Saturday, August 29, 2009

Food Drive: Success!

The food drive was a wonderful success! We collected 1,238 cans of food, or 3/4 of a ton. Thanks to everybody who came, donated and participated.

We'd also like to thank Rene Rios and H.E.B. Plus for graciously allowing us to hold our food drive / health fair in front of the store.

The next food drive will be on September 13th. More details to come for that.

Hunger fact from South Texas Food Bank Web site:
  • 34,269 Webb County children live under the poverty line - enough to fill 714 school buses. If these buses were parked bumper to bumper, they would stretch 8.2 miles.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

This Saturday: Food Drive / Health Fair

Hello all! We're continuing our One City, One Book festivities with a food drive that will take place this Saturday at H.E.B. Plus. The health magnet school from J.B. Alexander High will be there conducting a mini health fair, so come along, donate some food and visit for a while! All food items will benefit local food banks.

What: Food drive / mini health fair
Where: In front of the H.E.B. Plus store on Bob Bullock Loop.
When: Saturday, August 29, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

**If you bring your 5 non-perishable food items, we will give out coupons for Sonia Nazario's lecture at the civic center. Remember that you must also attend a book discussion or film screening to fully qualify for a ticket to her talk. You will receive a coupon at the book discussion/film screening. Both coupons can be turned in for a ticket).

Together, we CAN help others.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Turnout

We had a great turnout at the first book discussion and we're looking forward to even more at the next one. Even people who hadn't started reading the book or weren't finished had plenty to say about family and immigration issues. We encourage you to come even if you haven't read the book yet. B. Dalton's Booksellers will be selling the book and the book discussion is a great way to get introduced to the themes in Enrique's Journey.

For people who haven't attended a book discussion yet and are looking to go, we'd like to clarify that if you arrive with food, you will be given one coupon before the discussion. Hold on to that coupon and near the end of the discussion, you will be given another coupon verifying you attended. At the end, turn in both coupons to receive a ticket to Sonia Nazario's talk at the Laredo Civic Center.

And don't forget!

2nd book discussion @
Wednesday, August 19, 6 - 8 p.m. in
the Sue & Radcliffe Killam Library Great Room, 3rd floor

There will be staff and signs to help you find your way. We hope to see you there!

First Book Discussion

Today is our first book discussion at TAMIU. It runs from 3 - 5 p.m. and we are accepting food donations to go toward Sonia Nazario's talk at the Civic Center.

If you can't stay for the discussion, drop by and bring 5 non-perishable food items as the food bank will be there to collect it. There will also be a booth from B. Dalton Booksellers selling Enrique's Journey.

Hope to see you there. Remember:

1st book discussion
@ TAMIU Sue & Radcliffe Killam Library Great Room, 3rd floor
3 - 5 p.m.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Empty Bowls & Hunger Fact of the Day


Empty Bowls
Originally uploaded by laredofoodforthought
Hope everybody is having a pleasant day. I just added a picture from last night's Empty Bowls fundraiser. Our president and secretary attended and Gerda Weissmann Klein's bowl was featured as one of the bowls up for auction. The folk rock band America played.

We believe education breeds understanding and compassion for others, so we'd like to feature a fact about hunger that you may not have known about.

According to Care:
  • Six million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Web Sites of Interest

Here are some resources for more information on the themes we are focusing on and our author. Take a minute to browse through - you might find something you're interested in. I'll also be uploading some photos from the August 3 press conference, so check back soon for those.

Facts about Immigration and Genealogy

Facts about Hunger

Sonia Nazario

Monday, August 10, 2009

Other Titles of Interest as Read-alongs for Enrique’s Journey

First, we want to remind everybody that the first book discussion for Enrique's Journey is coming up.

When: 3 - 5 p.m.
Where: Sue & Radcliffe Killam Library Great Room, 3rd Floor
Other info: You may bring your own refreshments.

These are recommendations for other books to read dealing with the same themes in Sonia Nazario's Enrique's Journey.

The Jungle Upton Sinclair

Kaffir Boy Mark Mathabane

The Immigrants Howard Fast

Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain

A Nation of Immigrants John F. Kennedy

Call Us Americans Dorothy Chernoff

Ashes of Roses Mary Jane Auch

Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien

Journey Patricia MacLachlan

The Odyssey Homer

Night Fires Dr. George Stanley

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Press Release

This is the press release we handed out to all the media at the press conference yesterday.

In other news, Laredo City Council has officially waived all fees for the use of the Laredo Civic Center. It was a unanimous vote!

Pulitzer Prize-winning author headlines One City, One Book
Food drives, book discussions among planned activities

Laredo, TX – Sponsors of the second annual One City, One Book festival that brought Holocaust survivor, Academy Award winner, and author Gerda Weissmann Klein last year have unveiled this year’s author and book.

Sonia Nazario, author of Enrique’s Journey, will visit the city to speak at various arenas, including the Laredo Civic Center, from September 24 – 25. Enrique’s Journey is the true story of a Honduran boy who journeys thousands of miles to find his mother in the United States.

The Food for Thought Foundation, the Laredo Public Library, the City of Laredo, TAMIU, LCC, UISD and LISD, along with local businesses, are sponsoring the event.

“This year’s theme focuses on family, including genealogy and immigration,” said Annie Treviño, treasurer of the foundation and J.B. Alexander High School English teacher. “We have within us a hunger to belong and to connect with others; as a result, we seek family in its many forms. The Laredo family tree, with roots extending around the globe, has produced a diverse community with branches extending across the city. Unity and diversity - we are Laredo.”

Nazario’s book traces that urge to connect with family and takes readers along on the journey.

“My hope is that the book takes people inside a world that they might not otherwise go,” said Nazario in a July interview with the Food for Thought Foundation. “That it does put a human face on these millions of people who for many of us are either people in our families or our neighbors or people who work in our communities.”

The former Los Angeles Times reporter first wrote the book as a series of articles for the Times, tracing Enrique’s steps across Guatemala and Mexico. The articles won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing and the accompanying photographs by Don Bartletti won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.

“Enrique’s Journey is a story of America,” said Carmen Escamilla, secretary for the foundation and J.B. Alexander High School librarian. “One City grew out of an earnest yearning to engage Laredoans in reading by inquiry and self-reflection.”

The Food for Thought Foundation was started in March 2008 to combat hunger and illiteracy in Laredo. Escamilla came up with the idea to bring the One City, One Book program to Laredo after studying about similar programs across the nation.

Nazario will arrive at the Laredo International Airport at 5:50 p.m. on September 23 and will first speak at a press conference from 7 – 9 p.m. that same evening at La Posada Hotel, where the author will also stay. La Posada has been designated as the official hotel for One City, One Book authors.

The activities throughout August and September, including four book discussions, two movie screenings and four food drive days, will lead up to the author’s speech, A Conversation with Sonia Nazario on September 24, 6 – 8 p.m. at the Laredo Civic Center. In order to receive a ticket to the talk, members of the public must attend one book discussion or film screening and donate five non-perishable food items. The items will benefit local food banks.

The Laredo Public Library has 50 copies of the book in English and 20 in Spanish available for checkout. The library will also help sponsor the book discussions and screenings of Under the Same Moon, the 2007 film that was inspired by the book.

B. Dalton Booksellers at Mall Del Norte is selling the paperback and a limited amount of hard cover copies of Enrique’s Journey in English and Spanish.

“I wanted the book published in Spanish so a lot of Latinas would really think about it and say, ‘If I leave my children, should it be for two years instead of 10 years? Should I bring them with me?’” Nazario said. “‘Should I stay in my home country because, yes, I know the benefits of coming here, but let me consider the consequences 10 years from now?’”

B. Dalton will also sponsor a “Back-to-School” book fair as part of One City, One Book activities, with part of the proceeds going toward next year’s activities.

The Library of Congress’s “One Book” Web site states, “‘One Book’ projects, initiated by the Washington Center for the Book in 1998, are being introduced across the U.S.A. and around the world.”

# # #

Members of the media and public are encouraged to visit laredofoodforthought.blogspot.com for a full calendar of events, updates and further information involving One City, One Book. For more information or an article about Sonia Nazario, you may contact Cristina Herrera at 956-286-8706 or cherrera@mail.utexas.edu.

To get more information on the Laredo Public Library’s activities concerning One City, One Book, call Pam Burrell at 795-2400, ext. 2268 or go to www.laredolibrary.org.