Tamale Fundraiser!

Hi everyone! I wanted to invite anyone in the area (East Bay, California) to this delicious & fun fundraiser on Sunday, January 26, in the evening!

(short version): Tamales for a great cause!! Check out the three options and please please buy tickets through the eventbrite links!

Pilar de Esperanza is a Mexican orphanage/group home that Bronwyn has been volunteering at and visiting for 19 years. Like every orphanage in Mexico, it's affiliated with a local church, but receives all its funding from donations, and is in need of help fixing up the van that transports the kids to school and paying for one of the older kids' college education.

Pilar is a wonderful place and the staff and kids act as a family. Many of the kids came from living on the streets, abandoned or abused, and they have the chance now to get education and grow up in a family setting.These are awesome kids to support!

The orphanage is located in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, just south of McAllen, Texas.

THREE PARTS:

1. TAMALE DINNER & RAFFLE!

Come eat a delicious tamale dinner!

Open to all ages, this dinner will feature a variety of tamales, (vegetarian available), beans, salad, beverages, and dessert! There will also be a raffle with many wonderful prizes. 5:30-7:30 on Sunday, Jan 26.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ano-nuevo-tamale-dinner-fundraiser-tickets-86600244663

2. TAMALE MAKING CLASS!

Come learn to make tamales!

This one-hour class will provide all the ingredients and supplies you need to learn to make your own delicious homemade tamales! Come support an orphanage in Mexico while developing a new skill and taking home a dozen tamales for later (pork, chicken, and chili cheese available)! Supervised children 8 and up are welcome!

Open to all ages, this dinner will feature a variety of tamales, (vegetarian available), beans, salad, beverages, and dessert! There will also be a raffle with many wonderful prizes.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ano-nuevo-tamale-class-fundraiser-tickets-86427030575

3. TAMALES TO GO!

Would you like a dozen delicious homemade tamales to take home and enjoy? Come pick up your choice of pork, chicken, chili cheese, or a variety pack! Easily frozen for later as well. Pickup will be from 4-8 pm at APC, 677 West Ranger Ave., Alameda, CA.Come eat a delicious tamale dinner!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/delicious-tamales-to-go-fundraiser-tickets-86634198219

Comments

A Loss

(I have been putting off finishing this blog post for months. You'll see why) Today, I was cleaning a bookshelf and I found the journal from one of my third-grade students, who I call Fred in my book , in 2001. I still had it because he didn't come to the last day of school to get his stuff this year and I guess it got put in a pile and somehow I've kept it with me. He didn't come to the last day of school, probably because his family was a mess: dad in prison, mom in an abusive relationship, all the kids (understandably) acting out violently. Fred was expelled from our school in second grade for hitting a teacher. Then he was expelled from the other school, I don't know why, at the end of second grade. He came back on the condition from the administration that he be in my class because I had him as a student in first grade and he listened to me and worked well with me. We had a really good relationship, although Fred was definitely not easy to have in class.

A New Prison, Part Two

Second very long part of the prison visit report. After we got all the paperwork filled out and went through the metal detector, we got visitation slips with the name of the inmate, and made our way over to the other building for visitation. This is not maximum security so thankfully you can just sit next to the inmates, and not be separated by glass or have to use a telephone to talk. First, you get a gate unlocked and go into a holding pen that is of course in direct sunlight (or rain if it's that season) and surrounded by fences topped with razor wire. You wait there until the gate at the other end is unlocked. This holding pen was a little bigger and less claustrophobic than the other prison (I do not have any claustrophobia and I came very close to a panic attack once at the other place) and they opened the other gate more quickly. Then you walk, again in blazing sunlight (or rain) to the visitation building. This one was less of a walk than the other prison but I still

A New Prison, Part 1

My former student, friend, and co-author was moved to a new prison during COVID. We (myself, Mitali, and his Abuela) have visited a couple of times via the video visit functionality they set up, but we've also been trying to visit in person, ever since in-person visits were allowed again. After four of them being canceled (sometimes we were told why, sometimes not), we finally got a visit. I was super nervous about this visit. (I felt better when Mitali mentioned that she was also, because she is an inherently positive and optimistic person!) I am not proud of this, but there was a large part of me that was hoping that the visit would be canceled, just like the previous four were. I felt a little better when someone I know messaged me privately to tell me that they had had very good experiences visiting a family member in that prison. But I still didn't sleep well at all that night, worrying about the guards, the many things that could go wrong, and the projected 111-degree hea

Bronwyn Harris, Author

Search This Blog