The Friends of Barron Annual Report has been published and distributed. You can find it here on the “Annual Report” page (look at the top of the blog site and click on “Annual Report”) or if you prefer old fashioned paper, reports are on all the bulletin boards throughout the EDM complex. Please read them and return them to save paper and ink. If the report is missing from the bulletin board, just let me know and I’ll replace it. Thanks for your support!
Beginning this week, you will be able to buy tickets to the FOB Super Bowl 50/50 Draw to benefit our scholarship students. They will be available at the Club House at Estrella del Mar. It’s only $50 for a chance to win half the pot!
The 2012-2013 academic year has begun and our 35 scholarship recipients are busy studying, trying to maintain their grade point average so they might receive their stipend for the first semester. Qualified students will get MXN $2000 pesos on November 15 (the first of three payments) when they present their certified grades to our administrators. FOB CanAm is pleased to announce that we have expanded the scholarship recipient pool to include all EDM employees, both workers and administrators who do not live in Barron. In a special outreach, Kris McGuire spoke before the manager’s meeting in October to announce our expansion and explain the rules. EDM’s HR Administrator Tamara Fraire was our point-person to distribute and receive the completed applications. They were due November 1 and eight applications came in. Of those eight, all were qualified and have been accepted into the program.
Our total number of scholarship students stands at 35. Of those 35, eleven have been adopted by EDM residents and/or friends of EDM residents; eight by our friends and neighbors here and three by non-EDM owners. Please click on the “Adopt-A-Student” tab at the top of this page to review the incoming students and read their heartfelt essays. Twenty-four students still need your personal attention.
Thank you to all of you who attended the Friends of Barron Gala and Silent Auction Friday night. Your donations, purchases, and contribution of volunteer hours made this event a great success. Also, thank you to those people who donated to Friends of Barron but were unable to attend the Gala. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.
We raised 80,000 pesos!!! We hope you enjoyed an evening of good food and entertainment while connecting with your neighbors.
Half of the money will be used for new scholarships for grade nine students attending high school in Mazatlan in the fall of 2012 and the rest of the money will go for the following infrastructure projects:
· · finishing the computer room at the junior high school
· · painting the exterior walls, fixing the roof and buying classroom desks at the elementary school
· · painting the exterior walls, providing shelving for the library and buying classroom furniture at the Kindergarten
· · providing tables and chairs, fixing the bathrooms and painting the “Adult Education” classroom, where 60 adults from Barron are attending evening and weekend classes to learn to read and write.
Thank you one and all.
For more information, please contact DLyster@shaw.ca or check out our website at fobnews.org.
Individual donations for December 2011 and January 2012 totaled $71,166 pesos. Forty-eight percent of these donations were earmarked for individual scholarship students. Thirty-seven percent of the donated funds went towards the General Scholarship Program to be used to support the remaining eight students who have yet to be adopted by an individual sponsor. The remaining 15% of donations went to finance ongoing construction projects at four schools in Barron.
Many thanks to the following donors:
Anonymous – Phase 1
Dave & Bonni Canary – Phase 2
Dave & Lindy Marvin – EDM guests from Colorado
Dick & Kris McGuire – Phase 1
Rita Pacheco – Homes & Lots
Bob & Mary Sanz – Phase 1
John Watson – Phase 1
It has been obvious for a very long time that the Barron Primary School needed paint. The new principal, Norma, decided to do something about it. So she organized her parents into work groups, and using paint provided by Friends of Barron, has transformed the school. Look at the before and after pictures below. This lady is organized and motivated to improve the learning environment at Barron. She has also instituted a plastic bottle recycling program. Things are changing over in Barron! For the better!
Friends of Barron is constantly growing and revising our methods. Our goal is to provide academically gifted students with an incentive to not only continue their education through high school, but to excel in their academic endeavors. After a year and a half of trying to help out these deserving kids, we have revised the program several times and recently we called a meeting of all scholarship students and their parents. Every one, with the exception of Janeth who had to work, attended the meeting. We were able to sit down and look these bright young people in the eye and see how they are doing, ask what problems they are having, gather needed data and generally come to a consensus agreement that we are on the right path. Portraits of these kids reveal their potential. Be sure to take a look at the Student Scholars page. There are 2011 and 2012 portraits of the original group of scholarship winners. See how they have matured. Study their smiles, their eyes. They proudly wear the uniforms of their various high schools. These kids are going to make something of themselves and they will be the ones to bring prosperity and development to their home town of Barron.
Elementary School – The next time you drive by the Barron Primary School, take a look… the exterior has received a much needed paint job. In keeping with the FOB’s rules of Community Development, after parents of the students volunteered to paint the school exterior, Friends of Barron agreed to buy the paint. Some fathers have also volunteered to re-roof two of the classrooms and we are currently evaluating a request to buy roofing material. We also have a request from the teaching staff to refurnish one of the classrooms. The existing desks are in such disrepair and so many have collapsed, they are forced to borrow furniture from the library in order to hold classes. We are not currently funded to address this request and although it is important, it is not among our highest priorities. FOB has spent $10,000 pesos on this project and we expect to spend another $8,000 pesos on the roofing project.
School for Adults – Barron has a program supported and sanctioned by the Mexican Government to provide elementary, middle and high school curricula to adult members of the community. There are also basic literacy classes for approximately 15 students associated with this adult school. In total, 65 adults are receiving equivalent education through the efforts of three local teachers who volunteer their time and effort to this program. The Mexican Government support consists of classroom materials, planned curricula and formal testing that leads to certification of the students as graduates. The problem facing the school is a lack of adequate classroom space and furnishings that allow classes to held during the evening hours. The town has provided a vacant two room building in need of much repair for these volunteer teachers to use as their classrooms. The teachers have approached FOB with a request to repair, paint and furnish these classrooms. From among the 65 adult students, cement masons, plumbers, electricians and groundskeepers have volunteered their time and skills to provide the labor necessary to bring this school up to a point where it is useable. Given the impressive rate of volunteerism on the part of both the teachers and students to improve the educational experience for the adult school, FOB has decided to assist them with the necessary materials and furnishings to compete the classroom renovation project. FOB will probably spend upwards of $20,000 pesos on this project.
The Friends of Barron 2011 Annual Report is now available online. Simply click the tab at the top of this page to view it. Hard copies will also be distributed to donors and will be available on the bulletin boards at the Las Lagunitas complexes.
KINDERGARTEN NEWS
Recently, an electrical fire damaged one of the classrooms at the Barron kindergarten. The incident required the room to be completely rewired and repainted. The Parent-Teacher Committee, together with FOB, raised sufficient money to quickly put the classroom back in order. While the work was underway, a leaking roof and a faulty water pump were also repaired.
We have a request from the Parent-Teacher Committee to assist with the installation of five air conditioners for the four classrooms and the principal’s office. the Committee and FOB have obtained a bid for $34,000 pesos to complete the project. We will not take further action until we see significant financial participation from the community.
PRIMARY SCHOOL
We have been told that a new principal has been appointed and started work last week. FOB plans to meet with the new principal next week and establish a working relationship. One of the issues we want to pursue is the status of the library that FOB helped build two years ago. Lately, the library has been closed to the public. Our aim is to see the library operate under its original concept, which was to serve the community in general as well as the primary school. We hope that the new principal will enable this process and welcome readers of every stripe.
SECONDARY SCHOOL
FOB met with the Secondary school principal and teachers last week and toured the facility. It was exciting to see the computer class, consisting of about 40 students, in full session. The temporary classroom was wired with the help of FOB and has been equipped with 17 new computers provided by the school district. The computer server is connected to the Internet via a proprietary Mazatlan school district satellite system. When the new, more spacious computer classroom is complete and more computers added by the District, each student will have his/her own computer.
Construction of the new computer classroom, which is located behind the present facility and not visible from the main road, began in 2010. The community (with FOB help) raised sufficient funds to attract a Mexican government match that resulted in the completion of the foundation, floor and walls. In 2011, fundraising continued, and with FOB help, the community was able to complete the roof. Doors, windows, electrical and final finish are goals for the 2012 – 2013 school year. We have not yet seen a budget to complete this project, but we are hopeful that the community, with FOB help, and the Mexican government match will get this project completed once and for all. Typically, these community-initiated projects take three to four years to complete and this one is no exception.
UPCOMING FOB ACTIVITIES
We plan to produce a 2011 Annual Report, complete with project and scholarship program status, donations and current financial condition. This project will be completed by December 20. The report will be posted here and will also be available in hard copy for those without computer access.
FOB CANAM INC {501(C)(3)} 