Fifty years ago this month, President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural speech, proclaimed, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
Gaby Domínguez, Adriana Nuñez, Herlinda Sánchez, Laura Alameda and Amalia Tobar were not born when Kennedy delivered his 14-minute speech, considered one of the most eloquent and powerful inaugural speeches by an American president.
But 50 years later, the five immigrants reflect Kennedy's call to public service. The women volunteer in the mornings at the Casa Maria soup kitchen, at South 3rd Avenue and East 25th Street.
Five days a week, the women, along with other volunteers, prepare food which is doled out from the cramped kitchen to hundreds of men and women. They also clean and do what ever else it takes to operate the kitchen, which is also known as La Capilla de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.
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While the women only recently adopted this country as theirs, they had some impressions and knowledge of Kennedy.
"He was a good president," said Nuñez. "But he was assassinated."
"He was very popular among the people, especially the poor and minorities," Sánchez said.
I told the women I was a child when Kennedy was alive and that many Mexican-American families supported him as president. So much so that in many Mexican family homes, a picture of Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, hung on the walls along with images of Jesus Christ and the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Kennedy was that revered in many homes of Tucson's Latino families.
And his exhortation continues to reverberate, even among families who were not here 50 years ago.
Dominguez, 45, came to this country four years ago from Nogales, Sonora. A couple of years ago she began volunteering for Casa Maria in the mornings. In the evenings she works at Food City.
Nuñez and her two chidren live next door to Casa Maria and she is a fulltime worker at the soup kitchen. In addition she is a family resource volunteer, or promotora, in the public schools where she helps immigrant families assimilate into the new culture.
"I am a Catholic and my faith motivates me to help others," said Nuñez, 41, a native of Agua Prieta, Sonora, across the border from Douglas.
Like Nuñez, Sánchez, 46, is a promotora. Both women graduated from Pima Community College's Community Health Advisor program.
They work with school parents on an array of topics to help their children succeed in school and life, and to avoid social pitfalls.
Sanchez, who was born in Mexico City, is equally committed to her two children: a son who graduated from Pueblo High School and a daughter who attends the south-side school.
Almeda, 37, is a recent immigrant. She came to Tucson from Nogales, Sonora, two years ago. A year ago she began volunteering at the free kitchen.
"Because I cannot contribute with money, I contribute with my work," said Almeda, who cleans offices at night.
As volunteers, the women know they serve another purpose: role models for their children, for their neighbors and people they meet.
"Many people do not leave their homes because they do not know where they can volunteer," Almeda said. "They need encouragement."
Nuñez and Sánchez encourage school parents in their promotora sessions to involve themselves in school and as volunteers.
"They can come here to volunteer," said Domínguez.
The women's children have volunteered at Casa Maria.
To a wider degree, the women recognize that their community service work serves another purpose. It shows that immigrants, specifically Latinos, contribute positively. They are acutely aware that Latino immigrants are often denigrated in Arizona and across the country.
The women said they are motivated to serve, to help, regardless of the negative political and social images of Latino immigrants.
It's their duty, they said.
They're heeding a call.
Ernesto Portillo Jr. is editor of La Estrella de Tucsón. He can be reached at 520-573-4187.
