Passing the Torch: Farewell to Puente's Co-Founder and Executive Director Katherine Lorenz
By Pete Noll

Every four years, the world awaits the Olympic Games and looks for inspiration from its participants and their stories. What so few ever see or understand is the relentless discipline, passion, and vision that go into every day to make a dream into a reality. Katherine Lorenz achieved that reality at Puente a la Salud Comunitaria (Bridge to Community Health). She led Puente’s evolution from a student-run project into a dynamic, international not-for-profit organization. To date, under Katherine’s guidance and the talents of its 12-person staff, the organization has empowered 4,500 village women from 60 communities with...Read More.

Spreading the Word about Amaranth in Oaxaca City

This fall, Puente is adding a new twist to our traditional amaranth promotion work. In September and October, Puente will hold two amaranth cooking demonstrations to increase exposure of amaranth and the organization’s programs in the historic downtown center. While our mission is unwaveringly to serve the rural poor, Puente believes it will need to persuade the larger and wealthier community of Oaxacans to sustain the project on a long-term basis.

On September 18th, Kalindi Attar, Puente’s Marketing and Public Relations consultant, organized our first ever amaranth workshop at the Oaxaca Graphic Arts Institute (IAGO). The event included a dynamic presentation by Program Director Gabriela Blanco about Puente’s activities, the nutritional value and history of amaranth, and demonstrations on how to make alegrias, a local favorite amaranth snack. The event attracted nearly 100 people from the city and was a great success with high enthusiasm among attendees. In October, Puente will hold a photo exhibit displaying images of our program participants in rural communities at the Casa de Cultura, a well-respected museum and cultural center in Oaxaca City. The photo exhibit will be held over the entire month of October, culminating with a second cooking demonstration at the end. Puente is excited to rally the local urban community to the amaranth cause in benefit of their rural villages.

  Welcome Volunteers!

This year, Puente has been extremely fortunate to host a group of talented and committed volunteers. This summer, four dedicated volunteers, Ben Evans, Kerry McGuire, Jose Amat, and Diana Rodriquez, went the extra mile at Puente by leading various projects that supported our work. Volunteer projects have ranged from improving Puente’s volunteer program design to assisting in fundraising, translation, and research. Volunteers also have been extremely helpful to Puente’s field staff by assisting in amaranth workshops in rural communities. We would like to proudly thank these volunteers who dedicated four and five months over the summer to advance Puente’s mission.

In September, Puente welcomed a new group of five volunteers who will be with Puente for the next four to seven months contributing to projects related to monitoring and evaluation, fundraising, and research. We are excited to host the following volunteers this fall:

No two volunteer experiences are exactly alike, but we are pleased to share with you one of the many successful ones we had this summer. Check out Kerry McGuire’s testimonial and her reflections from this summer.