Carolina Meadows and Chatham Literacy are in the news again. Below is an excerpt from an article in the Durham Herald Sun, and a link to the full article, with more of the story, a video, and photos.
They’ve got a wealth of experience. Now they’re sharing it, helping immigrants to reach their dreams.
BY TAMMY GRUBB
tgrubb@heraldsun.com
AUGUST 27, 2017 1:19 PM
CHAPEL HILL
Some came to America for love and family; others were children whose parents wanted a better life.
Maribel Ruiz, 37, was in the third- or fourth-grade, she said, when her family traveled to the United States. For a long time, she lacked the confidence to trade her Permanent Resident Card, more commonly known as a Green Card, which allowed her to live and work in the country, for citizenship, she said.
“My friends around here, co-workers, motivated me,” said Ruiz, a senior housekeeper at the Carolina Meadows retirement community in northern Chatham County.
This summer, she and five other Carolina Meadows employees — Dinora Cantarero, Sara Salgado, Carmen Hernandez, Wendy Lissette Rivas Oporto and retiree Rosario Yruegas — celebrated attaining U.S. citizenship in the past year.
Their tutors — Carolina Meadows residents Gustavo Maroni, Mary Morrow and Margaret Miles, and non-resident Joanne Caye — showed a lot of patience in helping them study, Ruiz said. She no longer fears what could happen if immigration laws change.
Citizenship means “freedom that there’s no way they would actually take me away from here, and I can be with my kids,” she said. “I want everybody that has their resident card to do their best to try and get their citizenship for better opportunities.”
Read more here: http://www.heraldsun.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article169670087.html#storylink=cpy