Nusenda volunteers helped communities
Nusenda Credit Union employees from around New Mexico devoted Labor Day to volunteering for a total of five community organizations serving Taos, Albuquerque and Socorro.
The effort was part of Nusenda’s inaugural Community Day, which allows employees to impact positively the communities they serve in alignment with the credit union’s core values and current Nusenda Foundation community partnerships.
In total, 210 Nusenda employees volunteered for these organizations:
New Mexico Wilderness Alliance: Dedicated to the protection, restoration, and continued enjoyment of New Mexico’s wildlands and wilderness areas. In the Cibola National Forest, 88 employees built a retaining wall, restored a rock house, picked up 620 pounds of trash, and surveyed picnic areas for recordkeeping and future maintenance.
Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico: The state’s largest food bank, providing 30 million pounds of food a year to a network of hundreds of partner agencies and regional food banks. One hundred Nusenda employees sorted and prepped 27,000 pounds of food for distribution, as well as 8,000 pounds of spoiled food to use as feed at local area farms.
Junior Achievement of New Mexico: Preparing young people for the real world by showing them how to generate and manage wealth, create jobs to improve their communities, and apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. At Coronado Elementary School in Albuquerque, 11 employees taught 127 students about money — wants v. needs, wise
choices, and saving.
Holy Cross Hospital Foundation, Taos: Assisting Holy Cross Hospital and Taos Health Systems with medical equipment acquisition, as well as community educational/ wellness events, and fundraising. Five Nusenda employees worked to beautify public access spaces on the hospital campus, the main entrance and cafeteria courtyards. In all, six large bags of weeds and leaves were picked up.
Puerto Seguro Safe Harbor, Socorro: Offering a “safe place” for clients to use shower facilities, acquire clothing and food, and be connected with other service agencies that can provide help with housing, employment, education, rehabilitation, counseling, and medical needs. Six employees helped clean the facility, and prepared and served meals.
Nusenda’s Community Day is the first of a series of initiatives geared toward employee community engagement, Dearholt said. More volunteer opportunities for employees will begin in early 2018.
Little Free Library opens in Los Lunas
Los Ranchos Village unveiled the first Little Free Library at the Los Ranchos Village Council meeting on Oct. 11, 2017. The idea came from Barbe Awalt, LPD Press/Rio Grande Books and the NM & AZ Book Awards, and Carla Aragon, UNM Press author and TV personality, who had the idea at the same time.
The first library will be located between the Village of Los Ranchos Hall on Rio Grande NW and the park next door. The libraries are recycled newspaper boxes so they can withstand weather.
The idea behind Little Free Libraries is to take a book and return a book but if someone takes a book and can’t leave one, that’s OK too. According to Awalt, “The whole purpose is to have people reading great books – and most of the books donated are New Mexico books.” Books in the library appeal to adults, children and tweens. There are romance novels, travel books, mysteries, poetry books, cookbooks, the history of the Albuquerque Dukes, neon signs of Central Avenue, and of course the history of Balloon Fiesta.
Authors represented are: North Valley resident Ross Van Dusen, Rio Rancho author Sabra Brown Steinseik, Los Ranchos resident Frank Bacon, Rio Rancho Observer Sports Editor Gary Herron, Albuquerque icon Tony Hillerman, Los Ranchos resident Carla Aragon, Corrales author Henrietta Martinez Christmas, Rio Rancho historian Don Bullis, Los Ranchos resident Paul Rhetts, Albuquerque Rounders Award winner and syndicated newsman Slim Randles, Los Ranchos author Barbe Awalt, Pat Hodapp – Director of the Santa Fe Library, Rio Rancho Coretta Scott King Award winner Vaunda Nelson, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, and Tijeras authors Dick Brown, Tom McConnell, John Davis, Charlotte Kinney, Dick Rice, John Sena, and Kim Vesely.
The value of the donated books exceeds $5,000. Most of the books donated to the library were entered in 2017’s 11th annual NM & AZ Book Awards.
This is not LPD Press/Rio Grande Books’ first Little Free Library donation — they contributed books to the Bernalillo County Little Free Libraries a few years ago.
The second library will be placed on 4th NW near the Fire Department at a future date.
The day-to-day operation for the library will be handled by Los Ranchos Village Administrator Kelly Ward.