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When Sharon Kotsonas moved from Puerto Rico to Gilbert, Ariz., 20 years ago, she didn't think much of the culture.
"I was 19 when I moved," she tells the Gilbert Independent.
"And then from there I moved to the States, and I got married very young.
I had children very young, and life wasn't all that kind to me at that time."
But after 12 years in Mississippi, where her husband was from, she "learned to love everything about it," she says.
"Southern food is delicious and just that spirit of community is very beautiful there."
Kotsonas, who has a 23-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter, says she learned how to be a mom and a wife while in the US, and she's been there ever since.
"There's a total cultural shift," she says.
"It doesn't matter if they had a hurricane or if they had a tropical storm.
The sun always comes up or comes out.
The food, the people, the music, everything."
After moving to Arizona, she started her nonprofit, Weekly Collective Volunteers, to provide support for people in economic adversity, physical and mental health challenges, or other obstacles.
In 2015,
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
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Foundation: Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Gates Foundation
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Foundation: Logan Healthcare Foundation
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Civic Engagement News from...
Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation
Gates Foundation
Logan Healthcare Foundation
Northern New York Community Foundation
Greater Manhattan Community Foundation
North Texas Community Foundation
Community Foundation of Sarasota County
Gulf Coast Community Foundation
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Philanthropy as Key Enabler to Work on ‘Wicked Problems’
Australia’s Melbourne City Mission Chief Executive Officer Ric Holland writes how philanthropy can act as an enabler on many levels.
