Racial Harmony Mural

In January of 2021, Green Hope Project invited all talented, beautiful, diverse, and creative individuals to embrace their mediums and raise their voices through ART, ADVOCACY, ACTIVISM, and through our collective HOPE. The call was for artists to depict what they felt “Racial Harmony” meant to them. We received an outpouring of visual beauty and compassion! You can still see the Racial Harmony Gallery on our website, with the fantastic submissions we received.

Nearly a year in the making and 3 of the Racial Harmony contest winners are having their work turned into a mural! As we know, when hateful events happen in this world, initially, the community is full of raw emotion and demands immediate action. As time goes on, however, energies and interests can dwindle.

Our hope is that by placing these winning images in the community, in the most democratic manner of art- murals, they can serve as a constant reminder of how we should treat one another, regardless of skin color, background, sexual preference, or gender. This life is short. How do we want to spend it? Green Hope Project and our brilliant muralists have chosen to spend it by making life happier and more bearable for others.

You can see the progress throughout the next several weeks, as this mural goes up downtown at 601 S. El Paso Street. A HUGE thank you to the building owner, Jorge Hernandez, for allowing us the blank canvas & Downtown Management District for accepting our grant application and helping us to fund this meaningful message!

(If you would like to be listed on the wall as a donor, consider contributing $25 or more to Green Hope Project. If you would like to remain anonymous, we will honor that, as well. Complete this form first, so we can gather your contact information. At the completion of the form, you will be directed to a secure site with Paso del Norte Community Foundation to make your donation.)

Meet the Racial Harmony Art Team:

Blocking In

Caution, this is HOT!

While browsing on social media, I stumbled upon an ad that caught my eye. It was for a pan from Our Place called the Always Pan that boasts about it being 8 pieces of cookware in one. That, however, was not what caught my attention. What got me interested was the specs that mentioned its exclusive non-toxic, nonstick ceramic coating is made without potentially toxic materials like PFOAs, PTFEs, other PFAs, lead, cadmium, toxic metals, and nanoparticles. Cautious that it was a scam, I did some quick review searches online and it seemed to be legit. I bit the bullet and purchased a pan that was way more expensive than anything I’d normally buy ($145), just to see if it was worth it. It helped that they have sales often, bringing the price down to $99 sometimes. So here is my review, after using it for several months now. Spoiler- I liked it so much that I got a second one.

I love love love how smooth it is. I never have problems with anything sticking! Careful not to use metal utensils on this baby!

• It is such a beautiful and well-thought-out design. I truly believe that the little things you surround yourself with should bring you joy. Esp if it is something that you use on a daily basis! There are so many color options, but my favorite is the green one so far. GREEN Hope Project- go figure!

• It comes with a cool steamer basket, which I will prob never use in my life. Hah!

• I like that the lid fits on, yet there is still a small pour area, for when you want to keep larger things from slipping out of the pan while you pour.

• I like how the handle feels soft and velvety. I hate that some of my pans have handles you can’t touch when they’re hot, and you have to use a towel.

• The pan gets way hotter than my other ones and pretty quickly. Be careful not to burn anything!

• The bags that the items came packed in are compostable! Yay for companies that are trying to help the planet!

• The wooden spoon that it comes with isn’t my favorite. I find it to be too bulky and don’t like that it’s not coated as much as I’d like. I tend to have texture issues with bare wood though. Blegh!

• The weight of it is nice. Considering what it’s made out of, it’s not too heavy.

• The MOST important thing to me, however, is knowing that what the pan is made out of is safe. I often think of what we ingest that is unhealthy, without ever knowing it. Maybe I’m overly paranoid or maybe it isn’t all that they claim it to be, but I’d rather err on the side of caution than not.

Check them out yourself, if you want to know more: https://fromourplace.com/

Stay happy and healthy! Share some recipes with us, so that we can cook them in our pretty pans!

Mightynest

Mightynest is a pretty interesting website that we stumbled upon. The gist of it is, you sign up for a yearly subscription and they send you an eco-friendly product once a month. You can leave it up to them to decide what they send you or you can shop their website and customize your monthly deliveries. It ends up being about $11 a month if you get the subscription. The other option is to buy individual products directly from their website, rather than getting the monthly deliveries. It has been pretty fun being exposed to new products and being surprised when you open the box.

One thing that we have sampled so far has been wool dryer balls from New Zealand, acting as a substitute for dryer sheets. By using the dryer balls, you can add whatever essential oil you choose to them, they tumble and separate the clothes to allow better drying, and they are reusable (no more landfill waste!). Not too shabby!

The most recent box we received is something we've been eager to try- Unpaste Tooth Tabs! This nifty cleaner replaces the old, plastic tubes of paste for a glass container with pellets. Simply pop a tab in your mouth, chew, add a toothbrush with a little water on it to your mouth, and viola! No more need for plastic toothpaste tubes to pollute our landfills. Even better, the packaging for refills is compostable AND the unpaste is free of fluoride, bleach, and nasty microplastics! We love the way it makes our teeth feel after brushing! Definitely converted.

To explore this eco-friendly site for yourself, visit: mightynest.com