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Doña
Ana
Communities United
November 2019
Newsletter
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We hope you enjoyed November and were able to spend time with friends and family. The month certainly sped by here at DACU: so much so, that we are a bit late with this newsletter!
In this issue we introduce our penpal project, share about graphic harvesting, remind you about Giving Tuesday, and describe the guests who appeared on
Just Community
this month.
We also bid farewell to Mairead McCarthy (sniff), who gave so much of herself to our timebank and to the DACU community. Until we are able to fill our two VISTA positions, we are so happy that Sam MacNeil is helping us out part time. Feel free to stop by and say hello if you haven't yet met her!
We are very grateful to be working with you to build community and equity, both here in southern New Mexico and afar. Stay safe and warm this winter!
In good health,
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Upcoming DACU Events
Giving Tuesday
December 3
Help fund our VISTA positions. Click here to donate!
Pen Pal
Orientation
December 4, 5:30 - 7:30 PM (DACU office)
For timebank members who want to connect with incarcerated persons.
Timebank Orientation
December 10, 5:30 - 7 PM (DACU office)
For those who wish to join the timebank.
If you are already a member,
refer a friend who joins and you will receive three hour credits!
Winter Celebration
December 20, 5:30 - 8:30 PM (DACU office)
All are welcome! Bring a dish to share and an item to re-gift.
Please do not feel the need to purchase anything. Small, odd items are perfect!
For all events:
Click
here for details.
Please RSVP to Kari at 5
75-496-4330
. You'll find directions to our office at the
bottom of this newsletter.
DACU's events are alcohol-free.
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Giving Tuesday is Here!
Giving Tuesday is
today (December 3rd) and w
e have already received a number of generous donations. Thank you in particular to the Tecumseh Foundation, which is affiliated with one of our timebank members and donated $3,000!
We are hoping to
fund both of our VISTA positions with this fundraiser, but we have yet to reach our goal of $9,000. Kari has pledged to match new donations up to $3,000, so your dollars will go twice as far!
We invite you to donate through our website or in person at the office. Please also visit our Facebook and Instagram pages to share the word.
As an additional incentive for you to give, Kari has pledged to shave her head if we beat our 2018 campaign total. No joke!
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| Sam practices her technique in preparation for the big day! |
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Farewell, Mairead!
This month we had the bittersweet experience of bidding Mairead McCarthy farewell. Mairead served as our third coordinator of our timebank, following in the footsteps of our wonderful former coordinators, Parisa Shirazi and Meredith Severtson.
We are so grateful to Mairead for persevering after the Border Servant Corps longterm volunteer program shut down shortly after she arrived to the Borderlands. Rather than head back home to New Hampshire, Mairead made her home in Las Cruces and at DACU, blazing the way as DACU's first VISTA member.
Mairead brought an unflappable tenacity to our organization that we will not soon forget, and her artistic talent is evidenced by the many drawings that adorn our office. We wish her the best as she begins a new adventure in Pittsburgh, and look forward to welcoming her back in the spring for our staff reunion!
Click
here to watch a touching video tribute to Mairead created by Robert Yee.
Photo by Robert Yee
Mairead presents an early version of our vision board at a timebank potluck.
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Mairead takes a break while Robert records her drawings for our
yet-to-be-released new timebank orientation video. |
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Join Our Pen Pal Project!
We are so excited to be kicking off our Human Kind United pen pal project, which will connect timebank members with incarcerated individuals and their families.
Our pen pal project is different from many: it's focused on social change, rather than proselytizing or matchmaking. We seek to build respect and understanding between people on opposite sides of the wall, increase support for reforming the criminal justice system, and engage family members of incarcerated persons in the timebank.
The idea came from timebank member Raúl Esparza, Jr. As someone personally affected by the severe loneliness of incarceration, he knows the impact a simple letter can make. Check out Raúl's powerful writing here to get a sense of the prison newsletter he is creating.
Please make plans to join us on December 4th from 5:30 to 7 PM at the DACU office for our next pen pal orientation. If you have loved ones you'd like to suggest as "inside" pen pals, please email
Kari. We are hoping to work with incarcerated individuals across the country...why not the world?
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Graphic Harvesting Training
Five DACU members got their feet wet at a graphic harvesting training held in Albuquerque this month. Kay Lilley, Robert Yee, Leon Miramontes, Kari Bachman, and Mairead McCarthy practiced drawing figures, creating lettering, and sketching TedTalks at this amazing gathering put on by the NM Health Equity Partnership and our new friends from
Visual Sisterhood.
Graphic harvesting can engage community members and counter power dynamics. We look forward to incorporating our new skills into upcoming get-togethers, orientations, videos, evaluation efforts, and even paperwork! If you're interested in learning more, feel free to contact
Kari.
Photos by Robert Yee
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| Leon creates a flow agenda for an upcoming DACU meeting. |
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| Mairead's friendlier version of our timebank member information form. |
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| Kari shows off images she quickly sketched based on verbal prompts. |
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Kari continues to host
Just Community
on KTAL-LP every Thursday morning from 8 to 9
AM.
The show focuses on social equity and features voices not often heard in our community. Locally, tune your dial to 101.5 FM, or listen online from anywhere in the world.
You can dial 575-526-5825 to visit with her and her guest on the air.
These guests and topics were featured in November:
- Kansas Chuck (human-powered transportation)
- Kari Bachman (behind the scenes at Just Community)
- Kevin Moose (homelessness)
- Darrell Blair (homelessness)
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| Darrell shared his 16-point plan to address homelessness. |
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Kansas recognized most of these
old-time radio personalities! |
You can listen to archived shows here. If you know someone who would be an interesting guest, please
contact
Kari.
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Directions to Our Office
151 South Walnut Street, Unit B13
DACU is based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. You'll find us at the corner of Walnut and Griggs in the Walnut Business Park.
Please call before you come by as we may be out and about in the community!
We are just a few blocks away from several bus routes: Route 6 (stops 16 and 17), Route 7 (stop 20), and
Route 8 (stop 5). V
isit
the
RoadRUNNER Transit webpage for more information.
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Our Mission:
Doña Ana Communities United (DACU) creates welcoming spaces for all people, especially those whose voices and stories go unheard. We build genuine relationships, carry out uplifting projects, and engage with local government.
Our Initiatives:
(1) Social equity mapping: Undervalued community members explore their neighborhoods and work with local decision makers to implement policies and projects that advance health equity. Current efforts focus on the Community of Hope, Gallagher Park, and the Nevada Neighborhood in Las Cruces; Elks Drive in Doña Ana; and Lisa Drive in Chaparral.
(2) Mesilla Valley Timebank: Members build social cohesion and practice an equitable form of alternative economics by exchanging
services.
(3)
Just Community radio show: Residents with lived experience of social inequities share their insights into how we can work together to advance equity in our county.
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