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Friday, November 1st, 2019
ANNOUNCING - MarillacHealth is open to New Patients, including Medicare & Medicaid.
Appointments available now! Please share with your colleagues and the clients you serve.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Anna Stout, Board President
Foundation for Cultural Exchange
970-433-2897
fceelsalvador@gmail.com
Foundation for Culture Exchange celebrates 15 years of solidarity work in Grand Junction’s Sister City with a special guest from El Salvador on November 2 at the Art Center
GRAND JUNCTION—In November, the Foundation for Cultural Exchange (FCE) is celebrating 15 years of promoting cultural understanding and solidarity between the people of the Western Slope of Colorado and Grand Junction’s sister city of El Espino, El Salvador.
The FCE will celebrate with a special anniversary event to honor sponsors and supporters from 6:00 p.m.-8:30.0 p.m. on Saturday, November 2 at the Art Center. The free event will feature a special guest from El Salvador; a graduation party theme for the four graduating high school seniors and two university graduates in El Espino; a silent auction with handmade art made by scholarship students and their families, local artists, and by Fernando Llort, El Salvador’s most prestigious artist; as well as Salvadoran food from La Pupuseria Food Truck and Fiesta Guadalajara, and a cash bar. Members of the press are welcome.
The Grand Junction-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization has accomplished much over the last fifteen years. It has inspired travelers from the Grand Valley to immerse themselves in the Salvadoran culture and to be taken in by the community of El Espino through its annual cultural immersion trips, where travelers stay with host families in the community and learn about the country’s culture and history. Over 120 Western Slope residents have made the journey to the Sister City through the FCE since 2005. This year marked the second annual spay/neuter campaign for the community’s dogs and cats in an effort to improve overall community health, sterilizing over 350 animals in three days.
The organization’s cornerstone program is the scholarship fund it maintains for high school and university students in El Espino. Currently, more than 30 students in high school and college are attending school in El Salvador with FCE scholarships, and seven students have already graduated with university or technical degrees. The costs associated with high school make it virtually out of reach for most poor rural students like those in El Espino. The FCE also works with El Espino to support and fund development projects identified, planned and implemented by the community itself.
“It’s incredible to look back on the past 15 years and all the lives that have been impacted both in El Espino and in our own community,” FCE President Anna Stout said. “Students in El Espino are literally transforming their communities. Former travelers have gone on to do some amazing things in Grand Junction and throughout the world because of the experience they had in El Salvador. The benefits of this sister city relationship truly go both directions.”
The FCE funds its programs primarily by seeking individual and group sponsors to fund scholarships for students in El Espino. Each scholarship is funded by sponsors, primarily in the Grand Valley, who maintain regular, meaningful contact with their students.
Scholarship students are selected based on financial need, academic merit and community-mindedness. For $300 per year, one can sponsor a high school scholarship student. For $1,000 per year, one can sponsor a university scholarship student. Partial scholarships are also available.
The FCE was established when a group of Mesa State College students, which included Stout, returned from a Mesa State College trip to El Espino in June 2004, where they lived with families in the community and fell in love with its culture and people. The students incorporated the FCE as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in November 2004 and petitioned Grand Junction City Council for its endorsement of a formal sister city relationship with El Espino. City Council voted unanimously and the relationship was formalized in September 2005.
For more information about the FCE or to donate, call Stout at 433-2897 or email FCEelsalvador@gmail.com
What: 15th Anniversary Sister City Celebration
Who: Presented by Foundation for Cultural Exchange – El Salvador
When: Saturday, November 2, 2019
Time: 6-8:30pm
Cost: Free
Where: Western Colorado Center for the Arts, 1803 N 7th Street, Grand Jct, CO 81501
Help raise funds so our Grand Junction First Responders get our homeless neighbors back with loved ones .
About this Event
A community partnership with Hilltop Community Resources, law enforcement and key stakeholders are coming together to host a fundraising breakfast titled “Home for the Holidays” on Nov. 8th at First Presbyterian Church. The objective is to raise funds to help homeless individuals in our community travel to relatives that have been identified and confirmed. The hope is that these folks can make their way ‘home’. All individuals will be identified by, and travel arrangements will be coordinated through, service agencies and law enforcement. We’d love for you all to consider joining in support of this effort.
Tickets online $12.00
Tickets at the door: $15.00
Please consider being as sponsor
Buy a Bus Ticket Sponsorship- $200.00 - Comes with 2 breakfast tickets
Buy a Train Ticket Sponsorship- $600.00 - Comes with 6 breakfast tickets
Buy an Airline Ticket Sponsorship- $1,000- Comes with 10 breakfast tickets
If you have questions contact Home4Holidays@karisinc.org.
Funding Opportunities
Approximately $1.3M will be distributed throughout three upcoming grant cycles. General operating and programmatic grants will be awarded to organizations and programs that:
- Support the marginalized, the socially and economically disadvantaged
- Provide resources for achieving and maintaining healthy, independent lives
- Maintain, nurture and strengthen healthy minds and bodies
- Offer opportunities for well-being and quality of life
Application deadlines are at 5 p.m. on the following dates:
- October 4, 2019
- January 10, 2020
- July 2, 2020
Rocky Mountain Health Foundation strives to improve the health of Western Slope Coloradans by promoting the health and well-being of Western Slope communities. “Well-being” includes not only physical and behavioral health-related issues but the factors that can affect one’s health—or the Social Determinants of Health.
Rocky Mountain Health Foundation is a responsive grant maker and awards grants to Western Slope-based Colorado nonprofit organizations who have both programmatic services and personnel residing in our service area and align with at least one funding priority:
- Basic Needs
- Access to & Affordability of Physical, Oral & Visual Health
- Access to and Affordability of Social-Emotional-Behavioral Health
- Community-Based Health Projects
Funding priorities, guidelines and eligibility requirements, and funded projects can be found at the website. Sign up for the grant management platform to apply online.
Employment Opportunities
The Community Food Bank (CFB) seeks an Executive Director to lead this vibrant local organization now in its 41st year of service. The CFB is a hunger relief nonprofit organization connecting families and individuals of Mesa County to food resources by providing a 3-day supply of emergency food to those in need. Serving over 15,000 individuals annually, the CFB seeks an experienced, mission-driven, “can-do” organizational leader to oversee daily operations of the food bank, work with our community partners, and conduct grant writing efforts, while addressing strategic visions and goals for the organization, ensuring a strong future for our community. Click link for more information.
CFB Executive Director Job Position