HEART of Saguache/KV

1/4/2021 0 Comments

Sharing Christmas Goes On

The annual Saguache Sharing Christmas community collaboration was a roaring success despite the inevitable complications caused by Covid-19. Each year the Saguache Community comes together to put together food boxes for a Christmas Dinner as well as supplemental food to get through the holidays. This was needed more than ever this year and 148 food boxes were prepared and given out to the community. There is no paperwork, restrictions or requirements to get a Sharing Christmas box and they are available to anyone who needs one. As a bonus for our senior citizens, South Central Colorado Seniors participated and added 100 boxes of shelf stable food for seniors which was greatly appreciated. This annual event is something that requires input from many different areas of the community and as always our friends, neighbors and colleagues stepped up and did their part to make this often complicated effort run smoothly.

HEART of Saguache/KV was forced to cancel the annual community Thanksgiving Dinner, however we used these funds to supplement the Sharing Christmas food budget. We want to thank all the other donors and volunteers who helped make the Saguache Sharing Christmas Collaboration possible. The Town of Saguache made a significant financial contribution of $500.00 making a huge difference to the food budget. They also showed wonderful hospitality by allowing the use of the Community Building for the collection of food, the packing of boxes and distribution which simplified the entire process. In addition, they gave $500 towards the food budget which made a significant difference. Saguache County also showed their support by providing HEART of Saguache/KV with a generous $3500 sales tax grant to be put towards Sharing Christmas. The Saguache Department of Social Services and commodities were able to provide all the turkeys and store them for us until we were able to use them.

Iris and Eddie Garcia as Garmy Distribution have alway provided continued support for the Saguache Sharing Christmas Collaboration. Every year they provide all the delicious rolls for the Christmas dinner. The HEART team and the community as a whole are always extremely grateful for their contributions, small businesses such as this that support their community are a wonderful resource. Eddie and Iris also delivered the potatoes donated by Skyline Potato of Center who also need a special thank you for their generous and spontaneous donation of 150, 5 lbs bags of potatoes. They filled a large need at exactly the right time and made the holiday dinner a little more complete for many.

We also had financial donors from the community. Sunny and Mary Samora as well as
Karen and Paul Smith donated funds to help with food purchases. In addition there were anonymous donors who deposited money into the Sharing Christmas account. As always the Saguache Town Market ordered all the other food and gave a generous discount. Tawyna Sherise and Doug Peoples also went above and beyond by allowing us to use their personal walk-in freezer to store food until distribution. Mountain Valley School took care of gifts for students by organizing the Giving Tree which allowed individuals to sponsor specific children. HEART filled a need for gifts for homeschooled students outside of MVS.

We still managed to recruit individual volunteers to safely help us to organize food boxes within their social or family bubbles. Mountain Valley High School students came out in a group to help organize food. We had youth volunteers such as the Van Egmond family; Logan Gallegos, Cyrus, Lily and Ivy Van Egmond, Keith and Mason-Merritt Armenta, Kaelyn Taylor, Kassidey Binion, and Damien Ross who all came out in family units to pack boxes. The always hard working Liza Marron came out to help with Antonio Marron, Samantha and Heath Blivens. Adrienne Garabini and Alex Decarli, Stacy Martinez and Bryan Arrellano and Mae Folsom also dedicated their time. Peggy and Tom Reynolds and Laurie Vigil delivered boxes to those shut-ins who weren’t able to collect them.

Last but definitely not least a special thanks goes out to The Saguache Volunteer Fire Department who spent the afternoon orchestrating the surprisingly organized safe curbside pickup of boxes. The Volunteer Fire Department has been distributing food boxes for many years and they were immediately ready to adapt to the current health guidelines. The HEART team is so grateful for the community support that comes out of this annual event. It seems that helping each other is something that our community is expert in and this is the foundation of community strength that we build upon each day. Thank you everyone!

To get on the HEART food distribution list or to volunteer with HEART in our other efforts please contact either Stacey or Laurie at heartsholden@gmail.com or heartlvigil@gmail.com.

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12/9/2020 0 Comments

Speak Up, Speak Out, Create Change

How will you use your voice in 2020? Are you interested in developing new leadership skills and learning more about the civic process to create positive change for children and families? Make a difference next year by taking free classes with the Family Leadership Training Institute (FLTI) right here in Saguache. FLTI of Saguache County is a 20 week series of classes and part of a statewide and community-based leadership development initiative hosted and sponsored by HEART of Saguache/KV with FLTI of Colorado at CSU Extension providing technical assistance and oversight. The proven FLTI curriculum uses trained facilitators to draw on the particular skills each participant already possesses to create a rich learning experience for everyone. No special skills, educational qualifications or experience are necessary to take part in this enriching experience just a desire to create positive changes. Everyone is welcomed and encouraged to apply.

Powerful family voices make stronger communities. When the voices of families are heard during public policy making the result is usually positive social change with better outcomes for everyone. On a personal level, positive family leadership improves relationships between families and children. Family leadership builds the tools that individuals need in order to engage in action that will improve health inequities in schools and communities. One 2016 FLTI graduate said, “I am so grateful to be able to go from someone who doesn’t feel like they belong in their community to someone who is so engaged and has so many connections with people around the community.”

The FLTI family civics initiative program is created with the intention of giving individuals skills and knowledge so they can support their communities at both the individual and community leadership level. Diverse participants from the community come together for the classes which encourage examination of leadership goals and community issues as well as leadership and civic skills to bring positive changes to communities. Family leaders are empowered with leadership skills to encourage civic engagement by building confidence, building networks of diverse groups of individuals, working on the collective well-being of the community and advocating for programs and policies that improve health equity and quality of life.

Join us for the next session of FLTI of Saguache County classes which will be held in the HEART office at 210 5th Street in Saguache. Classes will start in February of 2020 and they are entirely free with a dinner provided. Please contact Miracle Gomez at 719 849 3645 or email her at heartmgomez@gmail.com if you are interested in participating.

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8/14/2020 0 Comments

The Sweetest Gift

Some sweet person left this for us on the HEART doorstep at 210 5th Street!
Thank you it's beautiful and we love it!!!

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8/11/2020 0 Comments

Adapting Ourselves in the Time of COVID-19

HEART of Saguache/KV is a health equity non-profit organization committed to creating community engagement and reducing poverty in the Saguache and KV areas. Like everyone else in the world during this global pandemic, we have had to make some major changes and readjustments. We haven’t been able to work from inside our office since early March and we now meet exclusively via Zoom. However, we have found that COVID-19 has opened up new opportunities and connections for us. It’s been terrible for everyone…,but there have been some bright sides.

HEART has developed some new partnerships and deepened existing ones. When the stay-at-home order took effect, we realized that it was going to be very difficult in our remote location with extensive poverty for individuals to isolate themselves adequately. We were particularly concerned about seniors who were not experiencing the same sort of support that schools were giving students. We spoke to Social Services and connected with South-Central Colorado Seniors who have been providing senior lunches at the Saguache Senior Center. Due to the quarantine, seniors were no longer able to go and get their lunches and only seniors had reported a need to either organization. This number seemed far too small to be accurate.

After days of making phone calls, we ended up with a list of eighty seniors who felt that they were needing help to stay in isolation. The Town of Saguache allowed us to use the Community Building for storing and preparing food boxes for distribution. South-Central Colorado Seniors delivered the food and we worked with the Department of Social Services to gather volunteers to deliver the boxes. Using the safest practices, boxes of shelf stable food were delivered to eighty senior citizens in Saguache and the KV. We are currently still partnering with Colorado South Central Seniors who are working with the San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition to provide seniors with local produce. We have been receiving bags of produce every two weeks that we have distributed to seniors in our area.

We were aware of the growing need in the community as uncertainty grew and knew that families and non-seniors were also in need of help; so, we organized COVID-19 relief food box deliveries which have taken place every few weeks. Our funders at The Colorado Trust decided to give out mini-grants to communities in need of COVID-19 relief and HEART applied, receiving $15,000.00 in funding to assist the community. At the same time, the Saguache County Board of Commissioners allowed us to use a $4,000.00 grant that had been awarded for our cancelled Cinco De Mayo Festival for COVID-19 relief. Armed with funding, we set to work finding people who needed extra help. We partnered with Alpine Achievers Initiative to assist two families who had been quarantined and continued to plan food deliveries.

The mental health of youth has also been a concern. In our already isolated and financially stressed area, quarantine had the potential to be particularly difficult for a variety of reasons. Many youth in the Saguache region lacked internet access and being socially distanced from the support of the school and their peers was especially harsh. With the money from the county Sales Tax Grant and in partnership with Alpine Achievers Initiative, Cooking Matters, and the SLV Census Outreach, we put together activity bags for students which were handed out as they came to collect their belongings from school. The bags contained snacks, board games, a micro-green mini garden kit, art supplies and activities, Census activity bags and Cooking Matters family cooking activity kits and were well received by students.

As an added and timely bonus, we partnered with the 2020 Census San Luis Valley Outreach and the San Luis Valley Boys and Girls Club to boost census participation in the area. Understandably the COVID-19 crisis and shutdown meant that census data was not able to be collected in the common door to door manner. We held a Virtual Census Drive. Residents registered, completed their census online or over the phone and were given a food bag containing the ingredients for a family meal. We had thirty-six residents complete the census through our Virtual Census Drive.

We also recognized a need for masks in our community; and with the help of Caroline Irwin and the Sagebrush Quilters, and Renee Hazard, we were able to distribute seventy cloth masks to the essential businesses still open around the community. Medical grade disposable masks were also acquired by the endlessly resourceful Laurie Vigil and these were distributed to the fire department and EMS. All the masks efforts came together on the day that Governor Polis issued the state mask requirement. In addition, to show support for the essential businesses that stayed open in our community, the youth members of our team created thank you signs to be posted in business windows.

During the quarantine isolation period, we realized that it was important that we remain in contact with other groups and individuals in our community. We decided to set up a weekly Zoom call with other non-profit and government organizations in our community in order to coordinate our efforts and encourage collaboration. These weekly meetings have continued and various entities pop in weekly to update us on activities, opportunities and news leading to some great collaborations and connections.

Out of these meetings, we strengthened our relationship with both The Historic Ute Theatre and Alpine Achievers Initiative. We joined forces with the theatre to fund one week of their virtual summer camp for youth ages 6-12 and we made the HEART office a distribution and pickup location for the Alpine Achievers Initiative free sack lunches that they provide for all youth aged 0-18. We have also been partnering with the Saguache County Department of Social Services to distribute extra commodities occasionally during the lunch distribution.

Moving forward HEART is planning to work virtually as long as it seems prudent. We are planning to continue our Family Leadership Training Institute classes via Zoom. At the same time, Miracle Cale is working on a virtual Career Fair and Career Cabs. We are planning a virtual portion of the events regardless of the status of school attendance. Our Resident Meetings are being continued via Zoom as we continue to move forward to meet the needs of the community while working within the confines of COVID-19.

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5/12/2019 0 Comments

Saguache Community Career Fair a Big Success

On May 6th Mountain Valley School hosted a Career Fair organized by HEART of Saguache/KV. HEART Initiatives Organizer, Miracle Gomez and MVS School Counsellor, Lisa Powers were instrumental in making this event come together. Turnout was strong, with more than 60 students from Mountain Valley School, Moffat School, and Crestone CHarter attending booths hosted by more than 30 presenters.

The gym was packed and the day event for students turned seamlessly into an evening Job Fair for the community. The Career Fair supported students in an exploration of their Individual Career and Academic Plans. This special event was a very informative opportunity for students to talk over their visions for and questions about the future. This will be an annual event that is very important for getting our students off to a good start in their post high school careers whether that involves entering the workforce, attending a trade school or going on to further their education in university.

The Career Fair brought together representatives from Aventa Credit Union, First Southwest Bank, The Village Pub, Alta Convenience Store, Mountain Valley Lumber, San Luis Rural Electric Cooperative, Power Zone Equipment Inc., Valley Publishing/Center Post Dispatch, Rio Grande Hospital - Physical and Occupational Therapy, Moffat Family Health Center - Valley Wide Health Systems, Valley Wide Dental, and Eagle Air Med. Government services participating included; Saguache County Land Use, Saguache County Housing Authority, Saguache County Social Services, Saguache County Administration, Saguache County Clerk and Recorder, Saguache County Road and Bridge, Town of Saguache, Saguache County Sheriff’s Office, Colorado State Patrol, Buena Vista Correctional Complex, Saguache Volunteer Fire Department, and Northern Saguache County Ambulance District. Military branches attending included; United States Marine Corps, United States Navy, and the United States National Guard. Adams State University, Alpine Achievers Initiative, and Mountain Valley School District also had booths. Craig Schroeder presented on How to Become an Entrepreneur. Pavement Maintenance Services, Joyful Journey Hot Springs, and the United States Forest Service came specifically for the evening Job Fair.

The Career Fair was followed by Career Cabs which took place during school on Thursday, May 9th. For this event the Mountain Valley sophomore class took a field trip to visit different employers in the area. Students got tours of the businesses and were talked to about the skills and education they would need for a potential career in the field. The students visited; Saguache County Social Services, United States Forest Service, Mountain Valley Lumber, Rio Grande Hospital, Power Zone Equipment Inc., Eagle Air Med, and Aventa Credit Union. Thank you to all the participating businesses for taking the time to support our students in such an important way.

HEART of Saguache/KV would like to thank all the students and presenters again for their enthusiasm and dedication in bringing this event to life. HEART and Mountain Valley School intend to make this an annual event that will continue to grow. Special thanks to Mountain Valley School for partnering with us make this all possible. If you would to be involved in this project please contact Miracle Gomez, HEART of Saguache/KV Initiatives Organizer at heartmgomez@gmail.com.

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5/10/2019 0 Comments

Another Beautiful Cinco de Mayo

Thank you to all who came out for and participated in Saguache’s 3rd Annual celebration of Cinco de Mayo. The fiesta generated a lively day of activity in Downtown Saguache with many contributors. HEART of Saguache/KV organized and hosted the event bringing together a wide array of entertainment, volunteers, exhibitions, and vendors; including Mountain Valley Student entrepreneurs who were selling their creations. HEART would like to thank Deano Maes for his expert sound production. We also want to recognize our performers. The Mountain Valley Preschool dancers were a huge hit. In addition; Los Vecinos Bailladores, the Old School Band, Evan Samora and Evan’s students all provided wonderful entertainment.

   The Cinco de Mayo Car Show was huge this year with several Valley car clubs participating. Awards were given for Best Project, Best Rims, Club Participation, Street Machine, Best Oldie, Best Euro, Best Paint, Best Interior, Best Truck, Best Custom, Early Bird, and the People’s Choice. Jamie Dominguez from Alamosa was instrumental in helping to set up and organize the car show, making trophies and bringing in participants from around the valley. Our local judges; Steve Armenta, Austyn Hammel and Tim Torres also deserve a huge thank you for their participation and careful consideration of each entry.

   The event also highlighted local art and cultural demonstrations. The Mountain Valley Art Students displayed their work at the Range, with a special exhibition by Heaven Harford of her drawings and puppets. The Silver Building featured a stunning exhibition of local Colcha artists including; Patsy Garcia, Nyla Thompson, Delores Worely, Mary Baker, Lupe Tafoya, Bena Lovato, and Margie Gurule. Myron Chavez came from New Mexico to demonstrate adobe brick building on 4th Street. He allowed spectators to mix the mud with their feet which proved to be very popular. Iris Garcia and family taught tortilla making with delicious results.

   Family activities went on all day on the beautiful Courthouse Lawn. Alicia Mancha, Lacy Reed and friends created gorgeous henna tattoos and did face painting alongside family games and crafts. The Saguache Volunteer Fire department was wonderful as usual, serving up frito pies, margaritas, and beer.
Thank you again to all in the community for coming to celebrate our local culture and history. HEART is looking forward to putting together an even larger fiesta in 2020. Please get in touch with suggestions or to volunteer at heartlvigil@gmail.com.

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1/8/2018 0 Comments

A Sharing Christmas Thank You!

HEART of Saguache/KV would like to thank all of the individuals and organizations that helped with the Saguache Sharing Christmas effort. This was a community wide effort and we are so lucky to live in a town where so many people give to help others. I apologize in advance if I forget to mention anyone.
Thank you to:

The individuals who put money into the Saguache Sharing Christmas bank account. We don’t know who you are but we do know there was more money in the account when we we went to spend it then we though there would be. A lovely surprise and such a relief!
Karen, Doug and Tawnya at the Saguache Town Market for giving us a tremendous discount on the food we ordered and letting us store it there. Doug and Tawnya set up a special freezer at their home just for the turkeys which was a huge help.

Aubrey and Cory Hill for their generous donation to save the event and purchase turkeys after Social Services had a series of freezer disasters!

The SLV Local Foods Coalition delivered to us a huge amount of frozen local food as well as produce to add to the boxes.
Linda Warsh donated a massive quantity of potatoes.

Department of Social Services helped us with meat and boxes to deliver the food in.

Saguache Works generously donated food and some gift certificates to put in the boxes.

Cozy Castle Cinema awesomely gave us a big discount on gift certificates for a movie, drink and popcorn for every child on the list.

The Volunteer Fire Department: Evan Samora, Anthony and Ty Salaz, and Trevor Ward delivered all the boxes for us around town and dropped them off at the KV Clubhouse to be collected.

Iris and Eddie Garcia donated stuffing and rolls for the boxes.

Center School Key Club worked on the effort in Center

Susan Banning spearheaded the work in Center.

Community members of all ages came out to help in one way or another from driving around with supplies and delivering food to the office, shopping for food and gifts, wrapping gifts, assembling and filling boxes and making phone calls to organize the collection of boxes. Also thanks to all the people who offered their time but we didn’t call upon.

Alamosa Walmart gave $50.00 gift card.
Alamosa City Market gave us a $30.00 gift card.
Salida Walmart gave a $30.00 gift card.
Salida Safeway gave a $25.00 gift card.

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YOUR CART

Sharing Christmas Goes On

Speak Up, Speak Out, Create Change

The Sweetest Gift

Adapting Ourselves in the Time of COVID-19

Saguache Community Career Fair a Big Success

Another Beautiful Cinco de Mayo

A Sharing Christmas Thank You!

HEART of Saguache/KV

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