NEWS

Our previous post listed an incorrect date.  The correct date is Monday, April 18, at 12 noon, at Vitale’s Restaurant in Teaneck.  So sorry!

Many people work hard all year to carry out the many CoFiA programs. Between November and April a dedicated group of twelve or more volunteers produce the very welcome hot lunches we serve every Monday at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Palisades Park. Visitors often comment the program operates like a well-oiled machine, each person having a specific set of duties–but they are also able to fill in when someone else is not able to come. The lunch program also provides a warm, friendly environment where guests can talk to our Social Services coordinator, Angelica Martinez; benefit from the very helpful educational programs organized by Sayda Tuanama; and just have the chance to sit for a while in a warm place and talk with friends.

Once a year CoFiA invites the volunteers to a thank you lunch at a local restaurant, where we are joined by members of the Wage Theft, ESL, Workers Link and other committees, as well as officers and staff. The work we do can be sad and difficult–but once a year we take time to enjoy the rewards of jobs well done.

CoFiA is delighted to welcome Andreanna Papatheodorou as our very first intern! Andreanna is the daughter of Maria Andreu, who has been a member of CoFiA for many years. Andreanna is 16 and a student at Leonia High School.She is bilingual, and is already helping plan the fall Fiesta (scheduled for September 23–save the date!), assisting Sayda Tuanama at the Saturday Group meetings, and attending Board meetings.

We are so happy to have her with us!

Under the leadership of CoFiA community organizer, Sayda Tuanama, CoFiA has a new “Saturday night group.” Workers gather at Grace Lutheran Church every other Saturday to get acquainted, discuss strategies for achieving better immigration policies, and get organized.  “Delegados” have been chosen to participate in rallies and demonstrations, such as the recent one working for a $15 per hour minimum wage.   All are welcome to participate in the Saturday group and in the rallies.  Drivers are needed!  Just send us a note at info@communityoffriendsinaction.org.  The next meeting of the group is Saturday, April 16, 2016, from 5 – 8.

Monday, April 4, 2016, was the last day for the CoFiA lunch program for the season.  Most of the workers are on the job or on the street looking for work, so we are pleased that the need for a free lunch is not as crucial as in the bitter winter weather when there is so little work.

We were honored to have the Consul General of Guatemala, Myriam Delaroca, come to address the guests at this final session.  She spoke at length, informally, and responded to the many questions the workers had.  She gave out contact information and invited the participants to call her when they have problems.  She also offered to provide a ticket to Guatemala to one of the homeless men if he thought that was a good solution to his problems.

Our own Elias Garcia arranged this special occasion and also spoke briefly to the workers.  It was a busy, warm, and productive event.  Although we will all miss the opportunity to get together weekly, our hope is that no one will have to return next year because once again they do not have work!

 

Our staff member, Angelica Martinez, was recognized for her work with the Hispanic community, and with CoFiA, by the Hispanic State Parade of New Jersey, Inc. (Desfile Hispanoamericano de New Jersey). The ceremony was held on Women’s Day, in March of 2016.

Elias Garcia, who has worked with CoFiA for many years, is the Executive Secretary of the group and was part of the ceremony. We are very proud of both of them and honored that they are our friends and colleagues.

Monsy Alvarado, staff writer for the RECORD, published an excellent article in today’s edition (March 29, 2016) of the paper, detailing the experiences of some of the workers in Palisades Park who have been homeless through the bitter weather of the winter.  She also features our Social Services coordinator, Angelica Martinez, who has helped CoFiA collect and deliver blankets, coats, and sleeping bags for the men.  They are also welcome guests at our Monday lunch program.

But it is so, so sad that in this land of plenty people have to face such misery.  There must be a better way to help people who have come here only to try to work and support families who are in even more desperate straits at home.

For the article go to this link http://www.northjersey.com/news/steeper-challenges-for-homeless-living-in-u-s-illegally-1.1534447

 

 

http://www.northjersey.com/news/steeper-challenges-for-homeless-living-in-u-s-illegally-1.1534447

 

CoFiA is sad to announce that one of our day laborer friends died recently in Palisades Park.  He had been homeless for some time, and was ill.  Angelica had just recently helped him buy some medicine.  But the combination of homelessness, illness and alcoholism was too much.

Unfortunately this is a too common problem among a few of the men.  Work is slow in the winter, and expenses get ahead of them.  Alcohol may be seen as the only escape.  Of course this is a disastrous road to take.

CoFiA is inviting people who would like to help with the expense of sending the body home to Guatemala to send a check, payable to The Community of Friends in Action, with “Funeral Expenses” on the memo line to us at P.O. Box 313, Leonia, New Jersey, 07605-0313.  Angelica will see that the money goes directly to the family.  The Guatemalan community is also raising money.

 

This year more than 80 new children have been enrolled in the Palisades Park public schools.  The majority of them are from Central America, primarily Guatemala.  Fleeing from poverty and dangerous conditions, many arrive with few resources, including clothing.  In response to an appeal from CoFiA, young people in the Junior Seminar of the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood carried out a campaign to collect clothing for infants and young children.  The congregation responded with many bags of good, clean, practically new clothing.  We will be distributing them over the next several weeks. Our thanks to the Junior Seminar!