{"id":2787,"date":"2025-12-05T07:00:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T13:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=2787"},"modified":"2025-12-05T01:45:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:45:40","slug":"jcccs-luna-support-latino-communities-around-kansas-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/12\/05\/jcccs-luna-support-latino-communities-around-kansas-city\/","title":{"rendered":"JCCC’s LUNA Supports Latino Communities Around Kansas City"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Photo by: Ariadne Alarcon)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

JCCC hosts a diverse student body on campus, and it\u2019s shown through the many clubs and associations around campus. Some of these clubs’ only requirements are to be a JCCC student, and they hope you\u2019ll join to learn more about their culture. Latinos Unite Now and Always, also known as \u201cLUNA,\u201d is one of these clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be Latino to join\u2013you could be anything and you can still join the club. We love to see anyone, and we love to see diversity in our club,\u201d said Diego Melgoza, the secretary of LUNA.<\/p>\n

LUNA works to support Latino communities around Kansas City by raising money and volunteering. Last October, they hosted a fundraiser called Cambio Para Cambio (Change for Change) for the Hispanic Development Fund, which provides financial assistance to Latino students in the metro. LUNA raised $14,675 through this fundraiser.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite thing about LUNA, I would say, [is] our mission, but it\u2019s really just new people [and] new friends I\u2019ve met. I\u2019ve met a lot of new friends within my community,\u201d Melgoza said.<\/p>\n

Recently, LUNA hosted a Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) event on campus, which allowed students to try new foods, get face paint and view a Dia De Los Muertos altar. This was a connection building opportunity on a sacred holiday for students on campus to learn about different cultures that are very present on campus.<\/p>\n

LUNA meets bimonthly on Mondays, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in MTC 232, and any JCCC student is welcome to join during meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love to share our culture, especially with those who aren\u2019t familiar with Latino culture,\u201d Melgoza said.<\/p>\n

To stay up to date with LUNA, students can scan the QR code on posters spread around campus. These will bring you to a GroupMe where recaps and important information pieces are posted. You can also follow LUNA on social media @Lunajccc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JCCC hosts a diverse student body on campus, and it\u2019s shown through the many clubs and associations around campus. Some of these clubs’ only requirements are to be a JCCC student, and they hope you\u2019ll join to learn more about their culture. Latinos Unite Now and Always, also known as \u201cLUNA,\u201d is one of these clubs.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[321],"class_list":["post-2787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_5370_optimized_2000.jpeg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sammie-magee\/","display_name":"Sammie Magee"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Life<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Life<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 9 months ago","modified":"Updated 9 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on December 5, 2025","modified":"Updated on December 5, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on December 5, 2025 7:00 am","modified":"Updated on December 5, 2025 1:45 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":321,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"sammie-magee","display_name":"Sammie Magee","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_5370_optimized_2000.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2787"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2799,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787\/revisions\/2799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2787"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}