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To celebrate what would have been the 126th birthday of namesake Marie Lamfrom, the Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation (MLCF) distributed grants to nonprofits in honor of colleagues, volunteers, leaders, or members at these organizations who demonstrated grit in their daily work. Just seven of nearly 200 nominees were selected. Among those honored was Perla Ruiz, a Family Access Network (FAN) advocate currently serving Ponderosa Elementary School and Mountain View High School in the Bend-La Pine School District. To recognize her contributions to helping Central Oregon kids thrive, MLCF awarded FAN with a $12,000 grant. "From her nomination, it is clear that Perla demonstrates grit every day, reminding us of Marie's spirit and memory," said Tyler Hobbs, President of MLCF. "And, given her history of service to Family Access Network, we wanted to issue this award in her honor." Ruiz's nomination highlighted her journey from first discovering FAN as a client