Good Deeds in Small Town America

Fábula Encinal, by Janet Eager Krueger

Friends of ours here at the blog do really nice work in the little Texas town of Encinal. The organization is Hecho en Encinal, and the artists do really good work. From the website:

Hecho en Encinal is the operating name of Art's For Everyone, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Encinal, Texas, a South Texas community located about 100 miles south of San Antonio and 40 miles north of Laredo. Our mission is to offer arts, arts education, and cultural activities to rural populations in South Texas by providing access to materials, to dialogue, and to the kinds of performers and exhibits that rarely stray from urban orbits.

Among the fundamental principles fueling our work at Hecho en Encinal is the idea that encouraging people to access and exercise their own creativity will lead to stronger, happier, and healthier communities...

Encinal is a very small, rural South Texas town. Like many rural towns across the United States, Encinal lacks what might be called a "cultural infrastructure." Put simply, kids here don't have access to the things their counterparts have access to--libraries, adult-led activities (like sports, boys, and girls clubs, and scouts), after-school clubs.

Hecho en Encinal has been seeking to fill these gaps by drawing in funding from outside of this extremely poor town; to date, we have provided after-school arts and writing clubs, coordinated the community creation of a magnificenttile mural , brought theater performances to town, and developed collaborative relationships with other cultural agencies (most notably, the Alexander Memorial Library in Cotulla).

If you're into making a donation to a lovely cause, please go here.

Or, if you're in the area, please pitch in the small sum for their raffle. The prizes are local, but go to what I promise you is a really nice cause - one of the best things about our country.

Hecho en Encinal Raffle Tickets are for sale--only $2 each...

The drawing will be held on Friday, August 1st at the premiere screening of 2 youth documentaries made this summer in Encinal: Quince (15) and No Importa Que...(No Matter What). The screening starts at 7 PM at the park in Encinal.

The raffle helps support Hecho en Encinal to provide arts, cultural and educational programs in Encinal, Texas.

Contact me if you'd like to buy raffle tickets and I'll pass along the word to the director (don't want to list her email openly online). And please explore Hecho en Encinal's site.