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El Amanecer

The Official Newsletter of
The Spanish American Center, Inc.
November, 2019
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News and Notes from Neddy
Dear friends,
We welcome November with open arms. It’s an exciting month as we observe Veterans Day as we honor and pay tribute to all veterans and thank them for their service. We also celebrate Thanksgiving where we have the opportunity to gather with family and friends to reflect and give thanks to God for many blessings.
My husband Jose and I attended the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Worcester County Food Bank on November 7, where many community agencies were recognized with the 2019 Harvester Award: Winchendon Community Action Committee, Volunteer: Ray Starvaski, Financial Supporter: Worker’s Credit Union, Food Donor: BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc.- Leominster, Advocacy: Wendy Hess, Frances Drake Elementary School, Board Service and Leadership: Matt Labovites, George L. McCarthy Memorial Award: Society of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Joseph Parish- Fitchburg and the Abbott Award: Massachusetts Food System Collaborative. The Speakers were Ricky Baruch and Deb Habib, Co- founders of Seeds of Solidarity in Orange. It was an honor to be present, our salute and congratulations to the Awardees!
In this issue of El Amanecer we highlight the following programs and events:
- Our joint community brunch for the Homeless with the Leominster PD.
- Growing Places Fall cooking course this upcoming weekend at SACs Higgins Cocina.
- Worcester County Sheriff Department annual Coat Drive/Donation schedule.
- Technology updates at SAC – e-mail changes and enhanced WEB page.
- Turkey donations for families in need at the holidays.
- We await the outcome of a Shannon Grant proposal we submitted at the urging of the Fitchburg Police Department - details below.
- Technical High School students are building us a new & improved storage shed to securely house our equipment and supplies.
- Giving Tuesday presentation at Tufts Health Plan.
- Renee Kostka from Leominster Public Schools brought a group of parents to our new conference room to form a Hispanic Parent Advisory Committee/PAC - (group of active involved parents). We had a good turnout. Center employee Sonia Rodriguez and I participated and extended a warm welcome. This new PAC will return every month for their meetings here at the Center, where Hispanic parents feel comfortable in their own neighborhood. It is our pleasure to continue this connection with the professional community in Leominster-- together we hope to make a difference.
- We extend our thanks to Aldi's groceries and goods store in Leominster for their generous food donations to SAC.
On behalf of the Spanish American Center and our board of directors, staff and volunteers we want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. As always we extend our thanks to our wonderful donors! God Bless.
Sincerely,
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You are invited!
Monday, November 18, 2019 FROM 10 AM – 12:30 PM
At the Spanish American Center
112 Spruce Street, Leominster, Higgins Cocina
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The Worcester County Sheriff's Office Coat Drive Donations
Will be distributed at the Spanish American Center on
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019
at 10:30 AM
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Las donaciones de abrigos de invierno de este año se distribuirán en SAC comenzando el 3 de diciembre de 2019 a las 10:30 AM. Para obtener más información, por favor llame al Centro al 978-534-3145.
Como siempre el Centro desea agradecer al WCSO y al Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis, al personal y sus generosos donantes (Burlington Coat Factory) por su devoción al Centro y a nuestra comunidad en necesidad.
¡Muchas gracias! Many Thanks!
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Did you know? The Spanish American Center has received a donation of 48 Turkeys - some will be used at our FREE dinners for our needy and hungry friends and neighbors (and anyone in need is our neighbor!) If you would like to make a referral, please contact the Center at 978-534-3145 M-F from 8:30 - 4:30 for information/availability.
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SHANNON GRANT PURSUED by SAC!
WE are happy to report that the Spanish American Center
has been
invited to apply for SHANNON Funding!
S
hannon Grants help fund anti-gang and youth violence prevention efforts undertaken by law enforcement, community-based organizations, and government agencies in communities throughout the Commonwealth
.
Administered by the
Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS
), this state grant program offers communities with a demonstrated gang and youth violence problem resources to implement a multi-disciplinary, anti-gang strategy. Shannon Grants support efforts by law enforcement to steer children away from gangs and prevent youth violence, thereby reducing the likelihood that these children will become involved with law enforcement in less positive ways. Funded communities are required to adopt the Comprehensive Gang Model (CGM), an approach developed by researchers in the early 1990s. The CGM integrates the following five elements: social intervention, opportunity provision, suppression, community mobilization, and organizational change.
Stay tuned
for more details and updates.
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It's still possible to eat local here in New England, even during the fall and winter months!

Join Growing Places and our volunteer and experienced home-cook, Dana Spinney, for a workshop on making hearty soups using in-season produce.
At this workshop, you'll get:
- a demonstration of how to make homemade butternut squash soup
- soup samples and a recipe to take home
- other ideas for cooking with your fall harvest
- Presented by Growing Places at the Spanish American Center
DATE: Sunday, November 17th
TIME: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
LOCATION:
Spanish American Center, 112 Spruce St. Leominster
(in kitchen inside back building)
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Leominster High School students enrolled in the Center For Technical Education Innovation are on site early in the morning at SAC. This talented group of students is constructing a new storage shed/annex for our busy kitchen facilities.
We thank them for selecting the Spanish American Center for this challenging construction project. Watch for upcoming photos of this project on our Facebook page!
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Tufts Health Plan Reaches Out to SAC
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Tufts Health Plan of Waltham, MA
has invited the Spanish American Center to participate in a special Giving Tuesday event with their employees. Representatives from SAC will be given time to share information about the Center and our programs before a gathering of Tufts employees who, if they select SAC as a designated recipient, will have their donations matched by Tufts! Tufts will also donate to the Spanish American Center for attending and giving our presentation. We sincerely thank Tufts Health Plan for this opportunity to share our mission with them, and for recognizing our important work. Tufts has a strong ethic of giving, as outlined in their WEB site:
"
This generosity is at the heart of Tufts Health Plan’s philanthropy, and the company is committed to magnifying these efforts. Through our matching gift program, the Tufts Health Plan Foundation matches employees’ donations to qualifying nonprofits dollar-for-dollar up to $500 per employee, and supports both individual and team volunteering."
Thank you, Tufts Health Plan. We look forward to meeting you all on Monday, December 2, 2019!
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Aldi's of Leominster has been helping our food program at the Center by generously donating much-needed food items to us on a regular basis. Please remember their generosity when you are doing your holiday shopping this year. They are located at:
241 New Lancaster Road
Leominster, MA 01453-4958
Store Hours
Mon
9 AM - 8 PMTue - Sun9 AM - 8 PM
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SAC Technology Changes to begin this month!
We are updating our employee e-mail system to improve access, storage, security and ease of use. Working with our web-hosting company,
inConcert Web Design of Gardner, we are making this important move to keep our practices current and to keep client data safe. Additionally there will be updates to our busy SAC WEB Site
(
www.spanishamericancenter.org
),including a brand new tool for sharing our thanks to our valued funders, donors and supporters. We are happy to note that these services are updated daily by our volunteers. We strive to keep our readers interested, informed and involved and thank Greg Whitehead and
inConcert Web Design for assisting us.
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Please Support Our 2019 Sponsors Below
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