HOY RCMA: Opening Doors

to Opportunities

Donated car welcomes family back to Immokalee

By Kristina O’Hern

IMMOKALEE -- Christmas arrived early when an anonymous local resident donated a Honda Civic to an RCMA family recovering from a devastating fire.

Laura Toxqui and Marco Huerta have been putting their lives back together since their trailer home and family truck were burned to ashes last March. The fire, caused by an electric shock, occurred on a Saturday afternoon when the family was away. The Toxqui Huerta family, including three young children ages 5, 3, and 2, lost all of their belongings. From the day of the tragedy up until they migrated north to Quincy, FL and Gaffney, S.C. to harvest tomatoes, the family had been living with a relative.

Returning to Immokalee on Nov. 15, the Toxqui Huerta family headed straight to RCMA to fill out pre-applications for the two youngest children. This is when they heard the news that they were being given a car.

“Marcos and Laura have been thru so much, said Area Coordinator Gloria Padilla who presented the car to the family. “This is my community and it is my responsibility to make it better for our families. They happened to be in need of a vehicle. They were the perfect family for the car.”

The Civic is a four-door model with 101,000 miles and standard transmission. The anonymous donor even contributed $100 to cover the costs of tax and title.

“I was so surprised to find out that my family was going to be receiving a vehicle,” said Mrs. Toxqui. “I couldn’t believe that it was free. My husband and I will no longer have to bother family, friends, and neighbors to borrow their vehicles. This will help lift the financial burden we’ve been experiencing since the fire.

“We are overwhelmed with emotion. To the anonymous donor, thank you very much!”

Issue 229

November 2013

There are no translations this month due to circumstances beyond our control. Thank you for understanding.

No hubo traduciones este mes debido a circustancias fuera de nuestro control. Muchas Gracias.

RCMA HOY November 2013 We open doors to opportunity

A Charter School Posada By CeCe Estrada

The Immokalee Charter School and the Immokalee Area Office are partnering together to host

a Christmas Posada December 9 and 10, 2013.

As we know, tamales at Christmas time go together like turkey at Thanksgiving and RCMA wants

to help parents share this tradition with their children! The act of making tamales is very

significant culturally. Traditionally it involves the extended family working together to provide

food which is customary for this holiday.

Parents from both the Charter School and the Immokalee Area Office signed up to be part of

the planning committee on what we would need to make this happen and how the event would

work out. Parents decided to prepare several different types of

tamales from different areas of Mexico and Guatemala and will be

working in teams.

Many of our families have no extended families here. The

tamalera creates a “family”- the act of everyone having a part in

creating this experience.

Stay tuned for the next HOY to see how it went!

RCMA HOY November 2013 We open doors to opportunity

Good News

School Age Library in the Homestead Area

has been renovated. The HOY is in the South Dade School is honored to recognize Pastor Bryan for his devotion toward the South Dade School Age Program. Pastor Bryan and volunteers helped transfer our library. After many calculations and measurements soon the hard work began. Volunteers dedicated 2 days of hard work assembling book shelves, painting and organizing books. The outcome was a beautiful inviting library ready for our children to enjoy. Our children visit the school age library once a week in which they check out a book. The children are amazed. Children share comments between themselves “that they really enjoy visiting the library”. Each year FDLRS South comes to the Homestead Area and does vision and hearing screening for our preschool children at South Dade CDC and Redlands CDC. Katherine is part of FDLRS South and has been working closely with our RCMA centers for the past 5 years. Katherine wanted to do a little extra; she visited the VPK classrooms and read them a story. She also gave each child a book to take home so they can share with their parents and brothers and sisters. Katherine and her team

are always welcome to work with our children. Thank you!

Editorial Staff: Telma Paz, Belinda Rios, Angelica Granadero, Jean Eklund, Judy Brill, Bill Coats, Angie Alfaro

From the Desk of the

Executive Director

Barbara Mainster

Necessity or Fluff?

Building Worldliness

RCMA serves wonderful families. Families who love their children and want a better life for them than they had. They are eager and want to do more to help their children succeed. At the same time their family incomes are low, very low. This means limited possibilities as to where they live and what kinds of opportunities they can provide their children. No weekend trips to the zoo, planetarium, beach, eating out at restaurants, or visiting the museums. As a result, the children we serve lack worldliness - which is a disadvantage. It affects vocabulary, and the ability to express oneself well. It can limit imagination and aspirations as well. For example, think about a question on an FCAT exam asking 4th grade students to describe riding on a camel. Children who had seen a real camel up close would be yards ahead of those who never had as it relates to thinking how to write an answer to that question. How tall that camel was in comparison to them! How strange his back was shaped! How he smelled! So if we expect to help level the playing field, RCMA has to broaden the worldliness of our children - beginning with the babies. Stroking a cat or dog gives meaning to not only the word "soft", but also the word cat or dog! Seeing a beautiful bridge gives meaning not only to the word "majestic", but has the potential to stir the interest of students in science and engineering. Riding an escalator has to be experienced to grasp what it feels like or pique interest in how it works.

RCMA’s upcoming annual report shares some of how we work at leveling the playing field for our children - building worldliness - an important necessity. We welcome your ideas and support as to how to do more of this.