Join us on Saturday, October 7 for a Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month Celebration! The event will take place from 12:00 – 3:00pm on FSA’s campus (parking lot and lunchroom). The event will feature a food truck, a vendor market, a new StoryWalk® created by FSA students and teachers, music, art, a bounce house, and more! This is a great time to enjoy community and fellowship while supporting Tres Jardines, a Latino-owned food truck, local Latinx artists and merchants, and Casa Alterna, a nonprofit organization serving the Latinx (and broader) community. FSA families and guests from the broader community are welcome to attend.
For more information, please contact Kristen Clayton, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
The Tres Jardines food truck will be on site from 12:00-3:00 pm. Cash, credit card, and Apple Pay are accepted.
12:00-3:00: Local Vendor Market
12:00-1:00: Live music from Mauricio Amaya
1:00-2:00: Read Aloud Story Time
2:00-3:00: Live Salsa Music from All Star Atlanta Players
You can also enjoy the StoryWalk® on your own at any time during the event. The StoryWalk® will remain up for at least a month following the event for further enjoyment.
This year during Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month (and all year long!) we are showing our support for Casa Alterna.
Casa Alterna offers hospitality to individuals fighting for asylum and against deportation. Since 2020 they have hosted asylum-seeking individuals from over 50 countries, with most of their current residents coming from Venezuela. Director Anton Flores-Maisonet, writes, “Martin Luther King, Jr. had a vision of the Beloved Community, a society marked by reconciliation and redemption where strangers become friends. The arrival of asylum seekers to Atlanta is an opportunity to build part of King’s beloved community with those in need of refuge.”
The Friends School of Atlanta, The Atlanta Friends Meeting, and Casa Alterna have a close relationship. In 2019, Anton accepted a residency with the Atlanta Friends Meeting. Casa Alterna currently operates out of the Atlanta Friends meetinghouse and a second location in Grant Park. During the 2021-2022 academic year, FSA middle school students prepared lunches for asylum seekers seeking hospitality through Casa Alterna. The 2022 Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month Celebration was planned in consultation with Anton Flores-Maisonet; and many attendees donated money and clothing to Casa Alterna. This year we are collecting non-perishable food items for Casa Alterna. We are collecting: Venezuelan corn meal (the brands P.A.N. or Masarepa, coffee, sugar, pancake mix, Corn Flakes, Mayonnaise, oatmeal, white rice, shelf-stable whole milk, diapers (newborn and size 1), and baby wipes. The school will collect these items from September 15- October 15; there will also be a donation box for these items at the event on October 7.
To learn more about the relationship between Anton Flores-Maisonet, Casa Alterna, and the Atlanta Friends Meeting, watch this video:
We are creating a new StoryWalk® to display on the East Decatur Greenway. To learn more about the StoryWalk movement, visit this site: StoryWalk® | Let’s Move in Libraries (letsmovelibraries.org)
Our new StoryWalk® will feature the book What Can You Do with a Paleta? ¿Qué puedes hacer con una paleta? This is a bilingual book written by Carmen Tafolla and illustrated by Magaly Morales.
As you stroll along the greenway, you will be able to read the book on signs dispersed throughout the path. You will also be able to scan a QR code on the signs to hear some of our students and teachers reading the book in both English and Spanish.
Mauricio Amaya
All-Star-Atlanta -Players
All-Star-Atlanta Players or ASAP Live Music is a co-op of Atlanta’s best musicians coming together to provide the highest quality in musical entertainment.