Events for October 5, 2023 - September 7, 2023

Option, Inc invites you to join us in supporting Healthy Relationships.  Many local service agencies will be in attendance.  Drawing for various gifts.  $12 per ticket.  Purchase per ticket gets you a green chile burger that will be homecooked by the Lea County Sheriff's Department, chips, drink, and a dessert and several opportunities to win any of our donated raffle items.  All proceeds go to benefit Option Inc.  Need not be present to win.  Free to attend to the public.

Please help us honor America’s first inhabitants and Tribal Nations as we celebrate and recognize Indigenous Peoples Day. We will learn about the Tribal Nations that make up New Mexico and make some memorable projects to take home.

Register a Service Project Here! https://forms.gle/Nxzd4b3FDzCdnc8z9 Day of Caring is a powerful way for United Way of Lea County to join forces with companies and individuals to create action across our county. It is a day that underscores how essential volunteers are to making a difference in our community. Our volunteers complete projects that agencies may not have the ability to complete on their own. Day of Caring kicks off Saturday, October 15th at 8am. Deadline to register a service project will be September 15th.   Join us as we ignite the spirit of community collaboration, giving, and civic engagement to improve the lives of those in Lea County. If you are interested in registrering to volunteer or registering a team, please contact Marcus Sparenberg at campaign@uwolc.org or 575-964-3040

Celebrate and learn what has built our Lea County Community!

David Caffey and Chasing the Santa Fe Ring: Power and Privilege in Territorial New Mexico Join us for an evening of discussion with author David Caffey about the "rings" of men who collaborated to use the powers of wealth and government for their own enrichment in NM in the late 1800s. Chasing the Santa Fe Ring During the Gilded Age, from about 1870 to 1900, great enterprises were built, fortunes were made, and opulent lives were lived. One of the features of the day was the appearance of “rings”�"combinations of men who collaborated to use the powers of wealth and government for their own satisfaction and enrichment. The Tweed Ring in New York was the first to attain fame for its corruption, but the term was soon applied to cliques across the country. In the West, no alliance was more enduring or broad in its ambitions than the Santa Fe Ring in New Mexico. David L. Caffey set out to examine the who, what, why, and how of the Santa Fe Ring, producing a book, Chasing the Santa Fe Ring: Power and Privilege in Territorial New Mexico, which he will discuss through this illustrated lecture. David Caffey David L. Caffey grew up in Abilene, Texas, and became enthralled with New Mexico’s history in twelve summers on staff at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Colfax County. He later lived in New Mexico for thirty-three years, serving as Director of the Harwood Museum in Taos, and later in administration at San Juan College and Clovis Community College. His forthcoming book, When Cimarron Meant Wild: The Maxwell Land Grant Conflict in Colorado and New Mexico, will be published by the University of Oklahoma Press in spring, 2023. He and his wife now live in Lubbock, where they are watching a little girl grow up.