Regional Director’s Message

Warm fall greetings from the Northwest team at NPH USA. We’ve had a busy and wonderful few weeks celebrating the kids of NPH with so many of you at our recent events!

On October 24, we hosted a sold-out crowd of 350 NPH supporters at our annual Gala Dinner and Auction at Newcastle Golf Club. It was a wonderful night and with your support, we raised more than $275,000 for the children of NPH, including over $100,0000 for the NPH Seattle Institute during our Fund-a-Need auction! We welcomed the talented young dancers and musicians from NPH Nicaragua to share their cultural heritage and energy with us, and we were inspired by brothers Jacinto and Wilmer Arias Canel from NPH Guatemala, who shared their stories and wisdom with us. We also introduced our community to the 2015-16 Seattle Institute students, Alberto, Irene, Jonathan, Julio, Mirna, and Suyapa, who will be living and studying in Seattle until next summer. We lighted sparklers and candles to remember the children NPH supports and how we can help “spark the possibilities” in all of their lives. And we ended the evening dancing to the fun music of Brian DiJulio and the Love Jacks at our afterparty! We’d like to personally thank all of our guests, table captains, volunteers, and those who donated items for our auction and raffle for their incredible help. Special thanks to Kristen Kelly and Ralph Ermoian, Arena Sports, Krueger Sheet Metal, Belle Pastry, Girlie Press, glassybaby, Madison Cellars and the Golf Club at Newcastle for your sponsorship and support. Many thanks to Jorge Villamil Photography for the wonderful images from the Gala – you can view them online at: http://www.jorgevillamilphotography.com/nph2015gala.

After the Gala, we were fortunate to have the musicians and dancers and the National Director of NPH Nicaragua, Marlon Velasquez, stay with us in Seattle for another week to perform and share NPH’s work with many other local churches, businesses, and schools. Highlights included celebrating with the Seattle parishes of St. James Cathedral and St. Anne, who hosted our students during the week. We also visited longtime church partners St. Louise in Bellevue and Mary, Queen of Peace in Sammamish, who each hosted memorable Fiestas to welcome us into their communities. Our students enjoyed spending time at Eastside Catholic School and Bishop Blanchet High School (as well as St. Anne School), visiting and sharing about their lives with students here. And we are grateful to NPH supporters Pilar Gomez and Malu Septien Milan at Microsoft for hosting a lunchtime program with new and old NPH supporters there. Finally, the NPH students performed on KING 5’s New Day Northwest, and you can watch the full segment of their interview and performance in case you missed it! Thank you to all of our host families, parishes, schools, and others who helped organize and attend these fun and successful Pequeño Tour events!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families,

Katie Hultquist

Northwest Regional Director