ABOUT

As of June 10, 2024, Us & Friends: Education for Everyone is a registered non-profit organization of Puerto Rico.  We are currently engaged in the 501(c)(3) status application process.  We will be updating aspects of our website to reflect all of this.

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Some of our backstory:

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Greetings,

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We're Jack and Damaris (Dama) Foster.    Welcome to our latest endeavor -- or more accurately, the consolidation and formalization of many of our interests and their resultant endeavors we've pursued or stumbled upon over the years.

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Jack is originally from Montana and Damaris is originally from Aguada, Puerto Rico; we have happily resided together in Cabo Rojo, PR, for about a decade -- we love Cabo Rojo and consider it our home.  We rent a little piece of land and have fixed up a half-finished, once abandoned wooden house.  We have lived entirely off-the-grid for around ten years; this was a goal and has proven to be one of the best experiences of our lives.

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We have a "just for fun" band, consisting of Damaris on vocals and Jack on guitar, that we call "Us". 

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A number of years ago, we, along with friends, put on a benefit concert and art exhibit for a dear friend -- we had to come up with a name for the event and decided upon, "Us & Friends". 

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In 2020, earthquakes affected our portion of the island rather significantly -- among other things, schools were closed for a few months.  At the time, Damaris was a private art teacher, and Jack was a private math tutor; we decided to offer free art and math classes on Saturdays to try to help the community.  The idea blew up and soon we were joined by many volunteers and teachers.  As a collective group (100% grassroots and volunteer -- no formal organization, funds, paperwork, . . ., not even matching t-shirts), we offered free classes, spanning the full spectrum of core subjects for k--12th grade students, every Saturday until schools were reopened.  And then Covid hit. 

 

Through the years, we continued to teach and tutor within a variety of contexts and the balancing of intents -- supporting ourselves and/while providing free or discounted services for the many who would otherwise be excluded.  All of this, too, eventually required a name, and we settled upon, "Us & Friends: Education for Everyone".

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In 2023, we met the director of Cabo Rojo's public Library, Jorge Nicolai.  "Nico" as he is affectionately known as, imagined the library as a community center where different classes and workshops could be offered.  We had similar ideas!  Damaris and Nico established a pilot program to test the idea.  Within a year, the library had become the most utilized public building in Cabo Rojo, and the program became official--"The After School Program".  Since then, continuously, numerous instructors and organizations have taught classes and workshops for all ages -- subjects ranging from academics, to fine and performing arts, to practical skills, such as sewing, baking, gardening, and much more; theatrical productions have been put on, community events are held.  Truly, there is something for everyone -- every interest, every age, and every walk of life!  

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In March of 2025, we got an opportunity to work at the University of Montana Western (our alma mater).  We moved to Montana for what was expected to be a duration of 3 to 5 years, mostly so we could be closer to our grandchildren.  Despite Us & Friends not being active, the After School Program continued!  We didn't last long in Montana, as we utterly reject current national policies, ideologies, and trajectories, and we returned to Cabo Rojo in January of 2026.  Since our return, we have tutored and taught a few courses.  But now that we are sufficiently reestablished (and have our off-the-grid house sufficiently functioning again), we are excited to resume our work with Us & Friends, starting in August of 2026 (Fall Semester).

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This was always part-time and on-the-side, but recently, we have decided to see what could happen if we devoted our full attention to accessible and quality education "for everyone" along with the pursuit of some of our other interests and passions.  We have decided to focus on three overlapping concepts, namely, 

1. Education

2. Environmental Sustainability

3. Community.

Naturally, there is much overlap between the three, and we aren't restricting our activities to rigid definitions -- as we evolve and as interests or needs arise, so may our foci.  ​We will attempt to (likely rather slowly) detail these three foci as they relate to our vision, mission, and long- and short-term goals, in both theory and practice.  For a number of reasons, we are initially prioritizing the educational component.  

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We are currently going through the process of formalizing all of this as a "nonprofit" organization (pretty formal and ambitious for us!), in hopes that this will eventually allow opportunity for greater accessibility "for everyone".  Until then, we will continue to balance the practical necessity for our efforts to financially support ourselves along with our ideological passion for inclusion "for everyone" by offering scholarships to those that can't afford educational services, along with offering as many free or reduced-priced events and services as is possible; we are also fond of trading goods and services.

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For now, if interested in any aspect, please check out our website and/or social media pages (Damaris's domain and expertise) for some of our current projects, ideas, and goals; and if anything seems relevant and desirable to you, we look forward to participating with you in some capacity.  Also, please feel free to contact us with questions, concerns, clarifications, ideas, or just to say, "Hi".

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Thanks for taking the time to check out Us & Friends: For Everyone!

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Jack & Dama