Verse of the Month

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.

In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33 NIV

Los Posadas Family Event

Families from Española and the surrounding communities experienced Las Posadas on the evening of Friday, December 19. This special event highlighted the Christmas tradition of the journey of Mary and Joseph as they searched for room for the birth of Jesus. Guests encountered special treats, crafts, and visitors during the event as attendees joined Mary and Joseph in seeking a place for the baby Jesus to be born! 

McCurdy Family Christmas Store

During the Christmas season, McCurdy Ministries opened a Family Christmas Store to bless families in the Española community. Families were invited to come and choose free gifts for their children. The children also had an opportunity to pick out a special gift for their parents or loved ones at the Los Posadas event on December 19th.

Our Maintenance ‘elves’ decorated a room in the Family Resource Center to truly become Santa’s Workshop with tables set up with gifts donated by churches, such as St. John’s UMC Albuquerque, Central UMC Albuquerque, and so many more. Families registered on the McCurdy website to receive a special Christmas invitation to visit the Christmas Store for two days in December. The Christmas Store was a wonderful way for families to have peace of mind and relieve the stress of providing gifts this Christmas.

Family Resource Center News

The Family Resource Center (FRC) continues to welcome many new families, especially this past November when SNAP benefits were lessened. We continue to develop incredible relationships with families, non-profits, and others in the community through the amazing work of the FRC staff who truly treat each person who walks through the door with grace, dignity, and respect. We continue to learn new systems and to adjust our processes and services to better serve the needs of families.

Last month, the United Women of Faith from Los Alamos First Church came to the FRC to help renovate and organize our Food Pantry after we received generous donations of food from multiple churches. In addition, the McCurdy Charter School kids are helping by having an ongoing food drive for the pantry.

In other news, the FRC welcomed a new part-time therapist, Diane Glass-Burkes, who comes to us with decades of experience working in psychiatric hospitals and clinics and who has a heart for working with children with trauma.

Another new part-time staff member is our FRC Food Pantry Director, Ru Stempien, who also serves as the Executive Director of Northern Youth Project. Ru brings a deep knowledge of food equity, best practices, and a heart for ensuring that families receive healthy and fresh food.

The FRC also welcomed Veronica Ramirez as the new part-time Director of the Diaper Bank. She works with Breath of My Heart Birth Center and Northern Youth Project. Veronica brings deep wisdom from working with indigenous mothers at Breath of My Heart.

It is so exciting and fulfilling to see the community nonprofit partners truly become part of the McCurdy Family and share such important wisdom with us.

Photo above: With the help of the Family Resource Center staff, this dear grandmother was able to get new hearing aids. 

Afterschool Program on ‘Pause’

After careful consideration and ongoing staffing challenges, we have made the difficult decision to pause the Afterschool Program beginning January 7. This decision was not made lightly. Our priority is always to provide safe, well-supervised, and consistent care for children. Currently, we do not have the staffing capacity to continue the program responsibly into the spring. We will use this pause to reassess staffing and program structure and to explore an Afterschool model for the next school year.  

LEER News

The LEER children’s literacy initiative is now providing Reading Buddies for second grade students at the James H. Rodriguez Elementary School in Española. This is an exciting time of ‘living into our heritage’ of education while expanding this gift to the community.

In addition, Little Libraries continue to pop up all over the Valley. It is exciting to see so many different groups building these works of art, from the youth group at the United Church in Los Alamos to the Boy Scout Troop #88 from Claremore First Methodist Church in Oklahoma.

The Enchanted Forest of Reading is now open on Tuesdays after school and on the second Saturday of the month. LEER also provided children’s books at the Fall Festival and for the Christmas Store.

The Enchanted Forest of Reading Children's Library is located in Kidspace and is open to the community:

• Tuesdays from 3:00 - 7:00 p.m.
• 2nd Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

McCurdy Awarded Trails Grant

We are thrilled to announce that McCurdy Ministries, in partnership with the Northern Youth Project (NYP), received a $49,500 Outdoor Recreation Trails+ Grant from the State of New Mexico. Initially, this grant will be used for a planning/engineering phase to look cohesively at our campus to see how we might enhance the trails, utilize our acequias, renew current remnants of the orchards, and begin a kid's garden as well as planting sustainably and educationally. NYP also planted a starter garden across from the Family Resource Center which is growing wheat and will become a wonderful garden in the spring!

The Light House Has a New Home

Thanks to the work of our maintenance staff (Manny, Ben, and Cosme), along with work teams and our Light House ‘angels’ (Angela Ortiz and Angel Hanrahan), the Light House clothing bank has officially moved to the former locker room in the Cole Community Center. This new space will provide easy access for our Family Resource Center families to ‘shop’ for clothing.

McCurdy History Note

By Edith Brown, McCurdy Historian

In 1987, for the 75th Anniversary of McCurdy Mission, a booklet was printed entitled, "A McCurdy Treasure Chest of Memories: 1912-1987”. The following Christmas memory was shared by Patty McCracken Wise, daughter of Superintendent and Mrs. Glen and Violet McCracken and 1947 graduate of McCurdy High School.

“In the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, it was a custom at McCurdy School to have a Christmas program in the gymnasium. All of the community was invited and everyone came, young and old. Now it was also a tradition to give a gift to each day student, since the boarders had already had their gifts and had gone home for the holidays. These gifts consisted of items which came from all over the country in mission boxes. The gift might be a towel and wash cloth or a comb and toothbrush, but every student received something which had been wrapped and stacked under the large Christmas tree.

Also, each child present went home with a luncheon size brown sack filled with a few Christmas goodies. Now these sacks were filled in our home, mainly by my brother Philip and me. First of all, each sack was opened and placed on any available surface throughout our house. Into each sack we placed ribbon candy, a few other pieces of hard candy, two or three old-fashioned chocolate drops and several English walnuts which were donated by a family in California. As I recall, most everything that went into the sacks was donated.”

And so, this spirit of Christmas giving continues at McCurdy Ministries, through donations of labor, love, prayers, and gifts!

Photo above: Superintendent Dr. Glen F. McCracken

McCurdy Article in "Response" Magazine

The United Women of Faith "Response" magazine featured a wonderful article about the Edith M. McCurdy Mission (now McCurdy Ministries) being designated as the official National United Methodist Historic Site #581 last October. We hope you will have the opportunity to read this wonderful article as it does a great job outlining the ministries currently on our campus.

Warm Hearts, Warm Clothes:

Children’s Clothing Swap

A free community clothing swap was held on the McCurdy campus on December 20. The event was hosted by the LANL Foundation, in partnership with the Rio Arriba Community Health Council (RACHC) and the McCurdy Ministries Family Resource Center.

Families were invited to select warm, seasonal clothing for children of all ages (infants through teens) at no cost. This event helped ensure every child would have what they needed to stay warm this winter and throughout the school year. 

Time to Register

2026 VIM Teams!

The start of the new year is often the time when Volunteer in Mission (VIM) teams begin making plans for the mission season. We hope you will prayerfully consider recruiting and scheduling a team to volunteer at McCurdy Ministries in 2026. As we have often said, VIM Teams can be large or small, young or old, as there is a wide variety of ways to serve this vital ministry.

We especially need volunteers:

• to help level books for the Forest of Reading;
• to sort and organize clothing for the Light House;
• to help in the food and diaper pantry;
• to help with the maintenance of campus buildings;
• to help with mowing and maintaining the campus green spaces; and
• to serve as a volunteer Librarian for the Enchanted Forest of Reading.

To schedule a volunteer team for 2026, please contact our Volunteer Registrar, Eufemia Romero, by phone at 505-753-7221, ext. 210 or by email at: eromero@mccurdy.org.

Become a McCurdy Ambassador

The McCurdy Ambassador Program is preparing to start in 2026! The first training for the program is planned for Saturday, February 21. There is still time to sign up for this exciting new program.

These new McCurdy Ambassadors will visit local churches in their area and display information at their respective Annual Conference Meetings. The shared information will help increase knowledge and support of McCurdy Ministries. We need people like YOU to help us continue to be the “light in the valley” for the children, youth, and families in the Española Valley.

If you are interested in learning more about this program or possibly volunteering to serve as a McCurdy Ambassador, contact Sarah Allen at 928-691-6471 or via email at s.k.allen2227@gmail.com.  

Financial Support for McCurdy Ministries

Financial contributions will help support our ongoing ministries and programs for the children, youth, and families of the Española Valley. There are two easy ways to provide financial assistance. First, simply send a check to:

McCurdy Ministries

362 S. McCurdy Road

Española, NM 87532

Or donate by visiting the online giving tab on our website: LINK https://www.mccurdy.org/give.

Donations may be designated for any specific ministries or programs on the notation line of your check or when donating online. Unspecified donations are applied to the General Fund which supports all expenses of McCurdy Ministries.

If your budget does not have room for additional giving, please check with your church, your United Women in Faith group, and/or your Sunday School Class to see if they would like to make a one-time or ongoing commitment to support McCurdy Ministries. 

Amazon Wish List

Another way to help support the vital programs for children is to purchase an item or two from the McCurdy Ministries’ Amazon Wish List. The registry includes needed items, such as toys, sensory items, cleaning supplies, snacks, paper goods, and school supplies. This is an incredible and practical way to help us in serving the children of Española.

McCurdy Wish List: LINK   

Donate Children’s Books

You also can purchase books online for the LEER Children’s Literacy Program with the Amazon book list that was created to help establish a leveled library. To purchase new books, go to:

Amazon Book Wishlist: LINK

New or gently used children’s books can be dropped off or shipped using USPS ‘media mail’ to: McCurdy Ministries, 362 S. McCurdy Road, Española, NM 87532.

Thank you for your generous support of all our ministries and programs!

QUESTIONS? Email Rev. Tiffany Hollums, Executive Director, at thollums@mccurdy.org. 

Join Us in Prayer

Each Day at 3:20 p.m.

As we move into 2026, McCurdy Ministries board and staff continue to seek God’s help and guidance in providing expanded resources, programs, and ministries for the children and families of the Española Valley. We hope you will join us in praying each afternoon at 3:20 p.m. seeking God’s direction for McCurdy Ministries in the new year.

Please join us in prayer using Ephesians 3:20 as a prayer guide.

Now all glory to God, who is able,

through His mighty power at work within us,

to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

As we seek God’s leading throughout this year, we readily recognize that God is providing answers far beyond what we might ever ask or imagine.

Cold weather and hot apple cider help bring families together around the fire at this time of year. Here is a recipe for a variation of this warm drink from McCurdy’s very own collection, Recipes of a Century Past, published in 2012 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ministry. The recipe was contributed by Ruby Brigham Anders, Class of 1969.

Hot Spiced Apple Cider

• 1 gallon apple cider
• 10 whole allspice
• Peel of 1 whole lemon
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 8 cinnamon sticks
• 16 whole cloves
• Peel of 1 orange
• Juice of 1 orange

Put all ingredients into a Crock-Pot at high temperature for 1-2 hours. Strain and discard spices before serving. Each cup may be garnished with a cinnamon stick.

John Wesley Covenant Prayer

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed by you or laid aside for you,

exalted for you or brought low for you.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

you are mine, and I am yours. So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

McCurdy Ministries creates hope and empowers the lives of children, youth, adults and families through education, life skills, and faith-based programs in Española, New Mexico.

As we begin a new year, may peace fill your world and may love fill your home. May everything you say and do reflect the Love of Christ in the coming months.

On behalf of the McCurdy Ministries Board and staff as well as the children, youth, adults, and families we serve in the Española Valley, we wish you and your family a most blessed and Happy New Year!

Blessings,

McCurdy Ministries Board and Staff

McCurdy Ministries creates hope and empowers the lives of children, youth, adults and families through education,

life skills and faith-based programs in Española, NM.

www.mccurdy.org