Wednesday, May 9, 2018

An Amazing Story

Did you know that one of Sheri Cully's students has just won Palomar's Excellence in Service Learning Award along with a $100 scholarship? 

With over 1,600 hours of community service in an 8-month period, Marisela Lopez's story is quite amazing. In class, she has been instrumental in helping her classmates with their current Service Learning Project, which is cultivating organic produce at the Fallbrook Community Garden to donate to a local food pantry. Outside of class, Marisela volunteers with putting together health fairs and mobile clinics through Vista Community Clinic and is a community liaison for people with housing, legal, and medical issues. 

In addition, Marisela and her husband, Ely Ortiz, the founder of the organization called "Aguilas del Desierto," put in countless hours searching for immigrants who have gone missing along the US/Mexico border. The grueling searches take place once a month and span the entire weekend. Here is the link to a PBS News Hour video featuring their work:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/volunteers-search-migrants-went-missing-trying-reach-u-s.

Marisela and her family are examples of true humanitarianism. We are all very proud to know her. 

Marisela has kindly lent us her project display board which showcases her volunteer work and can be viewed inside the ESL Tutoring Center on the main campus.    




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