New Mexico Board of Directors for 2010 are,left to right, Natalie Newton-Benavidez - secretary
Margaret Kegel - vice President
Dan Nava - President
Mary Louise Romero-Battencourt - vice president
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UPDATE: GNG is preparing for the coming school year for two new classes. We, as a new chapter to GNG are very lucky to live in such a caring community. We owe a special thanks to Danny Gonzales, for donating time to help teach. His assistance was greatly appreciated not only by us here at GNG but by the students who learned from him.
We also would like to thank Agua Fria School for helping us launch GNG in their after school program. Mario Montoya was instrumental in getting GNG into the school. We also appreciate every single person who has donated to GNG.
A person's generosity is not determined by dollar amount; it is the donation itself that is meaningful. We also appreciate everybody's kind words of support. Your words have been motivating to all of us and we know that our kids who are our future will benefit from the generosity of the community
Denise Nava
Our 1st Graduation
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Graduation Cake
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 Mayor Proclaims Guitars not Guns Day in Santa Fe. |
Graduation Cake |
We had our first graduation on May 29, 2008. It was great to watch these kids progress from week to week. The best payoff was hearing from the teachers that they saw a difference in the kids after only 3 weeks.
Mayor David Coss was there to proclaim Guitars Not Guns Day. Also attending our graduation was Henry Valdez, District Attorney, Chief Eric Johnson, Santa Fe Police Department and Sgt. Vanessa Pacheco, Santa Fe Sherrifs Dept. We also invited the 5th grade class as well as friends and family to our students. We started our program with a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. After talking briefly about GNG and our chapter, we had our students perform 3 songs joined by the instuctors as well as Deanne Nava on drums. We look forward to many more graduations.
Denise
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L-R(-front) Dan Nava - Denise Nava - (back) Debbie Romero - David Nava.
http://www.My Space.com-
photo left to right: Pamela Martinez, George Adelo, Julia Castro and Dan Nava. |
New Mexico started a new class. To join a future class e-mail Denise.
Denise Nava
690-5945.
My Space has been updated.
MY Space NM |
New Mexico looks to the future. Well, we're hoping to start with ten students. I think that is a reasonable goal to work toward. I would like to see that happen by May. Our big time goal is start chapters in other counties. We have had a lot of positive feedback from the community, even though our outreach to the community has been minimal.
I have met Nancy Laughlin, who is in charge of the New Mexico Music Commission, and she was very receptive to GNG. One of our state board members is also on the commission who is also a musician and attorney and he also seems very enthusiastic about GNG. Candy sales has also generated a lot of questions about the program from musicians to parents who have inquired how to get involved.
One of our board members owns a restaurant and that has worked out well for us! Warehouse 21, a non profit which is dedicated to youth and the arts has been our best ally; they are very willing to help in any way and seem just as interested as we are in seeing GNG succeed. The College of Santa Fe has given us the use of their facilities free of charge. They have also allowed me to sit in on a business class which for the next three weeks is specifically geared towards non profits. One of our local music stores would also like to play a role in GNG's success as well as a radio station I have had a brief conversation with. All of this without really doing any aggressive outreach to the community.
Once we have filled out our paperwork to the Attorney Generals Office we will really turn things into high gear. That paperwork is a bit confusing, but we believe that is our biggest hurdle at this time. I hope I have answered your question adequately. I'm sure your goals and guidelines will work out well. I can only ask for patience until we really have a good handle on what we're doing.
