What this month’s newsletter covers:

• Construction is back with the Friends of Dat House build! Read our construction updates in this month’s Program Highlight.
• We’re recognizing our Summer Camp 2021 volunteers!  
• We’re learning about Basketry of Mexico in this month’s, ¡Corazón Classroom!

Program and Community Member Highlight 

Program Highlight

Friends of Dat

The Friends of Dat Group recently completed a house build in honor of Dat Hoang, who was a dedicated Corazón Blue Shirt, on July 31st. The group shared their build experience with our followers through live streams on our social media platforms.

Take a look at their build here:

Hand Sanitizer Donation from Franek Technologies

Franek Technologies recently made a large donation of hand sanitizer to our organization. We plan to provide hand sanitizer to our communities for their upcoming construction projects.

A BIG thank you to Franek Technologies for this donation!

Community Member Highlight

We’re recognizing all of our 2021 Summer Camp volunteers for their hard work in programming and implementing camp. This is the first time that any of our volunteers navigate a virtual summer camp for our community. However, their dedication and genuine care for the wellbeing and education of our students is what drove them to make this year’s summer camp a success. Our volunteers:

• Packed and delivered foods and materials to students
• Led virtual workshops
• Organized games such as loteria, futbol, frisbee
• Hosted a Summer Camp Graduation Ceremony for our students

We also want to thank our Summer Camp sponsors. Without their donations Summer Camp 2021 wouldn't have been possible. 

Tom and Nancy Mcmillen
Rich and Cristina Lincourt
Terry and Maureen Mackprang

Thank you to our Summer Camp volunteers and sponsors!

Latest News

Workshops

Our sewing workshop of the season will soon come to a close. Community members have been working on projects including pajamas, jackets, aprons, and soon their final project!

We have more workshops planned in September that we look forward to sharing with you soon!

¡Corazón Classroom!

Basketry of Mexico

Photo by Roberto Carlos Roman Don on Unsplash

Did you know Mexican basketry predates the domestication of crops? Basketry is one of the earliest crafts to exist in Mesoamerica and is unique to each region of Mexico as vegetation and materials available for baskets and basket-like crafts vary by region. Different materials used for basketry include: 

• Agave 
• Reeds
• Palms 
• Yucca and more

Three different types of basket items exist since Pre-Hispanic times:

• Flat items (such as petates)
• Basket items for storage (such as petacas)
• And the other for carrying (such as tenates with a mecapal)

(From left to right) Petate, Petaca, Mecapal

Learn about the symbolism behind petates:

Read about Mecapals (English translations available through Google):

Watch a time-lapse video on how a typical Mexican basket is made:

Thank you for reading our monthly newsletter. We hope that you and your loved ones have a happy August. 

Team Corazón

Donate to Corazón today!

Follow us on social media!

Sources: 

El mecapal. Genial invento prehispánico. (2016, September 5). Arqueología Mexicana. https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/el-mecapal-genial-invento-prehispanico

G. (2014, April 7). Cómo se hace una típica canasta fresera de carrizo [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=6&v=endVrnkuJ3A&feature=youtu.be 

Study the. . . PETATE. (n.d.). Mexicolore. Retrieved July 28, 2021, from https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/artefacts/study-the-petate

Photo by Roberto Carlos Roman Don on Unsplash