Schulenburg Weimar In Focus Together

2010 SWIFT Benefit Event

On Saturday, June 19th SWIFT held their 2010 Benefit Event.  The evening started at Jordan Ranch (located in Engle) with a delicious meal, silent and live auctions, and ended with entertainment provided by the Boogie Woogie Babes.  The guests then continued to enjoy their evening by dancing the night away at Swiss Alp Hall, with music by Asleep at the Wheel.

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 Our Mission:
To empower access to our communities' assets.

Our Vision:
To preserve and enhance the quality of life where every individual thrives:
Physically, Intellectually, Emotionally, and Spiritually.

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From the creation of SWIFT to its role just two years later as an award-winning community-based non-profit serving Schulenburg and Weimar, our goal has been to maximize available resources to improve the quality of life for our citizens. The programs utilize continuing involvement with youth and their families to ensure success and allow for measurements over time.

In 2006, SWIFT received an AmeriCorps grant that allowed us to expand our vision to include five focus areas: tutoring, mentoring, parenting education, health promotion, and volunteer recruitment. In January 2007, the first class of SWIFT AmeriCorps members began service in Schulenburg and Weimar.

Award-winning Program

The Health Promotion program has been recognized with various awards in its short span of existence.

• In 2004, the “Communities that Care” Award was presented to SWIFT by the Texas Rural Health Association for the research that resulted in the ‘Healthy High' concept.
• In 2005, the American Medical Association Foundation awarded program founder Dr. Olga Duchicela the national “Excellence in Medicine” Leadership Award for her role in the conception and propagation of the “Healthy High/Healthy Choices” program.
• Dr. Duchicela was also recognized with the 2005 “Physician of the Year” Award for Public Health by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians.
• The most recent honor is statewide recognition by the Texas Medical Association presenting the prestigious John P. McGovern “Champion of Health” award to SWIFT for its commitment to health promotion and disease prevention through community collaboration with the “Healthy High / Healthy Choices” Program, focusing on Diabetes, Hypertension and the link with childhood obesity.

SWIFT is funded in part by an AmeriCorps Texas grant. The SWIFT AmeriCorps Members provide Tutoring, Mentoring, Parent Education and Health Promotion programs on-campus at all area schools and at many other venues in the community for youth, families and adults

The concept of the SWIFT Program is to serve as a catalyst with community partners and various Texas universities to show what a small rural community can do for itself, and to enable the programs to be replicated anywhere. SWIFT has also received support from two U.S. Congressmen, Rubén Hinojosa and more recently Congressman Lloyd Doggett. There is no known program in Texas using the basis and methods SWIFT has incorporated into the current programs, and SWIFT is one of the few rural communities anywhere to obtain this type of AmeriCorps grant.