Announcements:
Ray asked what we wanted to do about a possible donation to Wreaths Across America. After discussion, it was decided to make a decision next week. Mark Richard said that our End Polio fundraiser earned $920. He would like the club to increase this
to $1,000. We also talked about local organizations to which the club might donate. Tom Bates brought up the Hunger Strike program. Art Thorn said he thought we should reevaluate this next year when we had more time to get involved. Tom asked that we keep thinking about who we want to support in global grants. Art said he liked the Guatemala water project and made a motion to donate money to the Guatemala water project. Kathy Eaton seconded. Discussion followed. Motion passed, and it had
previously been agreed to donate $1,000. Tom said he would make this commitment online. Maggie Callaway said it had been decided to do a Valentine’s Day dinner fundraiser on February 14, 2026 at Bear Mountain Lodge. Details will be provided later. Discussion followed about making The Commons the beneficiary of this fundraiser. Mark Richard’s concern was that the beneficiary should also sell tickets. Tom said he felt he could get a 

commitment from The Commons to do that.

 

Ray introduced Brian Stengel, director of Silver City Street Outreach. He thanked the club for inviting him to speak about the hot topic of homelessness. He said they are trying to move away from the term “homeless” because there is so much stigma around that. Some new vocabulary used is “precariously housed,” “couch surfing,” “houseless”. He shared his personal experience. His program is service, serving others who are trying to get sober and all unhoused folks. His outreach program started unofficially a couple of years ago with a member of The Commons making food bags and taking them into the homeless community. He started
New Mexico Recovery Coalition to legitimize the work he was doing. He shared his credentials with the club. He is a licensed substance abuse associate, a certified peer support worker, and
also in community support services. He said that bringing all his knowledge, background and experience into one place is easy for him but getting people off the streets is much more challenging. It has to do with systemic issues across the board with marginalization and criminalization of unhoused people. People can volunteer at their drop-in center where they can interface with people coming in for services. One of the gaps in services is no treatment for drug and alcohol abuse. The closest treatment center is Las Cruces. They have a program called Fast Track to Recovery, and Mr. Stengel personally transports people to Mesilla Valley Hospital in Las Cruces to get into the program. As soon as a client goes into the hospital, he begins working on after care for
when the client is released from treatment. This occurs after the client has come into their drop-in center which is open seven days a week (and which has now changed from a cooling center to a warming center). This center will be open all night when the temperature dips, which means more volunteers will be needed. The center is located at the corner of College and Arizona. Mr. Stengel then asked for questions.

After a question and answer period, the meeting was adjourned at 1:10 pm.