Eighth Annual Mexican Fiesta ticket now available - UPDATE - Tickets are no longer available. Thank you for your participation.

Tickets are now available for our big, colorful, and fun Annual Mexican Fiesta.

News for this year: we've added special pricing and activities for the kids. Come one, come all!

Once again, we're holding the prices down for our adult customers! All prices will remain the same as they have been since the first Fiesta: just $50/single and $90/couple. Purchase your admission online, or if you prefer, use our handy mail-in registration form.

See you there!

Fundraiser Solicitation Letter available for download

EMF relies upon the generous donations of products and services from the business community. If you are a business person or you can help us be soliciting donations from businesses in your area, please visit our downloads page to obtain your copy of the official 2011 solicitation letter.

The letter provides background on EMF and the work that we do, and also provides the donor with contact innformation.

EMF needs more sponsors!

This year, as our sponsorship program becomes more popular in Agua Verde, we have many more new applicants. As a result, we need sponsors.

To those of you who sponsor one or more kids and have already sent in your donation, I thank you for your continued support.

If you are a sponsor and have not yet sent in your donation, contact me and let me know when we can expect it. If you are choosing not to sponsor your child this year, I need to know right away so we can place the child with another sponsor.

There are many who have been sponsors in past years and many who have not. Regardless of your past association with our program, I ask that you consider supporting a child this year.

Only $225 enables a child to stay in school beyond 6th grade and pays all their school expenses for a full year. That's less than $20 per month!

You will find information about this program here. This is our seventh year offering this program and we are proud to say we will have 9 kids in college this year.

I am also asking that you forward a link to this page to anyone you think might be interested in sponsoring a child.

Thank you for your continued support,

Gwen Matrsu
Vice President - Finance
Elena Macías Foundation

Hola,

Nuestro programa de patricinio a los estudiantes está más popular que nunca, y por eso necesitamos patrocinadores.

Para aquellos de ustedes que ya patrocinan uno o más ninos y ya han enviado su donación, le doy las gracias por su continuo apoyo.

Si usted es uno de los patrocinadores y aún no han enviado su donativo, por favor responda a este mensaje y me deje saber cuando lo podemos esperar. Si usted ha eligido no seguir apoyando nuestro programa de ayuda a estudiantes de Aguaverde, lo que necesito saber de inmediato para que podamos colocar al niño con otro patrocinador.

Hay muchas personas que han sido patrocinadores en los últimos años y muchos otros que no lo han sido, les pido que considerar el apoyo a un niño este año.

Con sólo US$225 permite que un niño permanezca en la escuela más allá de 6 º grado y cubre todos sus gastos escolares de el estudiante durante un año completo. Eso es menos de US$20 por mes!

Puede encontrar información acerca de este programa aquí. Este es nuestro séptimo año que ofrece este programa y estamos orgullosos de decir, vamos a tener nueve estudiantes en la universidad este año.

También pido que transmita la presente a quien usted piensa que podiera estar interesado en patrocinar un niño de Aguaverde.

Gracias por su apoyo,

Gwen Matsu

EMF receives new applicants for scholarships

Following her most recent trip to Agua Verde, Foundation President Gloria Purcell has returned with scholarship applications for 30 new students. Prospective sponsors will be contacted as soon as the applications are translated to English.

Would you like to participate in this meaningful and rewarding effort as a sponsor? If so, please use the "Contact Us" link to in the left column of this page and we'll be happy to answer any and all of your questions.

Garage Sale for the Elena Macias Foundation

UPDATE: We had a very successful garage sale. Thanks for your donations and your participation. We're happy to announce that we raised $1,400 to support the kids of Agua Verde.

We would like to offer a very special "thank you" to Leticia Flores and Christina Chavez for working so hard organizing and participating in this event, and to Karen Casey and Gaby Osuna for their help.

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The foundation is having a garage sale (check out our flyer attached) and we need your help. Could you PLEASE look in your garage or closets and give us any good items you don't want or need for our garage sale? All proceeds go to the kids of Agua Verde, Mazatlan.

Call Tisha (phone # on flyer) and she will pick up your stuff and THANK YOU. We would be happy to give you a tax donation letter for your taxes.

Also, please stop by if you can and see all of the wonderful items we'll have for sale. The address for the garage sale is also on the flyer below.

Thanks!

Agua Verde students learning English in Rosario
Several Agua Verde students have been studying English successfully in a very nice technical school in Rosario (a town several miles outside of Agua Verde. Take a look at the classrooms and read about how the Elena Macias Foundation is participating.

Sixth Annual Casino Night Fund Raiser Announced
The date for the Sixth Annual Casino Night benefitting the Elena Macias Foundation has been announced. This is a night of fun and food with a Monte Carlo flair!

Register online or fill out our mail-in form.

March 2011 trip to Agua Verde
Every year in the spring representatives from the Elena Macias Foundation travel to Agua Verde to distribute shoes to children in schools throughout the town.  In addition, we give a 2nd set of school supplies and shoes to our scholarship kids, take the top ranking students on a day trip to Mazatlan, and do other activities on behalf of the Elena Macias Foundation.  Here are a few memories we captured from our trip.  We hope you enjoy them and will join us on a future journey to help the children of Agua Verde.

Please take a look at the slide show from the event featuring our students and their sponsors.

Seventh Annual Mexican Fiesta was lots of fun!
Our annual fiesta was a successful event again this year. Please take a look at the slide show from the event featuring our students and their sponsors.

Elena Macias Foundation is on Facebook!
If you are a Facebook user, please join us there to share news and to stay informed about what the Foundation is doing.

Fifth Annual Casino Night Announced
The date for the Fourth Annual Casino Night benefitting the Elena Macias Foundation has been announced. This is a night of fun and food with a Monte Carlo flair!

Seventh Annual Mexican Fiesta Announced
Once again we invite you to attend our annual "Mexican Fiesta" fund raiser. This big event features dinner (catered by Rodeo's Catering), dancing, entertainment, silent auctions, raffles, and a no-host bar. Come and enjoy Ballet Folklorico. You don't want to miss this one!

Christmas stockings delivered
This year, sponsors had an opportunity to send a special Avon Gift Stocking to their student. The stocking were delivered in time for Christmas and the students were really grateful to receive their surprise gifts.

Each gift stocking contained an Avon cologne set and assorted candies.

Forty percent of the purchase price directly supports the work of Elena Macias Foundation, and for everybody who participated, we say, "Thanks!"

New media available
The Scholastic Yearbook for 2009-2010 was presented at the 2009 Fiesta Dinner and Dance. You can now download a copy of the yearbook, or watch it as a video.

News about this years "crop" of students!
Gwen Matsu has just returned form Agua Verde and tells us:

"We're back from our trip to Agua Verde. We ended up with 83 kids this year (22 in high school now) and 3 in college. It was a good trip, other than the heat and running out of time to do everything. With so many kids to see, we need more days.

The kids are doing great. Our drop out rate for our first year students was only 3% compared to 35% in previous years. Only one child from this first year group was dropped from the program due to grades! We lost a total of 12 of the 72 kids in the program overall (17% compared to about 30% in the past) and only four due to grades.

We are seeing a real positive change in these kids. Their grades are improving and they are staying in school. Plus, the parents and the kids are now doing their community service on a regular basis. We are real pleased with the changes we are seeing."

Gwen says that the letters from your sponsored student(s) are currently being translated and should be available soon. Also, we should have some new photos to post here on the web site soon.

Don't forget to make plans to attend the Annual Fiesta coming on October. The Fiesta is one of the Foundation's biggest fund raising events, and your support is a very important part of it. Won't you plan to be a part of this success?

Spring 2009 Graduation slideshow is now available!
See this year's graduation ceremony in Agua Verde. This is the first year that the graduating students have worn caps and gowns. The Elena Macías Foundation is very proud to have provided the caps and gowns, and to have supported the education of the students wearing them.

Take a moment to see for yourself how your donations change the lives of the young people of Agua Verde.

Sixth Annual Mexican Fiesta location announced
Our Annual Mexican Fiesta has a new venue! We're moving our biggest fund rasing event or the year to BJM Hall in Hayward, CA. (Map)

The best news of all is that we're holding the prices down! All prices will remain the same as they have been since the first Fiesta: just $50/single and $90/couple. Purchase your admission online, or if you prefer, use our handy mail-in registration form.

See you there!

Fourth Annual Casino Night Announced
The date for the Fourth Annual Casino Night benefitting the Elena Macias Foundation has been announced. This is a night of fun and food with a Monte Carlo flair!

Sixth Annual Mexican Fiesta Announced
Once again we invite you to attend our annual "Mexican Fiesta" fund raiser. This big event features dinner (catered by Rodeos Catering), dancing, entertainment, silent auctions, raffles, and a no-host bar. Come and enjoy Ballet Folklorico. You don't want to miss this one!