THANK YOU FOR JOINING US AT FRIDA FEST!
Viva La Frida! Thank you to everyone who joined us in honoring the life and legacy of one of Latin America's most influential artists, Frida Kahlo. We enjoyed a beautiful evening at Joe Vinny & Bronson's Bohemian Cafe on July 23 from 4:00 to 10:00 p.m. Frida Kahlo inspired art by local artists was auctioned and local vendors were on site. Our guests enjoyed music by Michelle & Aaron, witnessed the creativity of our contestants in the Look-Alike contest, and were inspired by the beautiful poetry by Jasmin Flores. The purpose of our festival was to unite the community through creative expression by collaborating with local artist to pay tribute to a cultural and feminist icon. All proceeds from the event supported the HWNT Scholarship.
SPECIAL THANKS:
Committee Co-Chairs: Sara Aragon & Michelle Del Rio
Event Host: Joe Vinny & Bronson's Bohemian Cafe
Featured Artists:
Madelyn Peterson, Jessica Fraire - Call Me Betty, Rafael Ordonez Franco, Claudia Avila, Olga Avant-Mier, Olimpia Cornelio, Sylvia Martinez, Lupe Anchondo, Julie Santaella
Performers: Jasmin Flores, Michelle & Aaron
Committee Members: Lupita Ornelas, Sylvia Bonscher, Aleigha Alderete, Mariana Sierra, Celeste Cervantes, Alicia Rascon
MEMBERSHIP MEETING: AUGUST 3
Come to our August 3 membership meeting at Evolve Credit Union (8820 Gazelle El Paso, TX 79925) for a financial planning workshop. Networking begins at 6:00pm and our business meeting starts promptly at 6:30pm. The event is free, members are invited to bring an item for our potluck and open to the public as well as our members. We are hosting a formal dress drive to gather donations of prom and homecoming dresses to support girls with limited means.
Also, mark your calendar for our upcoming date on September 7. Our meetings are held the 1st Wednesday of every month. For more information, contact us at hwntelpaso@gmail.com. To become an official member of the HWNT local and statewide sisterhood, complete an application and pay your $50 dues online at www.hwnt.org.
OUR ESTRELLA DE TEJAS: Aurora Anaya-Dyer
Each year at the HWNT State conference, HWNT Chapters honor women, from among the membership, who have made a significant contributions to their chapter and community. To be an Estrella, a woman must be an HWNT member, demonstrate leadership qualities, serve as a role model for fellow members and make an impact in her community. Aurora Anaya-Dyer, a HWNT member, has demonstrated these leadership qualities. She impacted our community through many projects, especially through her own company IMA (Inspiration, Motivation, Application). Aurora Anaya-Dyer is a strong leader in our community and an influential role model for young and old. Aurora is passionate about education and promotes it through her past and current work as an educator and counselor in our community. Through her volunteer work, she encourages people to help their community in any way they can, using their different skills and strengths. Aurora believes everyone should be civically engaged- no matter how small the gesture is. The grandeur is in adding everyone’s service making a difference to better humanity and our country.
LATINAS IN PROGRESS APPLICATIONS OPEN
The LIP Education Series consists of five learning sessions, city wide volunteer opportunities, and HWNT mentors. The program is open to high school girls interested in learning more about the college preparation process. As a part of the program, we are recruiting professional women to share their career experience with our team. Our team is hosting a series of college prep and leadership workshop for the girls in our Latinas in Progress program. For more information, visit our
online application here or email hwntelpaso@gmail.com.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: MICHELLE DEL RIO
Special thanks to our member of the month Michelle Del Rio. As a part of our scholarship and event planning team, she played a vital role in supporting our goal of raising scholarship funds to support the educational goals of young Latinas. She helped our team with planning logistics, from decorating, to recruiting entertainment, and getting sponsorship for our winter Posada and our Frida Fest celebration. Michelle loves HWNT because it gives her an opportunity to get to know other wonderful and amazing people. She loves to see how each member of the organization brings something different to the table, whether it be their knowledge, skills, social connections, "costumbres," and resources. Michelle is an El Paso native who grew up in the Lower Valley area. Michelle was the first of her family to go to college. She headed-off to college with one goal: to learn as much as possible to find solutions that would impact the health of her community. Currently, Michelle is working at the Center for Environmental Resource Management at UTEP. In this role, she gets to combine all her interests and skills she has learned. She is passionate about encouraging girls and women in the field of science as a previous president with the Association of Women in Science at Texas Tech. Our team appreciates her enthusiasm for supporting local young women and her efforts to assist with our cultural events and scholarship program.
LATINAS IN PROGRESS GIVING CIRCLE:
Help young Latina teens reach their academic goals by donating to the HWNT giving circle. The Latinas in Progress program exposes high school Latinas to college life and provides them with the tools needed to succeed. All donations make a big impact.
SPONSOR A GIRL: You can sponsor one girl in the entire program with a donation of $50 (this covers all the program expenses for one member). Donations will help us cover the costs of the program such as workshop materials, field trip transportation for college campus tours, event costs (venue & food for participants), program recruitment materials, college prep manuals, workshop hand-outs and college scholarship resources.
SPONSOR A SCHOLARSHIP: You can help sponsor a college scholarship of $500 with a monthly donation of ($42) or get a group of 5 friends together to sponsor a scholarship with a $100 donation each. We also welcome honoring donations in memory or honor of a loved one. For more information, contact the HWNT scholarship chair at hwntelpaso@gmail.com.
HWNT 30th ANNUAL STATE CONFERENCE
The Hispanic Women's Network of Texas, along with eleven chapters across Texas, is proud to announce its 30th Annual Conference, "Pearls of Wisdom, Cultivating Leaders" on September 30th October 2, 2016. This year's Honorary Chairs exemplify the organizations mission, vision, values and beliefs that HWNT embodies. Join Dr. Elba Garcia, Dallas County Commissioner, District 4, Mary Louise Garcia, Tarrant County Clerk, and Dr. Monica Mendez-Grant, Vice-President for Student Life at Texas Woman's University for an empowering and inspiring weekend of reflections, celebrations and visioning. Several local HWNT members are getting ready to attend this uplifting women's conference. To learn more about registering for the conference, visit
www.hwnt.org. Share a van and hotel with local members to save money - contact hwntelpaso@gmail.com for more details.
QUINCE PROJECT
The Quince Project Madrinas team is a group of local female leaders dedicated to helping make girls' quince dreams come true for low income girls. This team helps with leadership workshops, mentoring youth, contributing to fundraising efforts and aiding with quince event planning. HWNT would love to help any way we can. We are looking for volunteers and donations. Volunteers can assist with: donating a gently used prom/homecoming/formal dress, donating for our quince party celebration potluck, assisting with decorations, donating accessories, making a donation, and volunteering at the quince party on August 19.
MENTORS WANTED:
We are currently recruiting committee members to help with recruiting members, organizing monthly college preparation workshops and guiding girls in the college application process. Volunteers are needed to meet with small groups of girls to share their college and career advice for our participants. To volunteer, email latinasinprogressep@gmail.com.
MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
We would like to express our appreciation to our recent meeting hosts. Thanks to Kristen Daugherty, LCSW, MBA, Chief Executive Officer, Emergence Health Network for speaking at our June meeting about local mental health resources. Special thanks to Sylvia Bonscher for graciously hosting our past sisterhood summer pot-luck meeting on June 29 at her lovely home. During our social meeting, we divided into committees to brainstorm new ideas for our organization.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT AT STATE CONFERENCE
Love HWNT? Are you passionate about the cause of empowering Latina women? Well, this is your time to share your passion and shout your love for HWNT. Share with us why you love HWNT and see your answers at the conference "Pearls of Wisdom, Cultivating Leaders" as a part of the #HerWhy campagin honoring our 30 years of empowering Latina women. Please complete this quick and short questionnaire to share your #HerWhy response.
HISPANIC WOMEN's NETWORK OF TEXAS:
The Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas (HWNT), is a non-profit state-wide organization established in 1986. HWNT’s Purpose is to seek to promote the advancement of women in public, corporate and civic life through education, personal and professional development. HWNT and its 11 Chapter’s state wide unite to celebrate the positive image and values of its Hispanic heritage and empowering women across the great State of Texas.
