QSSI provides relief to community members amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

December 10 New York, NY – In an effort to provide relief to its local community during the COVID-19 pandemic, non-profit organization the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute (QSSI) made a series of donations totaling over $33,000 to different educational and religious institutions in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan throughout this year.

“As a New York-based organization committed to advancing cultural appreciation of the Spanish-speaking world, we recognize the importance of collective support in our diverse communities, especially during these challenging times,” said Patrice Degnan Erquicia, Executive Director of the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute. “It’s in times like these that the QSSI must demonstrate a social responsibility to help our most vulnerable neighbors. This donation is unprecedented for a cultural institute like ours, but we see that now more than ever, every donation helps.”

One of the donation recipients was the Santa Rita de Cascia Parish in South Bronx, which was able to help low-income families with weekly distributions of food, personal care items and sanitary products for added protection against the virus.

“Initially, we were focusing our efforts to help families within our church congregation,” said Parish Priest Pablo González. “This quickly changed as word spread, and people from across the Bronx started reaching out for any help that we could provide. We’re grateful for the support from organizations such as the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute which allows us to lend a helping hand to as many of our neighbors and fellow community members as possible.”

Relief was also provided to educational institutions to increase access to remote learning as more schools and students struggled with abrupt transitions to e-learning.

The Brilla Public Charter Schools, a system of K-8 schools across the Bronx, used the donation to help provide internet connection and computers for students who would otherwise would not have had complete access to remote learning. To provide enriching content to students, a daunting task given the complexities of online learning, the QSSI partnered with Spanish author and journalist Guillermo Fesser to host a series of virtual read aloud presentations on his book Get to Know Bernardo de Gálvez  for third and fourth graders in the Brilla College Prep and Brilla Veritas schools. Participating students learned of the Hispanic hero’s many contributions to the United States during the Revolutionary War and received a free book copy.

Lastly, the QSSI granted $13,300 to the Hispanic Society of America Museum and Library Education Department to facilitate its Maps and Globes program to students. The program helps students between grades 9-12 gain practical knowledge of maps while teaching the history of Spanish heritage and geographical skills through their collection of both European and Latin American maps from the 16^th-19^th centuries.

With this grant, the Hispanic Society of America  adapted their curriculum to the current needs of schools and developed content workshops for teachers to lead these classes both in school and online.

“It’s an honor to be able to support our community in any way possible,” added Degnan Erquicia. “Pandemic relief and building cross-cultural understanding should go hand-in-hand. As an organization dedicated to building ties between the US and the Spanish-speaking world, we know that these bonds are built not only across countries and borders, but also in our immediate communities. Today more than ever, we must use our diverse cultural heritage as a tool to unite us throughout this crisis.”