Event to advance tradition of SOU-Guanajuato exchanges
The 4th Annual Guanajuato Nights fundraiser will return to the Rogue River Room in SOU’s Stevenson Union on Nov. 10, and its organizers are on a mission to fuel more student exchanges between SOU and Universidad de Guanajuato.
The evening begins at 5 p.m. and will include dinner, silent and live auctions, music and other entertainment. Tickets are $55 each and can be purchased by calling (541) 261-7116 or emailing amigo@97520.net.
Guanajuato Nights – which raises money through ticket and auction sales – has helped the Amigo Club of Ashland accumulate more than $120,000 for a scholarship fund administered by the SOU Foundation. The event is supported on campus by SOU’s Office of International Programs.
The Amigo Club Endowed Scholarship Fund has also benefited from interest earnings, other Amigo Club fundraisers and a generous match from Guanajuato philanthropist Faffie Siekman, who is married to SOU alumnus and prominent Mexican Senator Juan Carlos Romero Hicks.
Five scholarships through the Amigo Club fund have been awarded over the past three years to students participating in the Amistad exchange between universities in Ashland and Guanajuato.
More than 1,000 students, faculty members and others have participated in exchanges since the program began in 1969 with a Sister City agreement between the two cities. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of that relationship.
The cooperative link between the two communities is unique, even though both Guanajuato and its university are much larger than Ashland and SOU. Several Guanajuato families have participated in exchange programs with SOU for three generations, and more than 80 marriages tying people from the two cities have resulted.
The Amigo Club serves as a citizen’s support group for the Ashland-Guanajuato Sister City arrangement. Those who wish to donate gift certificates, professional services or objects of value to the event’s auctions may contact the Amigo Club by email at amigo@97520.net. The club is a tax-exempt organization, and donations may qualify as charitable contributions.
Last year’s Guanajuato Nights fundraiser drew more than 120 attendees, including three Sister City leaders from Guanajuato.
