Our annual fundraiser Tea Time with Crossroads went virtual this month after having to be cancelled last year due to the onset of the pandemic. Thanks to Zoom, Crossroads supporters were able to connect with one another and enjoy tea time from the comfort of their homes. Together, attendees raised over $5,000 to support Crossroads programs and operations!
Event sponsors New Mexico Tea Company, Annapurna’s World Vegetarian Cafe, and Flirting with Frosting provided beautiful take-home boxes filled with delicious tea and treats that attendees picked up to enjoy during the virtual event. Attendees enjoyed everything from traditional cucumber sandwiches and Battenburg cake to Plum Oolong and Albuquerque Breakfast Mix teas.
Over 40 people logged on this past Saturday, March 20, to participate in making origami tea cups, a live auction, and discussion about life after incarceration with a current Crossroads client. Thanks to the engagement facilitated by professional auctioneer Camille Romero-Melton the live auction raised more than double the amount raised in previous years!
Special thanks goes out to our fundraising committee and the local businesses that provided auction items this year, including: Farm & Table, Iron Shop Provisions, The Ivy Tea Room, Gold Cup Gymnastics, A Heavenly Taste Cakery, Kendra Scott, Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm, New Mexico Piñon Coffee, and Ten Thousand Waves.
The highlight of our Virtual Tea Time was hearing from 34-year-old Albuquerque native Vanessa Molina, a current Crossroads client at The Pavilions. Vanessa shared how a drug addiction that started at age 25 led to criminal activity, resulting in two prison stays between 2018 and 2020. She educated attendees about what it’s really like to be incarcerated and the barriers women face upon release.
“Prisons right now are to capacity,” says Vanessa. “I was at Springer and our pods are actually open. We’re in one big room with about 30 bunk beds literally two feet away from each other. They have us in there like sardines.”
As Vanessa described, women come to Crossroads with varying backgrounds but share a commonality in struggling with addiction. “I fortunately was not raised in a household where drugs and crime were ok,” says Vanessa. “But even though I had a good upbringing I still have an addiction problem. Drugs don’t discriminate. Criminal lifestyles don’t discriminate. If it wasn’t for my addiction, I wouldn’t have a criminal lifestyle.”
“Here at Crossroads we have a path. They reintegrate us into society little by little.”
Vanessa, current Crossroads client
After being released from prison in July 2020, Vanessa successfully completed the New Mexico Women’s Recovery Academy program before coming to The Pavilions. Vanessa says she chose to join The Pavilions program because she wanted to be proactive in her recovery.
“Here at Crossroads we have a path. They reintegrate us into society little by little,” says Vanessa. “I’m so proud of this program because it pushes us to do our best and reintegrates us into society by giving us the freedoms and structure we need to be functioning adults.”
A huge thank you to Vanessa and everyone who engaged with our virtual tea this year!
