NUESTRAS VOCES CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF PRESERVING OUR HERITAGE AND RIGHTS THROUGH MENTORSHIP AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER TOMORROW
VOL 3, DEC 2023
WHO WE ARE NACOPRW is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization seeking to promote the full participation of Puerto Rican and other Hispanic women in the social, economic and political life in the United States. The Southern California Chapter (SoCal) achieves this by educating, developing leadership among Puerto Rican women and providing role models for our youth and our community. NACOPRW-SoCal celebrates what unites all of us: our love and respect for Puerto Rico, its traditions and people. BOARD MEMBERS:
GLORIA SAN MIGUEL, MBA, PRESIDENT
MARJORIE PATTON, MS, CPC, ELI-MP 1ST VICE PRES.
NILSA J. THORSOS, PH.D., 2ND VICE PRESIDENT SONIA COLÓN-LAMAS, BA, AFIP, TREASURER MARIE NUBIA FELICIANO, PH.D., SECRETARY
For more information about our chapter, membership or donations visit us at:
www.nacoprwsocal.org
Editorial - Entre Nosotras PRESENTING OUR EDITORS FOR THIS ISSUE:
Marjorie Patton
&
Nilsa J. Thorsos
As we reflect on our journey for this year, there are many accomplishments that we want to share with you. 2023 was a productive year for NACOPRW-SoCal members and committees! We were quite busy preparing for our 25th anniversary, for which we were honored with Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto as recipient of our Orgullo Boricua Award. Past and current members plus friends, family, and allies attended this special celebration. The food was prepared by the planning committee and it was outstanding. In this newsletter, we include one of the recipes for “arroz vago” by Luz Nieves Colon, which was a total success! During the event, we also had a fruitful fundraising activity with enticing opportunity drawings that delighted our guests. Along with other fundraising endeavors, such as our traditional coquito sale, the first domino tournament, and the painting and sangria party, this was a mayor success whose results surpassed our expectations and financial goals for the year. We hope that this is just the beginning of even greater accomplishments, and that we continue to achieve increased fundraising growth to meet our organization’s mission of lifting Latina women through education, as well as supporting the needs of our communities. The scholarship committee worked hard to assess and select the recipients of this year’s awards totaling $3500! Every year, we are impressed by the quality and caliber of the applicants. This is a very difficult task for the scholarship committee, wishing we could provide support for all our young Latina scholars applicants who are currently pursuing higher education. We have been fortunate to count on additional financial support by some of our members who increased giving after participating in the scholarship committee and seeing the impact of their generous gifts. We thank you for that and invite others to follow their lead! Another accomplishment for our members has been the partnerships and collaborations we’ve developed with our friends at Casa de Puerto Rico in San Diego and Orange County Children’s Therapeutic Arts Center (OCCTAC), as well as with Rocio Delgado’s outstanding support giving art lessons, and Marian Hurtado’s generosity with her photography in documenting our events. Also, thanks to our president, Gloria San Miguel, our membership has reached record numbers in recent years! We welcome our new members, and give kudos to all of the members of our committees! This newsletter will provide more details for you and pictures of our fabulous 2023 year. The best is yet to come! We have more goals and projects planned for 2024, so stay tuned, and active!
Happy HolidayS 2023 PAGE 1