DBF Board Member, Sue Johnson, Named by Baylor University as an Agent of Change

Sharing Knowledge

By Eric Butterman

Published in the Spring 2022 Baylor Business Review, Volume 40, No.2

Sue Johnson already had an incredible career, working for companies such as Accenture and Apple, when she realized something was missing.

“I was working in Latin America so much of the time, having a ball, but I needed to connect in a different way with my work,” she said.

Eventually, she entered the world of education. After an operations manager position with Ravenswood Education Foundation, she now finds herself as the managing director of Silicon Valley operations at Able Works, changing lives—including her own—through the experience.

Please click here to read the entire article.

Merry Christmas 2021 from DBF: Our End of Year Update

December 2021

Dear Friends of Dénia Bridges:

It's been a long two years of reacting and adapting to unprecedented challenges at Colegio Alfa & Omega. Starting with the initial lock down and closing school, then quickly deploying technology for remote teaching while losing all of the long term volunteers and short term mission teams, it has been quite a journey. But we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And through it all, we continued to see God's blessings exemplified by a super-inspiring letter from a recent Alfa & Omega graduate and devoted Christ-follower. She wrote this about her transformational experience at the Colegio:

"Today I am a Christian despite not being raised in a Christian household. Until I was eight, God was not a part of my life.  It wasn’t until I met groups of Americans who came to Alfa on mission trips that I became aware of Him. They spoke of a God who saved them and loved them unconditionally....Today I can see clearly how God used these Americans to find me. Thanks to these mission teams, I became part of this great Christ-centered community."

Stories like these are why the faculty and staff work as hard as they do. It's why we at DBF do what we can to support their mission. And it's why we all love Alfa & Omega and the Trinity church in Dénia so much!

Please read Carla's entire letter, here.
 
Meanwhile as we are all learning to live with the pandemic and the new normal, the faculty and staff at Alfa & Omega have been busy preparing for our return. Although the pandemic continues to provide daily challenges, somehow Eunice and her team have found time to make needed improvements that we will all be able to enjoy as we make our way back to Dénia. Through your donations to DBF, the school has been able to replace the ceiling in the dining room as well as completely renovate the volunteer area. And the plans are to use additional DBF donations to fund a Greenhouse curriculum in 2022 that will vividly illustrate how God accomplishes his plans through nature. 

While sadly Sue and I had to cancel our plans to travel to Dénia during the pandemic as many of you did as well, we are planning to venture back this May along with fellow DBF board member JuneAn and her husband, Kevin, We sincerely hope that you do the same as soon as you can. Our beloved friends in Dénia need you there. Eunice, Hugo, the faculty and staff and the children at Alfa & Omega are ready for you.

On behalf of the DBF board,

I wish you hope, peace, joy and love this Christmas season.

Scott Johnson

President, Dénia Bridges Foundation

DBF's Summer 2021 Update

Ready for the Challenge!

ALFA & OMEGA PRIMARY STUDENTS ENJOYING A BEACH EXCURSION

July 2020

Dear Friends of Dénia Bridges:

Last September, Colegio Alfa & Omega began the school year with strict pandemic restrictions, regulations and rules that changed on a weekly basis all year due to high rates of Covid-19 infections in Dénia.

Facing immense challenges,  we chose the motto: “READY FOR THE CHALLENGE”.  The motto was inspired by Isaiah 43:19: 

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

Having just finished the year successfully, we are grateful to report that indeed we overcame the various challenges and in spite of all the restrictions, gave our children the following opportunities:

• Both face-to-face and remote instruction

• Extra-curricular activities

• Field trips to the countryside, beaches and castles

• Our beloved traditional Christmas pageants

• Our American Thanksgiving celebration

• Graduation in May

And through it all, we kept our students, faculty and staff safe from Covid-19 infections on our campus. 

All we can say is Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.  

Now we are busy preparing for the new academic year with Hebrews 12:2 firmly in mind:

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus,
on whom our faith depends
from beginning to end.

Many blessings from the Lord to you and your families!   

Eunice Pastor Sendra
Head of School, Colegio Alfa & Omega
Board Member, Dénia Bridges Foundation

DBF Donors Provide Funding to Renovate the Volunteer Area

Due to several changes in local regulations, Colegio Alfa & Omega’s plans to add the two year baccalaureate curriculum have been delayed unfortunately. However in the interim, the leadership will continue to move forward with the project by renovating the living area for the volunteers who come to serve at the Colegio and who will ultimately serve the future baccalaureate program as well. Donations from the DBF community will help provide a significant part of the funding for the renovation.

Over the years, the international volunteer program has served as a fundamental pillar of Alfa & Omega’s ministry. The volunteers who come from all over the world, have delivered their time, energy, talents and gifts to serve the Alfa & Omega community and help build the kingdom of God in Dénia. Volunteers are cared for in a special way with pastoral discipleship, individually and collectively. They return to their homes and communities of faith, renewed and with lives transformed.

The volunteers serve in a variety of important ways at Alfa & Omega including facilities maintenance, gardening, cooking, cleaning and supporting teachers in the classroom. The service that they provide allows Alfa & Omega to deliver a high-quality Christ-centered education at a reasonable cost.

The renovation includes new windows, new floors, new bedrooms and improvements in the bathrooms. One of the most popular improvements for the volunteers will be the addition of air conditioning in their common area along with a new refrigerator.

Once it is possible to move forward with the baccalaureate curriculum, the volunteers will play a key role in the success of the new program just as they have in the primary and secondary programs. Investing in a better space for the volunteers today will help lay a strong foundation for the Baccalaureate program in the future. We will keep you up-to-date as the project progresses.

Staying Strong in the Midst of the Pandemic! - End of Year Update

PHOTOS FROM CHRISTMAS 2020 AT COLEGIO ALFA & OMEGA

Denia Bridges Foundation Christmas Newsletter
By Scott Johnson, President of DBF

Dear Friends,

Colegio Alfa & Omega's theme this year is "Fuertes y Valientes", Strong and Brave in English. We at DBF are constantly amazed by how effectively faculty and staff have met the challenges of the pandemic using innovation and creativity. They are keeping their students safe and healthy and at the same time maintaining the school's high retention rates. While Alfa & Omega continues to provide the remote learning option for students, it is able to hold all classes on campus currently. And the school is providing a full schedule of the after-school music and foreign language classes for which the school is known.

However, the pandemic and the resulting economic hardship for families have created difficult challenges for all schools. Simultaneously, operational costs have increased while overall revenue has decreased.

Reacting to these challenges has kept Alfa & Omega’s leadership team focused on stabilizing operations and has put all but the most urgent repairs on the back burner for now.

In light of the current climate, we ask that you would consider supporting Alfa & Omega's increased operational costs. Next year, we plan to resume our efforts to fund facility upgrades.

On behalf of DBF's board, thank you as always for your prayers and your faithful support for Christian education and youth development in Spain!

And may the wonder of that first Christmas,
the joy of God's abundant blessings,
and the peace of Jesus' presence
be with you always.

Letters to America from Alfa Students during the Pandemic

The pandemic has affected the international cross cultural component of Colegio Alfa & Omega’s curriculum. Several Alfa & Omega students have sent beautiful letters to their friends in the US who they have missed seeing this year.
Please click here to see the letters.

Alfa & Omega Makes Badly Needed Repairs in the Dining Hall

With the help of a generous donation made through the Dénia Bridges Foundation, Colegio Alfa & Omega recently rebuilt the roof and ceiling of the Bob and Barbara Crider dining hall on its Dénia campus. For more information and a video please click here.

DBF Holds First CafeChat with Alfa

On August 26th, Dénia Bridges held its first town hall-style CaféChat with Alfa virtually via Zoom. Jorge and Eunice gave an update on the tremendous progress Colegio Alfa & Omega is making in spite of the unprecedented challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. For more, please click here.

Colegio Alfa & Omega Begins Series of Facilities Improvements

With the help of a generous donation made through the Dénia Bridges Foundation, Colegio Alfa & Omega recently rebuilt the roof and ceiling of the Bob and Barbara Crider dining hall on its Dénia campus. It is truly heartening to see the hall filled once again with young voices and big smiles even at a social distance.

The first Alfa students enjoying the renovated dining hall!

Here is a video tour of the renovation project.

The ceiling and roof renovation project is the first in a series of urgently needed improvements to Alfa’s facilities that DBF will be helping to fund in a significant way over the next two to three years. Additional areas of investment include improvements to accessibility capability and housing for future volunteers coming to the school.

Alfa’s leadership is preparing detailed proposals for the required funding that we will publish in our Christmas newsletter in early December 2020. As always thank you for your prayers and your financial support for our beloved light that shines brightly from Dénia on the shores of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.

DBF Holds First CaféChat with Alfa

On August 26th, Dénia Bridges held its first town hall-style CaféChat with Alfa virtually via Zoom. Jorge and Eunice gave an update on the tremendous progress Colegio Alfa & Omega is making in spite of the unprecedented challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. We all enjoyed seeing some familiar faces from folks from all around the US and it was especially nice to see and hear Jorge even as God blesses him with improving health.

CaféChat Participants

The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly presented challenges for us all and may continue to do so for a longer period than we all want. It is so reassuring to know that the Colegio Alfa & Omega continues its mission started some 40 years ago providing Christ-centered education to the children of Spain. As an example, it was heartening to see the recent renovation of the new dining hall knowing that one day soon it will be filled once again with young voices and big smiles.

Please know that the Dénia Bridges Foundation will continue to support the school and welcomes your questions and assistance. We look forward to hosting more of these calls in the future.

Colegio Alfa & Omega Wins First Prize for Valencia in European Smoke-free Class Competition

Colegio Alfa & Omega’s ESO 1 Campaign Against Smoking

For the second year in a row, Colegio Alfa & Omega wins first prize - Valencian Community - in the annual European smoke-free class competition. Started in Finland in 1997, this is an annual school-based European smoking prevention project whose overall goal is to reduce smoking in youth. More than 600,000 European students participate in the competition each year.

Research has shown that there is a strong positive correlation between the age of starting to experiment with cigarette smoking and the probability of becoming a regular smoker. Therefore the principal aims of the smoke-free class competition are to delay or prevent the onset of smoking and the reduction or cessation of cigarette smoking in students who have already experimented with smoking.

The general rules are (a) the classes decide to be a non-smoking class for a duration of six months; (b) the classes themselves as well as the teachers monitor smoking status of the pupils and report on it regularly; (c) regular smoking is not accepted; and (d) if pupils experiment with smoking once, the class can still participate in the competition.

Classes also create and present their own anti-smoking campaigns as a part of the competition. And from being confined at home, Alfa & Omega’s ESO 1 class together with their music and ethics teachers have made this great video clip, Congratulations to all!

Colegio Alfa & Omega Featured on Valencian TV

On June 14th, 2020, a film crew from TV Valenciana ( À Punt TV) came down to Denia from Valencia and interviewed Eunice on the campus of Colegio Alfa & Omega. The interview aired the following Sunday, June 21st on the program, DÉU DE LA TOTS (God in all) and featured a discussion with Eunice about Alfa & Omega’s Christian philosophy and how the school is coping with Covid-19. Following Eunice’s interview, Jorge added a message highlighting the current status of the Protestant church in Spain. The reception has been surprisingly strong to DÉU DE LA TOTS which is the first broadcast television program delving into Protestant topics, Click here to watch the interview which starts at around 6 minutes and 30 seconds through the program. The interview is in Valenciano but Spanish and English closed captioning is available.

DBF's 2020 Mid Year Update!

DBF’s April 2020 Board Meeting via Zoom

Denia Bridges Foundation Summer Newsletter
By JuneAn Lanigan, DBF Director - California
 
Greetings from California!  On behalf of the DBF Board, we pray that you are all doing well and that you and your loved ones are healthy and safe.  As is often said, these are certainly unprecedented times!
 
I came across a statement by Juan Vincent Gambuto (writer / director) which I found very insightful and inspiring. I hope you do as well.  Juan writes of COVID-19 -
 
… It is the greatest gift ever unwrapped.  Not the deaths, not the virus, but The Great Pause.  It is, in a word, profound . . . What the crisis has given us is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see ourselves and our country in the plainest of views.  At no other time, ever in our lives, have we gotten the opportunity to see what would happen if the world simply stopped.  Here it is.  We’re in it.
 
What I see is human compassion and kindness.  I see respect.  I see support.  I see acceptance of ourselves and others in the face of our unhidden strengths and weaknesses.  I see an opportunity to not go back to the way things were but to craft a better life, a better community, a better world.  I will gladly give up my excess for simplicity. I will be both frugal and generous with my possessions. I will invest more time and energy in friends and family.  I will leverage what I have learned of my co-workers and friends during this time to continue to build authentic relationships. I will enjoy the great outdoors with new appreciation and smell every flower.
 
Colegio Alfa & Omega has shifted beautifully to meet the needs of the students, parents, staff, and community during this time.  Primary and secondary online instruction is just one of the many ways they were able to react quickly, which entailed launching a new technology platform and teaching curriculum.  Students and staff have also blessed the front-line workers with appreciation through hand drawn pictures, written letters, and choreographed videos.  These small, continuous, heartwarming acts of service provide a living example of Christ in the community.
 
Several California Bay Area DBF Board members, along with The Kings Academy students and chaperones, were anxiously awaiting our trip to Denia at the end of March. However, as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded, travel prohibited, and countries put under government restrictions, our plans quickly dissolved. With heavy hearts, we gathered together to pray for each other, and seek wisdom and guidance on next steps.  This brought new hope!  We agreed to consider this disruption as temporary and began making plans, God willing, for our visit in 2021!
 
We are also building partnership with Menlo Church, in Menlo Park, CA, and hope to engage members of the Young Adult community to partner in Colegio Alfa & Omega’s volunteer program next year.  With many college age students considering a “gap year”, and young adults considering their next career steps, this is a perfect opportunity for them to participate in the program, experience comradery with peers from other countries, and grow spiritually while providing valuable support to the school.
 
I leave you with anticipation and excitement for the future, and blessings for today,
 
JuneAn

The Current Situation in Déñia by Jorge Pastor

Jorge describes how Colegio Alfa & Omega and the Trinity Church in Dénia are coping with the pandemic. Please click here  to read the update.

Thoughts on Faith and Covid-19 by Felix Ortiz

Felix Ortiz of Campus Crusade Spain (Agape) delves into his own  faith journey during the time of the Corona virus. Please click here. 

Colegio Alfa & Omega opens its online instruction to all Students in Spain!

Please click here for details.