Often the story we hear from voices within and outside our community are the few voices of people telling us that our community is bad, scary or dangerous. My friends that is the opposite of the story I'm going to tell you. Today, I am going to tell you the REAL story of OUR community, the story of grit, strength, love, connectedness, caring, growth, unity and true determination in the face of adversity. You see the people telling the negative side of OUR story are not out here every day meeting the most amazing, caring and genuine selfless people in this community and seeing their selfless acts of love. Let's face it, a bad or negative story is always going to sell and get the most shares.
I grew up in this community and chose to stay here, as many of you have. There is NO place with more heart than Argentine and that has been on display this year more than ever. This whole summer Argentine Betterment Corporation (ABC) has worked tirelessly to restore community gatherings after a two-year hiatus. Our goal has always been to ensure we are serving the community’s needs in the process. Sunday, along with our Ciclovia event we celebrated back-to-school with free haircuts (barbers Cano, Helmer and Tiffany donated their time), a clothing closet (received tons of donations from community members, Premier Learning and American Legion Post 213, Women's Auxillary), plus we received backpacks and school supplies (from Premier Learning and American Legion Post 213, Women's Auxillary). During the event, Sunday upwards of 25 kids/teens got free haircuts and approximately 35 students were able to get clothing to start the school year off right! We hope to make an even more significant impact next year!
The outpouring of support this year has been extremely overwhelming, breathtaking, and humbling. We are so grateful for all the support whether it has been some form of physical/monetary donation, volunteering, sharing our events with people, and connecting us with other resources or attending the events. We are always happy to see smiling faces enjoying the events and gatherings and hope to see you at the next event!
A very special thank you to all our community partners and individuals that help make all this happen: The Hub Argentine, Snack Shack, Youth Front, KC Farm School at Gibbs Road, Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Caring Collaborative, Brian Perez, Candice Cruz, Ronie Green, Metro Fitness, The Zumba Program, Joanne Arevalos, ABC’s 2022 Youth Workers, American Legion Post 213 Women's Auxillary, all the vendors that join us during our events, ABC's Board of Directors, SWAN, VANA and countless others!
See you Sunday, September 11th for our next Ciclovia!
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