Reaching Out To Lend a Hand

Several groups in this community are helping immigrants who live there. The recent job losses are especially hard on them. DP

Groups discuss services for, needs of local immigrants.

By Bonnie Hobbs, Centre View

In a continuing effort to help immigrants in the local community, several groups offering services and programs for them gathered recently to exchange information.

"This meeting will be about sharing what our groups are doing, what are the needs we see and are these needs being met?" said Alice Foltz of Wellspring United Church of Christ in Centreville. "Then we’ll discuss how we can help each other and where we go from here."

Her church’s Outreach Committee sponsored the meeting, held Oct. 14 at Centreville Regional Library. And although services for other ethnic groups were mentioned, the focus was mainly on Centreville’s growing Hispanic community.

Cheryl Repetti of the Centreville Community Foundation showed the Web site she’s created so immigrants may find information on, for example, ESL courses, construction-industry vocabulary and foreign-language class sites.

"We have an ESL program with open enrollment throughout the year," said John Markham of Centreville Baptist Church. We allow people to join, even if they can’t pay."

"We’ve done it for five years now, and we have students representing nearly every country on the planet," he said. "It gives people an outlet to practice the English language. People come in groups and learn together, and it’s been very successful."

REPRESENTING Western Fairfax Christian Ministries (WFCM) was Hilda Rexach. "We help people with food, finances, furniture and clothing," she said. "We have people of all faiths and countries, but the number of Spanish people we help has doubled from last year. They used to be the third-largest group we served — now they’re first; it’s Latinos, whites and African-Americans."

Rexach said the main reason they need assistance is because of the lack of jobs. "Before they ask for food, they ask, ‘Do you know where I can find work?’" she said. "I do a lot of referrals to the Lincoln Lewis Multicultural Center for job counseling. If they’re legal, it’s OK. But if not, there’s no way they can find a job. Most of the time, they come back discouraged because of this."
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