has given them $1,000 to help with this exciting endeavor.

Southern New Mexico is known for its sparse rainfall, its blistering dry heat, and its world-famous chile peppers. But when severe flooding hit communities like Hatch and Sunland Park last summer, as many as 2,000 people were either evacuated or lost their homes. The flooding was referred to locally as "Little Katrina,” with hundred of homes and businesses either destroyed or damaged. Chile pickers who were already hard-pressed by falling wages, lost work because of flooded fields. Often when the rain stops, people forget about it, yet there remains a need to remedy the problem.

Kent Patterson, a journalist, wanted to make sure that the needs of flood victims would be adequately addressed. Many are ineligible for help through existing programs because of current government guidelines. The combined radio-print materials that Kent wanted to produce would help identify obstacles that confront low-income communities in the event of disasters such as these. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave Kent $750 for expenses (gas mileage, lodging, food, and long-distance telephone expenses) in order to produce these programs and articles aimed at reaching an audience of 75,000 - 100,000 people.

When Maile Pickett was hired as the part-time librarian at the Embudo Valley Library, she thought that she would just check books in and out and help with the summer reading program for children. However, the Library Board had something else in mind. The school across the street needed an after-school program, and the Board wanted to offer an entertaining way to expose the children to their library. They decided to start with a small pilot program and, later, when they had accrued statistics regarding the students' progress, they could expand the enrollment and apply for a grant from a large foundation to help with expenses. Maile agreed to be in charge of the pilot program, starting with ten children.

On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, the children are escorted from the school to the library, where they have a healthy snack and do their homework. They then develop library-related skills through group games and activities, such as information scavenger hunts and treasure hunts, becoming familiar with the different sections of the library in the process. They also learn the circulation functions of the library, how to use the catalog, manage the circulation desk, and become proficient in re-shelving books. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to give Maile $1,000 to purchase supplies and refreshments for the children.

Tewa Women United is a group of Native American women in Pojoaque, New Mexico, who are committed to preserving both their heritage and the earth. They have an annual Gathering for Mother Earth, where they give thanks to water — an element whose importance cannot be understated to those who live in the high desert. They also take this time to honor their youth and elders.

The Gathering had a Children’s Peace Tent, and Tewa Women United needed additional funds to help with the cost of traditional art supplies and youth dances. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to give them a grant of $265.

Since Roger Montoya started working with the Espanola Public School District in 2003, more than 3,000 students at twelve elementary schools have experienced a variety of learning projects from the four creative disciplines of dance, music, drama, and the visual arts. The results have included higher test scores, increased student attendance and retention, greater self-esteem and dramatic behavioral improvements. He is now starting a new program called “Arts for Children,” that will provide an opportunity for hundreds of students in the Espanola Valley to participate in movement arts such as Spanish Flamenco, Mexican Folklorico, and Hip Hop dance. After finding the right location, funds were needed for construction of a dance floor, portable mirrors and a sound system. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to grant Roger $2,500 for this exciting new venture.

Artist of the Month

“Artist of the Month” is a free monthly art workshop at the new Teen Center just outside of Espanola. Joan Logghe came up with the idea for a different artist to present a workshop each month with offerings related to regional culture, such as making native alabaster carvings, retablos, books, acrylic self-portraits, and using micaceous clay, etc. Each participant produces something tangible that serves as a reward for his or her commitment. As project director, Joan requested money to fund the project for an entire year. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to give her $1,200 to fund twelve workshops over the same number of months.

Lewis Torres is a wonderful gentleman in his 60s who is very much involved with his community in northern New Mexico, Lewis is reputed for the generous contribution of his time, knowledge and wisdom to many local projects. He is personally well known by two of Bread for the Journey’s board members and has, over the years, helped numerous groups and individuals access funding for new projects. About twenty years ago, he attended a course on applying for grants and felt that he was in need of a refresher course. He asked for and received $825 from Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe toward tuition to attend a workshop on grantsmanship. He assured the board that he would continue to meet with anyone needing help in applying for grants for non-profit projects.

con Bolivia

Suzanne Dulle is a former member of the board of directors of the Santa Fe chapter of Bread for the Journey. Numerous trips to her husband’s native Bolivia had familiarized her with the country’s issues of extreme poverty, the disenfranchisement of its women, and of its children being raised with inadequate nutrition and education.

Three years ago, she and her husband formed what they refer to as “A Network of Goodness” called “con Bolivia” (with means “with Bolivia”). They support a day care center that provides 60 children of Aymara descent with a safe, educationally rich environment. They also listened to the proud leaders of a community from Isla Del Sol, and responded by funding a school milk program for children who previously were arriving to school with only a weak tea in their stomachs for “breakfast.” They are also helping a group from the jungle region of Yungus by developing a nutrition program for their school-aged children that uses locally grown food. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe wanted to honor Suzanne by giving her an unsolicited $1,000. She said that she was “overwhelmed with joy” and that the money would be used to start a day care center for indigenous children in Malasilla.

Ann Baumgarn and her husband live in the Middle Upper Rio Grande area of New Mexico. The area includes several Native American pueblos, some very small Hispanic villages and a community that’s primarily inhabited by Anglos. People from these communities have been working together to bring about positive change. Ann came to Bread for the Journey with suggestions for six small but significant ideas that residents wanted to see implemented.

They wanted to rewire a church to accommodate computers in Sile for an after-school program for the village’s seventeen children. A youth group wants to run a pizza place on Friday evenings with the proceeds going to the youth program. There is a cafe in an old fire station in another village with “Route 66” type furnishings, and funds were needed for pizza ovens and salad serving bowls, as well as for art supplies to decorate the walls. The tennis court at Cochiti Lake needed more money for resurfacing after a tree growing in the middle of the courts had been removed. Ann also needed money for blank CD’s to record and sell a CD as a fundraiser for youth programming. The final request was for materials for costumes and set design so a production could be staged by the youth in connection with the Cochiti Lake Library.

Bread for the Journey was happy to provide Ann with a total grant of $1,350 to help fund these worthy projects.

More than fifteen years ago, Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave start-up money toward the Crisis Center of Northern New Mexico. At that time, the center’s aim was to provide emergency shelter and services to victims of domestic violence.

Now, the center wants to provide services to the perpetrators as well. A program in Dallas has had good results with this approach, which is culturally sensitive and non-judgmental, allowing for differences in parenting styles. While the parents are in discussion in one room, the children are learning social skills in another. At the end of each session, the family will be reunited and given lessons to work on for the following week.

The center wants to offer this program free of charge to those who would benefit from it. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to grant $1,300 toward the cost of workbooks and supplies.

Oh, Yes, I Remember

Following the publication of his book, "Sparking Memories" — a collection of poems for use with Alzheimer patients — poet Gary Mex Glazner was asked to prepare a book for Spanish-speaking persons. While many native Spanish speakers have become fluent in English in their lifetimes, it has been found that as their Alzheimer's progresses, they slip back into almost exclusive use and comprehension of Spanish. Stories or "cuentas" are more traditional in the culture of northern New Mexico than is poetry. Gary wanted to work with local people to record these well-known stories so that they could be read aloud to stimulate memories and to provide enjoyment for the patients. As with the poetry book, it was felt that this storybook would help reduce stress in both patients and caregivers. Having given a grant for the English poetry book, Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was delighted to provide $1,500 for this "sequel."

The Carson Resource Center (CRC) consists of a donated parcel of land west of Taos, N.M., and a sensitive, adept Board of Directors with a wish to create a viable meeting place for the residents of several nearby villages. Recently, a metal Quonset hut — open at both ends — was donated as a meeting place for this new “community.”

Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe donated $300 for the ends of the building to be enclosed, thus blocking wind and the elements from coming in. This will allow the hut to be used as a safe storage area for a food bank program and, later, as a community center.

Let’s Add Some Protein

There are quite a few people in the Espanola Valley of New Mexico whose income is below $1,200 per month for a family of four. These people need help in feeding their families, so Tom Bozone set up a site where eligible families can come once a month for staples donated by the Food Depot of Santa Fe and other like-minded organizations. Last year, they distributed over 250,000 pounds of food to more than a thousand families.

Tom wanted to realize his dream of turning this site into a full-on food distribution center. To do this, he needed a compressor for refrigeration of donated frozen chickens, milk, butter, and cheese. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe granted Tom $2,500 for the compressor so that his dream could come true.

Rabia Van Hattum of Abiquiu, New Mexico, is the Program Director for “Arts to Boost Curriculum” (ABC). This small organization provides art supplies and instruction with the aim of boosting cognitive skills in hundreds of children from low-income and poverty-level families in small rural schools in the Espanola Valley. Mentors assist in the classrooms to help the children understand their lessons through art. This has been highly effective for learning math, as the children use geometric shapes to make the concepts clearer. They are thrilled when they get to take the items home with them. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe supplied $1,000 toward the purchase of materials for these art projects that enhance learning.

Loving Kindness

Susan Hale is the Program Director for the Chesed Project (Hebrew for Loving Kindness). The Project’s aim is to help break stereotypes about aging and to add to the quality of life for people over 60 in Taos, New Mexico. It is an inter-faith, collaborative endeavor, coordinated by the Taos Jewish Center. One group provided lunch but had no program to offer, so Susan has arranged to bring a variety of activities there. Most of the programs take place at the Taos Jewish Center, which has generously provided space in their building. Activities vary from writing classes to singing, exercise, and more. Susan had the idea to initiate the Sage Project, where twelve of the wisest seniors in Taos would be identified, photographed and written about in a journal that would also have blank pages to include the wisdom of other elders. She is planning to have them professionally photographed for the book. This “Sage Wisdom Journal” will be for sale to help generate funds for the Chesed Project. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe provided $1,000 to cover the cost of producing the books.

Leave The Lights On

South of Santa Fe, New Mexico, there are many small communities with interesting names such as Pena Blanca and Sile. Ann Baumgarn, a transplant from Iowa, lives in Cochiti Lake, a community near these towns. She became aware of the lack of after-school programs for children of working parents. She had volunteers to help but no location. One library said that their building could be used, but they would need money to cover the costs of the additional electricity. In another village, the only building available was a church, but several potential funding sources said that they couldn’t give money to projects with religious affiliations. They finally found a location but financial help was needed for the “extras”. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave Ann a check for $500 just in time to help with her spring-break program.

Can You Hear Me Now?

There is great joy in the Embudo Valley these days, as radio station KDLK is on the air at last. Dixon, along with seven other mountain villages in New Mexico, has never had radio reception before. Clark Case, a carpenter and visionary, established a new noncommercial, low-frequency, limited-range radio station for the valley. He invited widespread participation, including the broadcasting of sporting events from Penasco High School. This open invitation has particularly attracted students, who are being taught by Clark to produce radio programs. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe believes strongly in this project, and gave a grant of $2,000 to purchase equipment for the 500-square-foot studio that’s located next to the town library.

The Power of Hope

Since agency budgets are created in advance, funds are often not available when an exceptional training opportunity arises. The Power of Hope Program for Youth was started on the west coast by Peggy Taylor, who is the founder of New Age Magazine. It involves an innovative approach for training staff and, for the first time, a two-day course was going to be given in New Mexico. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe provided $660 so that staff from the Santa Fe Boys and Girls Club could attend this training. They are very enthusiastic about what they learned and eager to apply it right away.

Jose and Dottie Montoya, of Velarde, New Mexico, are longtime friends of Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe. This past year, they wanted to share their bumper crop of apples with people who could most benefit from them. Dr. Ben Whitehill, Santa Fe BFJ board member, knew Maryknoll Sister Gloria Ruiz, a nurse, since the 1970s when they worked together in Hong Kong in the area of community health. Since then, Dr. Whitehill's family has kept in touch with Sister Ruiz, who is now working with AIDS patients in El Salvador. With most of her patients living on less than 1,000 calories per day, the apples would be highly appreciated. Jose and Dottie washed, cut, and dried many pounds of apples to send to Sister Ruiz. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to give them $200 so that the apples could be shipped to El Salvador.

Las Vegas, New Mexico, has a population of approximately 16,000 people, most with low to moderate levels of income. One way to deal with the high cost of clothing is to shop at thrift stores. Duane Durant is the director of Samaritan House, which provides food and shelter to homeless people in the area. For years, he has had a humble thrift store in a 120-year-old vacant mission church that was not centrally located. He recently obtained a 5,800-square-foot building in an area with high foot traffic, and began renovating it to house a new thrift store.

The proceeds from the store will not only be used to assist people in the existing program, but also for a 144-bed shelter with transitional housing units, which will help manage the anticipated influx of returning veterans from Iraq. Both the homeless and the veterans will be able to work in the program until they are ready to move into other employment. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave $2,000 toward the costs of opening the new store.

Gary Mex Glazner coaches a dynamic, "precision poetry" drill team of high school students. He had the idea of trying to "reach" Alzheimer patients through poetry and has been getting very positive results. Under the guidance of a physician, he has begun cataloging responses to the effectiveness of poetry as therapy with these patients. Wanting to share his experiences, he has developed an anthology called "Sparking Memories: The Alzheimer's Poetry Project." Along with this is a guidebook that he will offer free of charge to Alzheimer's centers in New Mexico and to every family dealing with this special challenge at home. It's all online at http://www.alzpoetry.com. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was very pleased to offer a grant of $1,500 toward this project.

Shortly after Nancy McDonald moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, she began to volunteer in a soup kitchen. Nancy soon discovered there was a real need for a second facility to serve mid-day meals to the homeless. Once her priest offered use of their church, she found an organization who agreed to supply the food. After recruiting volunteers, all she needed was a three-sectioned sink, as required by the health department. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to provide $1,000 to purchase the new sink.

Anita Gerlach, a popular high school science teacher who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Ned Place, a professional musician who lives in Texas, are involved in "The Lullaby Project." They plan to spend considerable time over the next two years in northern New Mexico to record a broad base of lullabies that represent the historical, cultural, and ethnic mix within the state, in an effort to preserve them before they are lost. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe granted $800 to help with the expense of visiting the homes of mothers and grandmothers and recording them as they sing traditional lullabies in their native languages. Each singer is given a recording of her lullaby as a gift to her family.

Clark Case speaks with great enthusiasm about his dream for a limited range, non-commercial radio station in a 500-square-foot studio at the Dixon Public Library in Dixon, New Mexico. The mountains in that region make regular radio reception nearly impossible, and two years ago he received his license for low-frequency transmission. He talks about how this radio station will enable the people in Dixon, Embudo, Rinconado, and other small villages in the valley to be connected in a way that has never before been possible, airing local news, topics of interest in the valley, and programs written and produced by students. The station's golden rule will be that anyone willing to produce a show will get one. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe applauds Clark's leadership in the many creative fund-raising events he has spearheaded, and was happy to contribute $200 to buy equipment for the future KLDK - a true community radio station.

Susan McIntosh is a kindergarten teacher with a passion for science. She started the Santa Fe Science Initiative, which supplies teachers with kits that contain materials for demonstrating science projects in the classroom. She also arranges for mentors to talk with teachers about ways to incorporate science into all aspects of learning. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to give her a grant of $500 for this outstanding project.

Robb Hirsch is the Program Coordinator for the Pueblo of Tesuque After School Learning and Leadership Program. This program is for the English/ Tewa speaking students from the pueblo, in grades Kindergarten through 12. He wanted to develop a multimedia library for the students to use after finishing their homework at the center. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe arranged for the donation of books and other educational materials from the personal collection of a teacher who was no longer doing classroom work. We added a grant for $200 for educational software as well.

People who know high school poetry teacher Judyth Hill of Sapello, New Mexico, say that she has an exceptional ability to help children feel valued. She has had amazing success with poetry projects for children in special circumstances, giving them something more than one-stop entertainment. She offers them "something they will have for the rest of their lives - to know what territory lies between heart and hand, pen and paper, and the skills to explore and expand that territory."

She has started the New Mexico Poetry Bridge to connect students in New Mexico with some girls in the Sri Yasodisa Orphanage in Sri Lanka who have lost their parents in the ongoing civil war. She will be spending a month at the orphanage, and the childrens' poems will be written and translated into both languages. A multicultural, multilingual anthology called "Hands Across Clouds" will be published, followed by a public reading. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe has given Judyth $1,200 to help publish the anthology.

The Chimayo Cultural Preservation Association, in north-central New Mexico, started a group called Los Maestros del Norte (The Teachers of the North), whose goal is to pass their artistic heritage on to future generations. Through a monthly workshop taught by local artists for youth, ages 9 to17, instruction is given in straw inlay, hide painting, colcha embroidery, bone carving, tin work, retablo painting and more. Once a year, the students become teachers at the big Spanish Market in Santa Fe, where they encourage hundreds of children to stop at their booth and try out the crafts. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave them $1,000 to purchase supplies for the monthly workshops and for materials for the Spanish Market booth.

Cultural Energy is a non-profit organization formed in Taos, New Mexico, to support creative and cultural activities within northern New Mexico. They create short radio segments that are offered to radio stations for broadcast. They are particularly interested in involving youth in media production and are working with radio clubs at three schools in Taos. Production Director Mike Tilley says that teaching interview skills to students, then having them hear themselves on radio has been among the great joys of his life. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe donated $1,400 for a laptop computer so that more work can be carried out on location.

Dixon is a pretty little village, in the Embudo Valley of New Mexico, whose elementary school is reaching out to the larger community for help. Dixon Elementary has only three teachers for six grades, one of whom left mid-year, leaving the combined fifth/sixth-grade class to be taught by a series of substitutes. The school shares its principal with a school in another village and is on academic probation with the U.S. Dept. of Education program, "No Child Left Behind." The Embudo Valley Tutoring Association has been helping out with a mentoring program. This year there will be an intensive 40-hour-per-week, nine-week consolidated summer-school program, with ten paid tutors teaching students from three different schools in the valley. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to provide $750 for materials and equipment to help these children "catch up" academically.

Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to give a second grant to Las Tapetes de Lana. They have been teaching weaving and spinning to economically challenged people in the communities of Mora and Las Vegas, New Mexico. They recently purchased some buildings to create a community center, so we gave them $1,500 for sound equipment for the new auditorium.

Artist Roger Montoya is well known to the Santa Fe Bread for the Journey chapter for his
passion to provide opportunities for artistic expression to rural grade-school children. For the past few years, he has inspired children at Velarde Elementary School, and it has been a joy to see their creations. He now plans to expand the program to the Dixon Elementary School. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe is confident that he will use the $500 grant for supplies in very creative ways.

Hank Hughes - a longtime friend of Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe and now head of the New Mexico Coalition for the Homeless - told us about three remarkable former homeless men who all use wheelchairs. They have decided to share an apartment, to pool their resources, and to help provide the homeless with meals on the weekends, as no one else in town is doing so. The men needed some help with moving expenses, so Bread for the Journey was happy to offer them a grant of $750 toward this end.

Donna Giaquinto is a first-generation Italian-American who is the director of Cottonwood Therapy Associates in Los Alamos, NM This facility employs twenty part- and full-time licensed professionals in various disciplines who provide an array of services with a focus on mental health, pain management, substance abuse and addictions, education, and the prevention of child abuse. For some time, Donna has felt very strongly that she was meant to open a satellite clinic in Espanola that would offer these services as well as anger-management classes and therapy for compulsive gamblers. She also dreams of sponsoring a yearly alcohol-free party so that people who need to can see that they can have a great time without alcohol.

Donna needed money to secure the premises for the new clinic. With Arriba County's high incidence of social problems, Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe shared her concern for its residents, and was happy to be part of this new development by providing her with a $2,000 grant.

Torreon is a very small town in northwestern New Mexico. The people are rich in culture, history, energy and hopes, but most don't have much extra cash. Evie Pachine and others involved in the Torreon Community Thrift Store wanted to expand by adding an annex to sell used furniture. A woman in Albuquerque who had heard about the project helped to connect Evie with Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe. Evie told us that the Navajo Nation had given them money to buy a pre-fab building, and Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to give them an additional $1,000 toward the wiring and electrical supplies that would help complete the annex.

For many years, Tapetes de Lana has been teaching weaving and spinning to economically challenged people in the communities of Mora and Las Vegas, New Mexico. They purchased some buildings in Mora to provide studios where weaving and spinning workshops could be held. The buildings were spacious enough to also provide classrooms and meeting spaces for other community events. While they had received some funding for a community kitchen, they did not have enough to buy appliances. Then came an opportunity to acquire commercial-grade appliances at very low cost from a restaurant that was going out of business. A $1000 grant from Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe helped them purchase the stoves, sinks and refrigerators. The kitchen will be used by high-school and community-college culinary classes, small family businesses, and community enterprises.

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, SASS stands for Self Awareness and School Support. SASS is a prevention program for at-risk middle school girls (over 50% Hispanic and low income) who have been referred to school counselors. In addition to group and individual counseling during school hours, the program offers parent-education activities. These are either all-day outings or four-hour evening events that include a meal for the girls and their mothers or other important women in their lives. The aim is to improve academic performance and to reduce instances of substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and violence. Many of the parents themselves had a difficult time in school and so need support in helping their daughters to succeed. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe donated $150 toward food for these education activities, and also provided names of local food distribution agencies as a potential resources for the future.

Farmers play a very important part in people's lives but are seldom honored for providing the food we eat. The Bond House Cultural Center in Espanola, New Mexico, teamed up with the Espanola Farmers Market to produce an art exhibit that would bring together the worlds of art and agriculture in this culturally rich community. Ten artists from the valley interviewed twenty farmers and, from the information they gathered, produced art pieces (paintings, sculpture, ceramics, and fiber art) that tell the farmers' stories. It was a beautiful collaboration between growers and artists, out of which some new friendships were developed, as well as an 8 ft. by 12 ft. muslin story banner for each farm. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was pleased to donate $472 to purchase the material used for the banners.

The puppet theatre Los Titriteros has a new production that is being performed as a street show after Sunday church services in thirteen different locations in rural northern New Mexico. The show, called "Out of Order," operates out of an old milk truck. The story line is that the truck (the symbol of strength) is carrying a wedding cake (the symbol of hope) when the truck breaks down. The story unfolds from there with the help of puppets Frank and Edna.

In reality, the milk truck needed repairs before the shows could take place. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to donate $100 to repair the truck's brakes so that this inspiring show could go on to visit audiences in remote locations.

Several years ago, Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe provided sponsorship to a valuable new community group called Los Vecinos del Rio, whose purpose is to work on local environmental issues in the Española Valley. Los Vecinos del Rio has since developed the Petroglyph Project, which is committed to recording and protecting nearly 20,000 petroglyphs and archeological sites on the 36-square-mile area of Black Mesa. This summer, the project will provide an opportunity for a dozen Native American, Hispanic and Anglo youth to work with adult volunteers in the Rock Art Recording Summer Youth Intern Program.

Trained archeologists and other experienced rock art recorders will teach the interns about digital photography, drawing, measuring, data recording and mapping. The interns will also learn to use compasses and Global Positioning System units, while they learn data management using relevant computer programs. To increase community awareness and protect these precious resources, the results will be archived and shared with the San Juan Pueblo, individual landowners, and the New Mexico Archeological Records Management System. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was happy to contribute $1000 to help cover transportation, meals and a small stipend for the interns while they participated in the two-week program.

Several years ago, the Chimayo Boys and Girls Club was created to give young people some fun and safe activities to do in this isolated mountain valley. From the time he became involved in helping the club form and thrive, Bob Jones has been an enthusiastic supporter. This group has worked tirelessly to build a new 2,500-square-foot youth center that will house the club's activities. This summer, Bob asked Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe to provide funding for a summer youth program dedicated to recording the life stories of the older residents in the area who have so much wisdom to share. Using recording equipment, a digital camera and printer, the youngsters will pick up some valuable skills and perhaps a few life lessons by participating in this delightful project, which will continue for years to come. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe's grant of $3,000 will also help provide additional supplies for the club's weaving program, which began with the donation of a portable building and several looms.

Seeds of Knowledge Sown in Cyberspace

Four years ago, the North American College of Botanical Medicine was facing a crisis as its founding directors were all called to pursue other professional directions. The only university program in the country to offer a bachelor's degree in this fast-growing field was saved by the devotion of its professors. Forgoing salaries for more than a year in some cases, the faculty members pulled together to ensure the continuation of the program, which offers a walk-in clinic to the community of Albuquerque along with a full course of study for students who come here from all over the country.

When Dr. Curtis Jones contacted us, he was seeking funding to develop a distance-learning website for their Continuing Education program. With a $2,500 grant from Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe, their web designer will put together a fully accredited program, which includes classes for pharmacists and nurses. This will extend the availability of the coursework while providing additional revenue for the college, whose budget is not met by tuition alone. More than 1,500 pharmacists in New Mexico will be contacted directly so they can benefit from the new online program.

Victoria Linden and Bob Pederson of Tierra Lucero founded the Home Garden Project last year with the help of Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe. They have also continued their own valuable work in sustainable agriculture at the Tierra Lucero Center in Taos. Last summer Taos Pueblos dedicated over three acres of tribal land to an exciting new project devoted to teaching and demonstrating sustainable agriculture. In April, the Pueblo inaugurated a new, sustainably built facility - a gift from a generous donor - which they named the Red Willow Agricultural Education Center. Since then, Victoria and Bob have been volunteering their time to help representatives from the Pueblo realize their dream.

The Red Willow project includes multiple greenhouses and extensive crop production, reforestation, food-scaping, water catchment, modern and traditional irrigation, as well as an extensive sustainable-agriculture education program. This year, in a first step toward offering fully accredited college courses to area youth, Bob and Vicky will lead an eight-week class at the University of New Mexico. With a $3,000 grant from Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe, the class will give 15 Taos Pueblo youth a chance to start the greenhouse, plant the first agricultural crops, and construct a micro-irrigation system.

Bring Your Own Baby could be the slogan for Sivan Wind's new infant-massage program offered to families in the Santa Fe area. She has practiced for 20 years in the healthcare field as a registered nurse, licensed massage therapist and, more recently, as a certified instructor of infant massage. During this time, Sivan has worked extensively with infants and new families, helping parents to better understand their baby's cues, establish successful breastfeeding, and learn gentle, loving ways to touch, hold and heal their young.

Sivan provides her students with printed materials and a starter bottle of good massage oil, along with her warm, informative teaching style. She is committed to helping families recognize their strengths and successes so they can build upon them. She also encourages and empowers uncertain new parents who are often struggling with their own painful childhood legacies, causing them to feel fearful about how to touch their own new children.

Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe provided $3,000 for partial scholarships so that Sivan can offer her five-week class series to families who could not otherwise afford them. Families will be referred to her by practitioners from local agencies, and are encouraged to contribute what they can to pay for the classes, no matter how small the amount.
(2003)

Medical Supplies Serve Many

For fifteen years, Suzanne Barry of Mountainair was a Physician's Assistant, and for nine of those she traveled throughout Torrance County serving under the University of New Mexico's County Rural Health Program. Five years ago, she gave up western medicine and opened a small private practice in Belen as a Doctor of Oriental Medicine. Now she treats patients who travel to see her from all corners of Torrance and Bernalillo Counties, as well as from more distant locations such as Texas and Colorado. Unfortunately, many of her local cancer patients find it difficult to afford the alternative treatments she offers, which are not covered by insurance. Over time, she found herself offering more and more of these services free of charge. She says her time is easy to give, but that the medical supplies cost so much. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe is honored to participate in her generosity by offering $500 to purchase medical supplies to use in those treatments she is offering for free.

Weaving a Bond With Our Cultural Past

Shelley Horton Trippe, of the Las Trampas Institute in northern New Mexico, wanted to bring a weaving master into the community to teach traditional weaving patterns and techniques to area residents. Weaving was once an important craft in these communities but the knowledge has been lost over the years. Women who have lived in Las Trampas all their lives expressed a desire to learn this art form. So with a $500 grant from Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe, Shelley has pieced together the funding needed to bring them a weaving master, who will live in the village, teach the women, and be present to help them work through the learning stages to a point where they can proudly present their work to others.

Legacy of Saint Francis

Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe received a contribution, in the amount of $5,400, that was designated to help Friends of Rescued Animals. We passed the funds on to this organization which provides spaying, neutering, and other healthcare services to rescued animals in the Rowe area, as well as educating the community on healthy pet-care habits. There have always been a large number of stray, neglected and abused animals in the area. This has not only been a problem for the animals themselves, but has posed a health threat and safety hazard to humans as well. Friends of Rescued Animals has been nurturing and caring for the animals, then teaching local families positive pet-care skills and placing the animals in their care.

Mending a Zendo

When Yvonne Bond of Las Vegas found that health problems were keeping her home, she was saddened to lose contact with her Zen meditation group that met regularly in Santa Fe. Motivated by her inability to travel so far for her spiritual practice, Yvonne saw the need for people in her community to have a gathering place for meditation, retreats, and meetings. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave Yvonne $1,500 to repair the leaks and the heating in her old garage and tune it into a 'zendo' for her whole community. In the summers, her backyard garden provides a fragrant complement to the still and nurturing space where meditations, talks and retreats are now held regularly.

Let the Games Begin

So many of the families in the Espanola area have found their way from Mexico to New Mexico driven by the hope for more opportunities for their children. These students are among the many who dream of playing soccer and other team sports but lack the $25.00 required to pay for their sports physical exams. Our hearts were moved when we heard from Monica Smith, the nurse at Espanola High School, about the disappointment so many felt in face of this insurmountable financial challenge. We were happy to propose that if the kids were each willing to pay something, no matter how little, Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe would dedicate a fund of $500 to make up the difference for every one who needed it. This has happened and now the kids are playing ball!

Joy On A String

Dona Adelina is a frisky, folksy old grandmother marionette invented by Christina Masoliver who travels from schools to meeting houses telling the tales of her life, her village and her family. While her audiences smile with delight, one moment she delivers pearls of wisdom about the joys and sorrows we often find in our family relationships, and the next moment she paints a feisty portrait of life along the traditional ditch banks of a mythic but typical northern New Mexico village. When Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe heard from Los Titiriteros Puppet Theater of Taos, they were close to giving up because they had so little money that they could no longer travel from school to school. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was delighted to offer them $500 so that children throughout northern New Mexico could continue to meet Dona Adelina and see themselves through her wise and loving eyes. The letters she has received from her young audiences are penned in a childish hand, but there is no doubt about what they say: thank you for coming to our school, we will always remember you.

Fairview Pharmacy Program Faring Well

Each year Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe provide about $800 to Fairview Pharmacy to cover the cost of prescriptions the Española High School nurses see are needed by students, but which the students cannot afford. It is a gentle collaborative venture that serves a large number of families quietly and without any bureaucracy. Children and teenagers have filled prescriptions ranging from antibiotics to eyeglasses.

The Espanola Farmers' Market in northern New Mexico is a small community-based market that sells quality foods and handmade products. Sabra Moore, the executive director, had come up with an inventive way of nurturing the spirit of
the market through her natural love for writing. She initiated a poetry contest, and the farmers with children from Abiquiu, Hernandez and Chimayo elementary schools responded with enthusiastic participation. Sabra published their poems in "A Farming Chapbook." Each participant received a copy of the book at a year-end celebration. The program encouraged literacy and community involvement, yet Sabra's funding for the chapbook had been cut this past year. This is when Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe stepped in to help. We gladly awarded the Farmers' Market with a grant of $1000 to publish 250 chapbooks for the participants and for distribution to local libraries.

Out of the Closet
In the town of Velarde, New Mexico, a quiet little elementary school changed an old dark closet into a vibrant new work space. Roger Montoya, an artist and long-time resident of Velarde, wanted to see Velarde Elementary become the first "school for the arts" in northern New Mexico. With donated supplies, Roger and the students transformed the closet into an art/resource center. As many as 150 students will reap the benefits of this effort, and a $750 matching donation from Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe will enable them to have a year of art supplies at their finger tips!

Reading is Fundamental
Bursting at the seams with books and services, the Embudo Valley Library needed more space. Embudo residents saw the need, and so became inspired to buy an old store and build a new, larger library. The community effort was met with a gracious donation of $1000 by Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe to purchase books and supplies for their summer reading program. Embudo may be a small town, but the library serves up to 10,000 area residents, which includes a significant gathering of children every summer.

Joining the Bandwagon
The students at Penasco High felt disconnected from their community, as is often the case in small villages. The school's music teacher, Brock Salazar, saw a way to link community and youth by starting a community mariachi band! Brock knew he could bridge the generation gap by embracing a no-age limit for the band. Sharing their talents while having loads of fun together is the recipe for success. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe joined the bandwagon with a $500 donation for the purchase of instruments.

Barking up the Right Tree!
Assistance Dogs of the Southwest is a group of dedicated people who train dogs to help people with disabilities. While the fee to purchase a dog is minimal, sometimes a client is unable to pay. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was asked to help out in these situations. The Board of Directors wholeheartedly agreed to step in by finding donors who would purchase the dogs for these clients.

Student Prescriptions Get a Boost
Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe has made annual contributions to Fairview Pharmacy to help cover prescription costs for students at Espanola Valley High School. The high school nurses recommend the students who are in need of prescriptions, ranging from antibiotics to eyeglasses. This year, we gave the pharmacy a grant of $800.

Where Does Milk Come From?
For two years, Le Adams worked for the nonprofit, Friends of the Farmers' Market, developing their "Farm-to-School" program. Upon asking school-age children if they knew where milk came from, the most common answer was "from the grocery store." She visited 30 public schools to educate students about the importance of agriculture and was often surprised to find how little they knew about basic farming. She decided to develop a workbook that teaches about farming principles as a supplement to the standard curriculum of math, geography and other core subjects. Le was in need of financial assistance for the printing costs, so Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe granted the project $2000 to get it off the press and into the schools.

Old Fashioned Baking Is Not Just for Grandma
Rainbow Stars, a support group for gay/lesbian/bisexual teens at Espanola Valley High School, needed some money to get a jump-start on their own fundraising efforts. They requested help to pay for a deposit on a booth where they could hold bake sales. The money they raised would be used for Outward Bound activities and a year-end dance. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe gave them $500 so they could begin to bake!

U.S./Mexico Border Towns Get Noticed
Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe proudly sponsored Kent Patterson with $395 for a public radio series about U.S./Mexico border colonias. His series will be broadcast in September 2002, which is Hispanic Heritage Month. It will be a Spanish-English program that will focus on U.S./Mexico border cities that are overcoming tremendous odds as they organize and build the new communities of the Southwest.

Grow Your Own
Organic gardening has been Victoria Linden's business for a number of years. So it was natural for her to extend her passion for gardening into Tierra Lucero, a nonprofit that provides free organic gardens to the disabled, aged and financially stressed populations of northern New Mexico. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe wholeheartedly donated $2000 towards their start-up costs.

Tierra Lucero promotes sustainable living systems through education and community service. They both install and work side by side with their targeted population, helping them to harvest the rewards of planting, growing and consuming their
own food.

Tomas Enos is an herbalist who has lived in Santa Fe for 25 years, selling his wares at the Santa Fe Farmers' Market. He began donating his time and experience to the Randall Davey Audubon Center by growing and teaching about native herbs. It became clear that a greenhouse would serve the center by enabling the growth of seedlings that would otherwise not stand a chance in the desert climate. He designed a greenhouse and approached Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe with his dream of building it for the center. We could not think of a better project for honoring Cornelia Hull, our 97-year-old board member who just passed away on December 20, 2001. We provided $2,500 for the supplies, soil and seeds and a name for the greenhouse as well - Cornelia's Greenhouse.
(Spring 2002)

Poeh Cultural Center
Carol Guzman contacted Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe regarding the seed funding for a collaborative cultural exchange program with the Guarani Tribes of the State of Rio de Janeiro. The Poeh Center is acting as role model for preservation and initiating teaching of the almost lost culture. The focus will be recording the history and culture of the Guarani people that have been afflicted with deforestation, modern living, and lack of cultural teaching. There is a similarity between the art and pottery of Guarani and the art of the Tewa -speaking Pueblos that makes this grant an exciting exchange of history. The hope is to give the Guarani sustainable community development through the implementation of the successes of the Poeh Center. A grant of $3,000 went towards the development and template of the project. The grant is an exchange between the staff of the Poeh Center and the Guarani Tribe and therefore was split between a local and an international organization.

St. Elizabeth's Shelter
Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was able to make an individual donation of $435.00 to St. Elizabeth's Shelter for a single mom with a baby who had been out of work for 2 weeks. After only 2 weeks she was being evicted from their apartment. Through this grant and the support of St. Elizabeth's, Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe was able to support a young mother as she strives to make a promising and healthy future for herself and her child.

The Dream Tree Project in Taos, New Mexico was started by a group of women concerned about the lack of transitional care opportunities for young adults. All of them were service providers in youth shelters and through a series of meetings realized that many local shelters were well equipped to work with teenagers, but had to let these youth go as they reached age 18. The women wanted to provide a home that would help transition these young adults from shelters or the streets to a nurturing supportive environment where they could gain the life and job skills they needed to build a healthy and positive future for themselves and their communities. Thus the Dream Tree Project was born, with a commitment to "promote the healing of spirit, mind and body in children, so as to build a healthy community where we are all able to envision and pursue our dreams." The project was well underway with funding and construction of their transitional living facility when a funding gap left them without major appliances to receive a very necessary HUD government grant. Bread for the Journey of Santa Fe donated $2500 towards a stove, refrigerator and a dining room set for twelve. This gift directly carved the way for them to open their doors, not only to the HUD grant, but to the young adults waiting to access their services. The project now offers a safe home for youths 16 to 21 with a dedicated staff of three women who provide healing and real world experience for independent living and securing employment. In addition to mentoring and counseling programs, the project also has a lively organic gardening program, an arts program, and a wilderness leadership and therapy program underway. Together, community members with gifts and talents to share, are joining with motivated youth to create an orchard of dreams.

More Dream Tree photos