Welcome

Carmen and Anna Argote Foundation

Dear Family and Friends:

By way of this letter, I wish to announce the formation of the Carmen and Anna

Argote Foundation to honor the memory of my mother and grandmother. My grandmother, Asunción [Anna] Argote immigrated to this country as a child in 1907 with her parents and younger brother Baldomero Perez from Zaragoza, Spain.

In 1919, she and her husband Francisco Argote welcomed their only child into the world, while living in Harlem.

The Argotes were steeped in the immigrant cultures and communities that were and are the heart of New York City and the United States. They were proud in equal measure of this great nation, which gave them shelter and opportunity, and of their immigrant roots. Their best friends were immigrants or children of immigrants. They included Jews from Eastern Europe, Irish, Italian, and Latin American immigrants, and folks from the African-American community. 

Their generosity of spirit, their sense of social justice and their belief in education as a ladder to opportunity is something I have often thought about. I have tried to make them guiding principles of my life. I still remember as a boy – long before the Internet age – my mother scraping together funds to buy me a complete set of the Encyclopedia Britannica in the early 1970s. My recollection is that it cost over $700 – a regal sum in that era. 

How does one repay such gifts?

After years of thought, I decided to fund a foundation in their name dedicated to 

providing educational opportunities for immigrant and working poor children and students. It is a modest effort, but the dream is to make a difference in the lives of others in a way that befits the legacy of Carmen and Anna Argote. 

Towards that end, a website -- https://argotefoundation.org/ -- was created and is now accepting donations. Gifts can also be sent in the name of the Argote Foundation to 13 Birch Drive, Freehold, NJ 07728. It is a federally recognized 501 c3 so donations are tax deductible. Later this year we hope to hold a fundraiser to boost our efforts.

Even though we are announcing the formation of the Foundation today we began making donations at the end of last year. In November, we donated to the Freehold Borough Educational Foundation which funds projects for children in the district. Most of the students are the children of immigrants from Latin America. In December, we donated to the JCC Thurnauer School of Music. The school worked with composer Robert Kapilow to produce a musical piece capturing the immigrant experience entitled: We Came to America. More information about that effort can be found at the following website: https://www.jccotp.org/event/we-came-to-america-2024/

Finally, in January we donated to the Virgil Blanco Education Fund established at Middlesex County College in memory of Dr. Blanco who passed away earlier this year. The College, like Kean University, where I work serves a large immigrant population, many of whom are the first in their families to receive a college education.

This announcement fills me with boundless joy as I continue to try to live up to the gifts bestowed upon me by my mother and grandmother.

Un Abrazo.

Frank Argote-Freyre

Chair, Argote Foundation