FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 22, 2004
Contact: Gregory Pleshaw, publicist, 505-316-1163
Local Author Denise Kusel to Donate New Book Royalties to School Lunch Program
November 22, 2004: Local writer and communtiy journalist Denise Kusel knows the power of the written word. From her desk at The New Mexican, Kusel pens the wildly popular thrice-weekly column “Only in Santa Fe,” where she writes about anything that affects the local community, both serious and funny. Past columns have included pieces about animal lovers and the ones who love them too much; humorous pieces about growing old and working at home; and many delightful pieces about her twenty-six years in the City Different.
Her new book Only in Santa Fe is a compendium of these columns put together by local publishing house Sunstone Press. The book is Kusel’s first and will be widely distributed around the state – but Kusel has no plans to get rich from it. Instead, she will be donating all royalties from the book to the Santa Fe Public Schools “No String Attached” program, a school lunch program that she helped to create.
“I received a call one day from someone telling me that some kids were coming to school without any money for lunch, and I just thought that was terrible,” she said. “I complained to the schools. I complained to the school board, and they all told me nothing could be done. Then I contacted the New Mexico Women’s Foundation [of which Kusel is a member], and I said ‘We’ve got to do something.'”
The “No Strings Attached” program allows any student who doesn’t have lunch money to order a lunch ‘no strings attached.’ No names or IDs are taken – cafeteria staff simply mark off a checklist and the NMWF is billed for the cost of the lunch. Previously, the program was funded exclusively by private donations, but now ‘No Strings Attached’ has another patron to add to their list.
Recently, Kusel was the author of honor at a booksigning at Garcia Street Books, where over three hundred friends and well-wishers appeared to buy the book and get it signed by one of Santa Fe’s favorite scribes.
“When I arrived in Santa Fe, I knew no one,” said Kusel. “I didn’t have a job or any friends or a place to live. Life has never been easy here, but people opened their arms to me and I am just such a lucky person. And I get to share that luck with people every week with my work – which makes me even luckier, I think.”
Denise Kusel will be appearing at (some grocery store) on such-and-such date to sign her books. (Such and such grocery store) will be dedicating 5% of the day’s gross receipts to help the “No Strings Attached” program.
