Tia Foundation

In case you missed it or don’t live in Arizona, you can still see Laura interviewed on Horizonte.  The show, hosted by Jose Cardenas,  airs every Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. on Arizona PBS Channel 8.

Catch the show tonight to see one of Laura’s friends, Mark Walker, discuss the AFP/Hispanics in Philanthropy Event which Laura attended yesterday.  Mark Walker is the new Vice President of Development for Make-A-Wish Foundation International and Member at Large at AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals).

The AFP Luncheon was followed by a stimulating panel discussion, featuring:

• Belen Gonzalez, Grants Manager, Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, “Women’s Giving Circles.”
• ErLinda Tórres of ALAC, Advocates for Latino Arts & Culture Consortium , Inc.
• JP Dahdah, President of Entrust and the Advance Guatemala Foundation.
• Patricia Lewis, ACFRE, Senior Professional-in-Residence, ASU Lodestar Center

If you miss seeing Mark tonight, you can watch him online by going to Horizonte’s web site.

We will all be shopping for the holidays, but with a tighter budget this year.  With GoodShop.com, you can buy your gifts and make a donation without spending an extra penny. Helping someone else is the very best cure for the Economic Blues.

Plus, you will shopping at the same places you would shop anyway: Toys R Us, Amazon, Apple, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, HP, Barnes and Noble, Sephora, Sears, Macy’s, PetSmart.  You can even buy gift cards or e-gift cards at the stores or through American Express.  Some stores allow you to buy online and pick up at your local store!

It takes just a few seconds to go to www.goodshop.com, select your charity (we hope you choose Tia Foundation), and then click through to your favorite store and shop as usual.

To give you a sense of how the money can add up, the ASPCA has already earned more than $17,000!

Also, Yahoo has teamed up with GoodShop’s sister site, GoodSearch.com, to donate a penny to your cause every time you search the web. This is totally free as the money comes from advertisers.

Please tell 10 friends about GoodShop and GoodSearch today. They’ve been featured in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Oprah Magazine and more.

Charities need our help to spread the word now more than ever!

P.S. Tia Staff uses GoodShop to make all our travel arrangements with sites like Travelocity, Expedia, Cheap Tickets and others.  We buy all our office supplies thru Office Depot, Staples, Office Max and Sam’s Club.  We always check GoodShop first before buying anything!

Confirmed cases of Dengue Fever now number in the thousands in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, though some estimate suspected cases as high as 25,000+ and the season is far from over.  Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever cases, the more serious strain, comprise more than ten percent of all reported cases.  During a normal 52 week year, Jalisco sees an average of less than 2,000 cases.  Unfortunately, cases are popping up in areas that do not normally see Dengue activity.

There is no cure and no vaccine to prevent Dengue.  The best defense is to eliminate places where mosquitoes like to breed, properly apply mosquito repellent, and use screens to prevent mosquitoes from entering homes.  Any standing water containers should be removed and cleaned to eliminate the mosquito eggs and larvae.

Tia staff (Laura and Kate)  currently in Mexico liberally applies strong mosquito repellent and follows all the recommended guidelines.  Our Community Health Workers (Promotoras) also have received thorough education, thanks to UAG’s PMC brigades,  in preventative measures as well as how to care for Dengue patients and how to identify when a patient needs escalated care.  Our partners at UAG’s clinics, hospitals and PMC brigades are working tirelessly to offer excellent care to all those afflicted.

We hope that our friends here in Mexico at UAG, Global Vantage, ITESO, etc.  recover quickly and stay well!

One of our new Mexican Board Members, Monica Garibay Fernandez del Valle

As of Wednesday, August 5, 2009, the Tia Foundation is registered as a non profit organization in Mexico. The news came a month after official papers were submitted, making Tia now officially known as Fundacion La Tia in Mexico!

This registration enables us to accept tax deductible donations from Mexican citizens and employ full time staff in Mexico, as well as receive other benefits available only to registered non profits. In addition to these substantial benefits, being registered in Mexico makes Tia eligible for several international grant programs, and will greatly increase the credibility of Tia in Mexico.

Thank you to all of our board members in Arizona for their support during this process. And a very special Thank you and Welcome to our new Mexican board members: Monica Garibay Fernandez del Valle, Antonio Dominguez Perez and Eduardo Barron!

Tia’s President, Laura Libman, will be taking a six week medical leave of absence beginning Monday, August 10th.  During this time, Wynona Heim will serve as Acting Director of the Tia Foundation. Wynona began her career with Tia as an intern during the summer of 2008 before going on to complete her Masters in Global Affairs and Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in December.  While at Thunderbird, Wynona was active in the International Development Association, and emphasized international economic development during her studies.

She has further increased her expertise in our practices by serving on the fundraising committee for the past year, and being an all around volunteer resource for Tia.  She brings with her not only an outstanding educational background, but two years of experience as a rural Emergency Medical Technician, and an additional five years of administrative and IT/data management experience prior to her Masters degree.

Although Laura will be severely missed during this time, Tia is lucky to be left in the very capable hands of Wynona Heim.

Tia Foundation President Laura Libman, along with five other alumni, was recognized at the Thunderbird School of Global Management’s Homecoming Weekend on March 5-8, 2009. Laura received the Global Citizenship Award as recognition for her outstanding work towards social justice. She is extremely grateful for this acknowledgment of her passion and work towards sustainable development practices.

Homecoming award winners, from left, Edgar Sanchez Wilke ‘03, Robert Dudley ’79, Laura Libman ’05, Rich Mackney ’77, Bernadette Martin ’84 and Harry Cockrell ’73 stand with Thunderbird President Ángel Cabrera, Ph.D.  You can read more about the winners in the Summer issue of Thunderbird Magazine.

Laura Libman, Tia’s President and Founder, was a featured guest last week on Horizonte. In addition to explaining the work and mission of Tia, Laura discussed the role self-development plays in the reduction of cross-border immigration and how the H1N1 Virus has affected Tia’s project schedule.

You can view Laura’s interview online at: http://www.azpbs.org/horizonte/detailvid.php?id=577

Horizonte, Eight’s weekly public affairs program, focuses on Arizona issues through a Hispanic lens and is hosted by José Cárdenas, senior vice president and general counsel of Arizona State University.

Be sure to watch Horizonte on PBS TV at 7:30 pm on Thursday, July 23^nd to see Laura Libman speak about the Tia Foundation!

Please tune in this Thursday night to Arizona PBS on channel 8, to watch our founder Laura Libman present the Tia Foundation to the greater Phoenix area.  We are so excited that Tia has this opportunity to make such a personal connection to the local community by appearing on this outstanding local prime-time public affairs program!

Laura will be speaking about the exceptional work Tia does in more detail, how the Swine Flu has affected our next launch date, and the relationship between self-development and cross border immigration. Please encourage your friends to watch the show this week as well, so that we can introduce as many people to the Tia Foundation in this forum as possible.

If you don’t live in Arizona, but would like to see a recording of the broadcast, check out Horizonte’s website at http://www.azpbs.org/horizonte/index.php a day or so after the show.

As always, thank you for being a supporter of the Tia Foundation!

The Tia Foundation is one step closer to becoming a registered non profit organization in Mexico!  The registration papers were signed on July 3, 2009 in Zapopan, Jalisco and have been submitted to the necessary authorities.  Soon we will officially be functioning as Fundacion “La Tia”.  Three of our new Mexican board members were present, Monica Garibay Fernandez del Valle, Antonio Dominguez Perez and Eduardo Barron (in picture), as well as our President, Laura Libman.

Becoming a registered non profit organization in Mexico will lead to numerous benefits for the Tia Foundation.  Once the papers are finalized, we will be able to officially hire a full-time medical director.  This will greatly increase the credibility of Tia in Mexico and will also make it possible for donations in Mexico to be tax deductible.  Grant opportunities as well as product pricing benefits will also increase as a result.  This is a huge step forward in Tia’s development!