BMA Food Grant BVEF Supports Borrego Families

Free Screening at BSPAC Borrego Springs Film Institute received BVEF funding and announced a free April 8, 2026 screening of One Battle After Another at BSPAC. The Borrego Springs Film Institute announced that its first free community screening of 2026 will be One Battle After Another, the 2026 Oscar winner for Best Picture. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Benicio del Toro, and portions of it were filmed in Borrego Springs in May 2025. The announcement came during the Borrego Valley Endowment Fund Grant Awards Luncheon on March 18, 2026, at Coyote Steakhouse at The Palms at Indianhead . During the event, BVEF presented funding for the Borrego Springs Film Institute’s free community screenings program , which offers no-cost film experiences for the community. This is the second year the Endowment Fund has supported the popular program. As temperatures rise in Borrego Springs, the free screenings become more than a movie night. They create a cool indoor gathering place where friends and families can enjoy an evening out together. Leslie Bosson and Fred Jee accepted the grant on behalf of the Borrego Springs Film Institute at the BVEF grant event. The free screening of One Battle After Another is scheduled for Wednesday, April 8, 2026, at 7 p.m. at BSPAC . Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

BVEF awards grants to Borrego Springs nonprofits supporting healthcare, education, arts, and community programs at the 2026 luncheon.

By Dennis Mammana Week of March 22-28, 2026 Now that spring has sprung, I'm sure that those who have endured a long, cold and snowy winter are rejoicing. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm no winter person. Sure, I used to enjoy the season when I was a kid, but that's only because I could spend entire days building snow forts with my friends and making a few bucks shoveling the white stuff for neighbors. No longer. Today, warmer days of springtime can't come soon enough for me! If we had no calendar, we would still know the seasons are changing. We see it happening all around us: Temperatures are rising, the first flower buds are beginning to appear, and many birds are returning to our part of planet Earth. And, just as our daytime world gives us clues that spring is approaching, the darkness does as well. Nighttime hours are beginning to shorten, and the brilliant stars of winter are descending in the west to make way for those of springtime. And no star grouping heralds the arrival of springtime to our Northern Hemisphere more than Leo, the lion. Head outdoors during early evening hours and cast your gaze midway up in the eastern sky. There, you'll see Leo, one of the few constellations that, with some imagination, actually can be made to look like its namesake — a lion crouching in a regal pose reminiscent of the enigmatic Egyptian Sphinx. Most prominent in this constellation is the bright star Regulus, which shines brightly beneath the lion's majestic head and mane, outlined by a large sickle-shaped grouping of stars. More metropolitan stargazers may recognize this figure not as a sickle but as a backward question mark, with Regulus forming the dot at its base. The star's very name, "Regulus," comes from the Latin word "Rex," meaning "king," and, interestingly, this star was revered throughout the ancient world as a "royal" star. According to astronomy author R.A. Allen, it was known in Arabia as "Malikiyy" (the Kingly One), while the ancient Greeks knew it as "the Star of the King." At the other end of the lion, we find the bright star Denebola, whose name originates from the Arabic "Al Dhanab al Asad," meaning "The Lion's Tail." You can find Leo more easily if you use the two pointer stars of the Big Dipper, farther to the northeast. These stars point toward Polaris (the north star) if you follow them from the bottom to the top of the Dipper's bowl, but if you follow them in the opposite direction, you can find your way toward the back of the lion. If you have trouble tracing this animal's shape among the stars, don't worry. Just turn it around and you'll find it's much easier to find not the mighty king of the jungle but instead a mouse! Quite frankly, I think the figure of a mouse is much easier to trace. Here, the star Denebola forms its pointy nose, the nearby triangle forms his head, and the sickle now outlines its long, curving tail. Either way you look at it — mouse or lion — nothing in the heavens announces springtime more loudly than Leo!  Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. Learn More About Borrego Springs

A recent Hawk Alert shared through the Borrego hawkwatch community reports a significant number of Swainson’s hawks currently roosting in Borrego Springs. Estimates based on multiple counts suggest 200 to 300 hawks are gathered overnight. This is part of the annual spring migration, when large numbers of Swainson’s hawks pass through the Borrego Valley. The migration typically runs from mid-February through March and into April, with peak activity often occurring in mid to late March. 

Source: Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty

Easter Sunrise Service Borrego Springs The Easter Sunrise Service in Borrego Springs is an annual sunrise gathering that brings people together for a simple, meaningful start to Easter morning. This post covers the essentials—who hosts it, where it takes place, and a few practical tips so you can plan ahead each year. Since the service is timed to sunrise, the date changes with Easter, but the tradition stays the same: an early morning moment of faith, hope, and community in the desert. Date and time Sunday, April 5, 2026 6:00 AM (Sunrise) 

Fresh Coffee Inspired by the Desert

by Fr. Michael Plekon All Christians see the days before Jesus’ death, burial and being raised as a holy week. Much of the liturgy we have for it, especially the last Three Days, comes from observances in Jerusalem recorded by a Spanish nun, Egeria, in the 300s. Still today, the processions on Palm Sunday and later after Good Friday are carried out by Christians of diverse church backgrounds in the Holy City. For some, Palm Sunday’s cries of “Hosanna” float over to the “Hallelujahs” of Easter Sunday. So much is missed if one does not come to the services during the week. Indeed, it is a lot to go to church not once but three more times in a week, but those who do come away with a deepened sense of what we celebrate around Easter every year.