60 Year Celebration
Assistance League of
Albuquerque
Celebrates 60 years
In 2022 Assistance League of Albuquerque celebrated 60 wonderful years of service to New Mexico!
We’re honored to have been able to enrich our community all these years through our nine philanthropic programs. These programs have long been a staple of our organization and the community, and we could not fund them without the generous help of every single one of our amazing volunteer members, partners, and customers.
We enjoyed celebrating everyone who has helped keep our programs active and relevant by hosting a series of events from April 2022 to Mar 2023. Each month brought to light a philanthropic program and a cooperative community activity, highlighting all the values Assistance League of Albuquerque embraces.
It was a thrilling milestone to celebrate with New Mexico and we look forward to sharing many more years of service and enrichment with our community!
April Activities
April 5th – KRQE AM Morning Show
with Lynne Baehr and Judy Parker
Subject is History of Assistance League of Albuquerque
May Activities
Natalia is big fan of Assistance League of Albuquerque.
Hear what she has to say . .
David’s hobby is Thrift shops and he appreciates the variety and quality of the items at Assistance League of Albuquerque’s Thrift Store finding it the “best Thrift Shop on the planet”.
Listen to why he thinks that.
Barbara appreciates the work that Assistance League of Albuquerque does for others, especially Operation School Bell® which gets new shoes to children in our Title 1 schools.
Listen to her thoughts.
A long time customer, Linda has shopped at the Thrift Shop since she was a student and still shops there because of the great people, reliable quality of goods, and excellent prices! Even on furniture.
Here’s her story!
June Activities
June is Donor Month
Amy Tapia tells us about Sandia National Labs working with Assistance League of Albuquerque.
RJ Marcuse owns a number of antique shops and loves to work with Assistance League of Albuquerque’s Thrift shop. Find out why.
Find out how the Albuquerque Community Foundation has worked with Assistance League of Albuquerque to refurbish the Blue Portal and help fund Operation School Bell.
July Activities
This month we are celebrating one of our philanthropic programs, Blue Portal in Old Town (next to the Church Street Café). Our Blue Portal committee works directly with our senior New Mexico artists and crafters by providing them with a perfect location to sell their creations to the public. The service is free to over 450 artists and crafters, who receive 100% of the asking price for each piece sold.
Our Assistance League volunteer member – Sally Ruscitti was the featured guest on the KRQE Morning Show this month. You can watch the 4 minute video HERE. (There are a couple of real short ads first)
Check out Blue Portal Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/seniorartisans
See what two of our artists want you to know about this opportunity for them to sell the items they make.
David Merryman makes wind chimes and has been a contributing artist for 17 years
Priscilla Day is a watercolor and acrylic artist. She says “it’s easy for us to keep our creative process going if we are able to sell our artwork and reinvest that in our business.”
August Activities
August is about Operation School Bell®
Heather Fritz is the Principal at Hawthorne Elementary School. She is excited about our new literacy initiative, where Operation School Bell purchases the books for the One Book, One School program. The entire school reads the same book and develops associated activities. When the program is completed, the school holds a celebration in which Assistance League of Albuquerque members participate.
Vanessa Anderson is the Outreach Coordinator for PB&J Family Services. In addition to Assistance League of Albuquerque providing shoes for the children, Vanessa was delighted last Thanksgiving when the chapter provided DINNER (except the turkey) for all the PB&J families.
September Activities
September is about Scholarships
Meet one of our recipients – Esperanza Montoya. She is pursuing her Associate Degree for Welding at CNM.
This is Dan Mitchell who is pursuing an Electrical Degree in PLC, which stands for Programable Logic Control – a skill needed in controlling buildings and houses.
October Activities
October is for Buddy Bears
Debbie Zamora explains how Buddy Bear Patrol began here in Albuquerque and how the bears turn “tears into smiles” for traumatized children.
Barbara McWilliams explains Assistance League’s role in distributing Buddy Bears to first responders like the police and fire departments, UNMH Pediatrics and the Family Advocacy Center, among others.
Watch Barbara Temer talk about the comfort these bears give to
children in the hospital. Ms. Temer is Director of Volunteer Services
at UNMCH.
November Activities
November is for Assault Survival Assistance/Kids Are Pretty Special programs
We’ll start by introducing our Kids Are Pretty Special program.
We partner with several nonprofits to help children in crisis. One of them is CLN Kids which stands for Cuidando Los Ninos.
Watch Ashley Martinez explain our relationship and how it benefits the children. She’s the Development and Communications Director.
Leticia Salinas is with NM Children Youth and Families Department. Watch her tell how beneficial their partnership is with Assistance League of Albuquerque’s Kids Are Pretty Special program. Assistance League of Albuquerque provides their foster kids with necessities like clothing, books, items of hygiene and more.
Tracy Weaver is Executive Director of Saranam, which works with families who are experiencing homelessness. Assistance League of Albuquerque provides clothing for the kids that they serve . . . and much more.
December Activities
December highlights both our partners in the Hungry and Homeless Program
Anita Cordova, Chief Advancement Officer with Albuquerque Heath Care for the Homeless and John Silver, Resource Center Coordinator detail the huge value of the partnership with Assistance League of Albuquerque for their clients.
John Patterson is the Director of Service, Delivery and Development for Silver Horizons. Silver Horizons offers food products to their customers in a unique way. They can come into the building and select the specific items they want to take home rather than being given a pre-packaged set of goods.
January Activities
January is TLC month
Assistance League of Albuquerque’s Tender Loving Care Program is Chaired by Pam Verstynen. She describes how many chapter member volunteers create new blankets and caps for newborns and adults in the hospital. Also highlighted is Barbara Temer, who is Director of Volunteer Services for UNM Hospital.
We also like to work with volunteers from the community who are not Assistance League of Albuquerque members, but who would like to create blankets and caps for those who need them.
If you are interested, email Pam at [email protected]. There are guidelines given to us from UNM which Pam will share with you.
February Activities
February is Sharing Partnerships month
Christianne Santisteven, who works with NM Solutions, talks about working in partnership with Assistance League of Albuquerque. This organization offers person-centered behavioral health services in central New Mexico. Assistance League of Albuquerque donates $40 Vouchers for their clients to use in our Thrift Shop.
Ann Edenfield Sweet, the Executive Director/Founder of Wings for Life International talks about the work they do to transform lives by breaking the generational cycle of incarceration. Assistance League of Albuquerque donates $40 Vouchers for their clients to use in our Thrift Shop.
March Activities
March features Shoes for Kids
Hear from Sarah Ranjbaren, Assistant Principal at Puesta del Sol School in Rio Rancho and from the School Principal, Dana Petro. KQRE partners with Assistance League of Albuquerque’s Operation School Bell to provide each child with a new pair of shoes.
Michelle Martinez is the Principal of New Futures School. Hear how delighted they were to receive not only vouchers for new shoes, but also new diaper bags full of essential care items for the babies of New Futures students.
Our Partners
Beginning April 26, 2022 there were public service announcements for Assistance League of Albuquerque
from our partner KQRE on KRQE News 13, MY 50 TV, CW New Mexico and Fox New Mexico.
