Proyecto Juan Diego’s ANNUAL NEWSLETTER 20’
Vision Educate, Engage & Empower Families for the Future
Mission To empower low-income families to be healthy and self-sufficient community members through educational programs, family activities and preventative health services.
Values Humility, Respect, Hard Work, Sacrifice, Listening, & Reflection
Pillars Educational Programs, Family Activities, Preventative Health Services, & Advocacy
Board of Directors Humphrey G. Thomas President/Chair Nancy Reed Vice-Chair Lupita Fragoso Secretary/Treasurer Sister Patricia Connolly, DC Member Sister Carol Keehan, DC Member Daniel Keller Member Cynthia Hinojosa Member Carmen Nordyke Member Paul Serafy Member
Table of A Message from our
A Journey
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Page 3-4
Executive Director
Tutorial &
Club Fri-YAY! Page 5-6
Through the Lens
English Classes &
the GED Program Page 7-8
Contents Healthcare
& Nutrition Page 9-10
Group Exercise
& P.E.S.A.S. Page 11-12
Outreach &
Events at
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Page 7-8
Civic Engagement
Proyecto Juan Diego
A Message from our Executive Director
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Dear Friends of PJD, As the new Executive Director at Proyecto Juan Diego, I come into this new role with a grateful and humble heart. What drew me to Proyecto Juan Diego is the passion and commitment the staff, administration, board and volunteers have to serving the community. During these difficult times, I am proud to lead an organization which stands with the community to ensure help is provided to those most in need. I have undertaken the responsibility to ensure that Proyecto Juan Diego’s mission: to empower low-income families to be healthy and self-sufficient community members through educational programs, family activities and preventative health services, continue. I know we are currently experiencing challenging times, but I assure you Proyecto Juan Diego continues our work. I thank our sponsors and supporters who helped us build our beautiful building and who continue to make our work possible. We will get through these hard times together! Merry Christmas and Happy, Healthy New Year!
Danielle P. Salgado
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A Journey Through the lens If there was another word to encapsulate 2020 aside from “Pandemic,” that word would be “creativity.” All of the PJD programs this year met the challenges of 2020 with a tremendous amount of creativity. Sister Sharon Horace teamed up with the Integrated Family Program (IFP) to provide a unique and interesting new class for participants entitled “Journey through the Lens.” This five-session series was an opportunity for eight families to learn a new skill, work together, and focus on the beautiful landscape and creatures unique to the Rio Grande Valley. Eight families, including their children, were provided cameras in order to explore and capture the natural beauty in their surroundings. Then they created their own collages and discussed how it relates to their lives and emotions. One participant expressed being able to appreciate things in a new way and notice details she never saw before. This series is just one way PJD is promoting environmental sustainability and inspiring others to create a better world for the future. Thank you, Sister Sharon, for providing this wonderful experience for PJD!
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Tutorial & Club Fri-YAY! We’re happy to announce that the After-School Tutorial Program continues to serve children amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The program transitioned from in-person instruction to virtual using the Zoom application. We’ve been assisting close to 600 students in a variety of ways. With the After-School Program, we help them complete and understand their homework, and provide them with exercises to strengthen their math and reading skills. On Friday’s, we have Club Fri-YAY! which helps to promote the student’s mental health. The students all connect via Zoom and participate in various interactive activities including nutrition, exercise, and social/emotional skills. Of course, all of this could not have been made possible without the support of our many generous donors and volunteers. We are forever grateful for the continued support from our community partners. United Way making the After-School Tutorial Program possible. H-E-B for their commitment to supporting children’s health and well-being through Club-Fri-YAY! The Catholic Daughters of America in Round Rock, Texas for their continued support, prayer and yearly contributions to our school supply drive. This year, over 200 children received backpacks, school supplies and essential items, such as hand sanitizers, face masks, and face shields. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s “Tutoring for All” for collaborating with us. Many of our economically disadvantaged students struggle with the language barrier which causes intense stress and frustration. These partnerships have helped our students gain the confidence and knowledge needed to improve their academic performance. 6
English Classes & The GED Program Villa Maria Language Institute postponed its 2020 classes until further notice. As of now, we are still uncertain on when our English classes will resume. On another note, our GED program has continued to serve the community through online instruction. Our program coordinator recruited two new volunteer teachers who are optimistic about our virtual classes. A total of 70 students have enrolled into the GED program and 25 are currently waitlisted to start in Spring 2021. Many of our students are pleased to have been offered this program virtually as it means less strain on time and travel restrictions. Since going virtual our class attendance has remained at 100%! Everyone is connecting to the class without any issues. We are glad to have transitioned the program to online instruction for the time being and look forward to what’s to come in 2021.
Citizenship Program The Citizenship program helps more than 500 participants every year. Although this year has been a year of continuous challenges for all of us, the demand for individuals seeking to join our program remains. Our citizenship consultants continue preparing participants for their naturalization interview via Zoom. Close to 300 participants have become naturalized US citizens and 250 have successfully submitted their N-400 application to United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). USCIS’s application fee, which was set to increase effect in October, has yet to take effect. The current filing fee for the N400 remains at $725 including the biometrics fee. USCIS has announced a new version of the civic questions for participants submitting their N-400 application to USCIS on or after December 1, 2020. We will inform our participants and the community when any change comes in effect. Besides submitting N-400 applications, we also help individuals seeking to submit their N-600, DACA renewals, Legal Permanent Resident Renewals and to petition for the removal of conditions of residency.
Group Lifestyle Balance Diabetes Prevention Group Lifestyle Balance is a lifestyle behavioral change program that includes 22 sessions during a one-year span. Due to the current pandemic our GLB classes continue through online instruction. We’ve enrolled over 100 new participants and graduated a total of 75 participants this year. This program strives through the success of those we serve. We are extremely proud of our GLB program and coordinator Lidiana Ramirez, for receiving Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Full Recognition of the National Diabetes Prevention Program. This was accomplished through great leadership in demonstrating effectiveness by achieving all of the performance criteria established by CDC. 9
Salud-y-Vida Diabetes Management Salud y Vida continues to be engaged with the participants and continues it’s 3-month visits via phone calls and giving DSME classes via zoom with participants. Proyecto Juan Diego’s Community Health Workers (CHW) are trained to empower and educate each participant and their families on diabetes and hypertension. CHWs visit the participants every three months but now due to the pandemic the visits are done via phone calls and set goals with them to improve their diabetes or hypertension compared to their first visit. We are confident that with this program, participants can start making positive changes in their lifestyles and help them better manage their disease. 10
Group Exercise & P.E.S.A.S Group The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services recommends exercising at least 150 minutes a week for sustained health benefits. PJD offers the community 1-hour group exercise sessions twice a day, at no cost, to participants. This program has seen tremendous growth through our online sessions. We have registered over 20 out-of-state participants that have not missed a class and have seen great results. Our P.E.S.A.S program has transitioned from being fully focused on low-impact exercises to a social support group for the elderly. The program will focus on helping the elderly combat social isolation through activities such as telephone reassurance and social building activities via Zoom. We have a total of 30 active participants who are currently building their basic understanding of mobile technology as an effort to overcome communication barriers during this current pandemic. We’d like to thank our current sponsor, United Healthcare for providing this program with a generous donation of $60,000 to work towards this growing issue. 11
Simple Exercises for The Holidays Our Group Exercise Coach, Adriana Guerrero recommends you try out these four simple chair exercises to help you burn away the additional calories that are consumed during the holidays. You can also try implementing some weights, resistance bands and even your broom stick.
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Outreach & Civic Engagement Even though the number of our outreach and civic engagement activities were limited, PJD still managed to successfully bring out three large initiatives throughout the year. We had food distribution events, the census count, and Get Out the Vote, which carried on amidst the pandemic. In collaboration with United Healthcare, Brownsville Farmer’s Market, Catholic Charities, & San Felipe de Jesus Catholic Church we successfully carried out a total of 17 food distributions events. We delivered perishable/nonperishable items along with $50 Gift Cards to more than 2,000 households—impacting more than five (lowincome) communities in the city of Brownsville. In the Census 2020 initiative we partnered up with many other organizations including the Census Bureau in order to get 75% of the population in Cameron county counted. And through the continued engagement of inperson/ online events, we successfully counted a total of 12,656 residents in the city of Brownsville. Thanks to community partners, drive thru events, mailers, door hangers, text blasts, dissemination of fliers and home visits, our GOTV initiative at PJD was able to reach out to a total of 34,724 people. Social distancing practices were implemented in all PJD activities.
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Events at Proyecto Juan Diego Due to COVID precautions, we decided to take our annual conference online by turning it into a webinar series—From Fear to Courage. Although new to us, we had a successful turnout in ticket sales, sponsorships, and attendance. We’d like to thank the Fundraising committee for spearheading the event, our sponsors for supporting it, and all the staff involved in making this event a successful one. This was our first year hosting a “Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos” celebration at PJD. This day is celebrated to show the love for the departed by interceding for them with prayer and a mass. We had two “offerings/ofrenda” tables setup for our employees and participants to place pictures of their loved ones who have passed. The day started off with a mass for the departed. Attendees were then directed to view the community/employee ofrenda accompanied by hot chocolate and “pan de muerto” sweet bread. Pan de muerto represents an offering made to the departed loved one.
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Thank you to all of our From Fear to Courage Sponsors:
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Ways to Support Proyecto Juan Diego 1
SISTERS ON THE RUN! Marathon Fundraiser
This fundraiser was started by Daughter of Charity, Sister Elizabeth “Liz” Ann Sjoberg in 2018 when she announced via social media that she would be participating in the 2019 McAllen marathon by running her first half marathon. Her goal was to raise funds and increase brand awareness for Proyecto Juan Diego. Next year (2021), Sister Liz will be running her second full-marathon at the McAllen Marathon and will be joined by another Daughter of Charity—Sister Sharon Horace. Hence the name, “Sisters On The Run!”. The sisters are extremely pumped for the upcoming race and have already begun training. Fundraiser Goal: $5,000 Website: www.proyecto-jd.org/sisters-on-the-run ; www.bit.ly/sisters-on-the-run
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Engraved Bricks
Leave a lasting impression this Christmas. Get your engraved brick layed at the entrance of our building. We still have a couple of spaces available. Donation: $150.00 Website: www.proyecto-jd.org/engraved-brick
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$1-A-Day
Join our everyday giving fundraiser for just a dollar-a-day! There are three ways of giving, just simply select the donation suggestion that best suits you. Donation: $7/weekly ; $30/monthly ; or $365 one-time. Website: www.proyecto-jd.org/dollar-a-day
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General Donation
If you’d like to make a general donation to our organization in the amount you wish, you can do so by visiting our everyday donation page, www.bit.ly/pjd-2020. To make a donation by phone, contact Bertha Alonso at 956.542.2488 (ext204). If you wish to mail your donation for any of the suggestions, please use the envelope provided and make checks payable to Proyecto Juan Diego. Our mailing address is 3910 Paredes Line Rd. Brownsville, Texas 78526 In the Memo section please add the fundraiser you wish your donation to go towards, otherwise leave blank. 18
The Importance of Receiving- Henri Nouwen "Receiving often is harder than giving. Giving is very important: giving insight, giving hope, giving courage, giving advice, giving support, giving money, and, most of all, giving ourselves. Without giving there is no brotherhood and sisterhood. But receiving is just as important, because by receiving we reveal to the givers that they have gifts to offer. When we say, "Thank you, you gave me hope; thank you, you gave me a reason to live; thank you, you allowed me to realize my dream," we make givers aware of their unique and precious gifts. Sometimes it is only in the eyes of the receivers that givers discover their gifts.�