GILROY
– A joint effort between Gilroy’s welfare-to-work program and
dozens of community businesses, schools and other organizations
brightened the Christmas season with toys for hundreds of
disadvantaged children last week.
Children of welfare moms rushed through the hall of the Gilroy
Senior Center Thursday evening toward a group of four young women
dressed as elves that were largely responsible for the year-end
dinner event and gift drive.
GILROY – A joint effort between Gilroy’s welfare-to-work program and dozens of community businesses, schools and other organizations brightened the Christmas season with toys for hundreds of disadvantaged children last week.
Children of welfare moms rushed through the hall of the Gilroy Senior Center Thursday evening toward a group of four young women dressed as elves that were largely responsible for the year-end dinner event and gift drive.
For the children, being with the gift-bearing Santa’s helpers was as good as meeting Santa Claus himself. For the more than 150 disadvantaged Gilroy families who were at the Senior Center that night, the elves represented everything the winter holiday season can be about, and everything the welfare-to-work program called Mujeres Pueden has been for them in recent weeks, months and years.
“The program helped me a lot,” said Celina Palacios, a 21-year-old mother of a 3-year-old girl.
“They looked for clothing with me for a job interview. They helped me work on my resumé. They helped me get my job,” said Palacios, who now works as a sales associate for Payless shoe store.
“Mujeres pueden” is Spanish for the phrase “women can.” The free program, entering its fifth year in Gilroy, provides the so-called “hardest to reach” women the resources and training necessary to earn a livable wage. It serves largely single mothers who have been on welfare for 30 months or more.
The holiday dinner Dec. 12 also signified something special for the elves who, by day, comprise the staff of Mujeres Pueden. The jam-packed dinner party and gift distribution was triple the size of its similar event held last year, an increase that mirrors the leap in clients served by the Mujeres Pueden program since August 2001.
“We’re excited about our turn around,” said director Lorraine Bursese, who in less than a year and a half has led what was considered a failing program by the city into one that has served 240 families and helped more than 140 clients find work.
Thus far, roughly 78 of these clients have kept their jobs for more than six months.
“We have a new staff, and we’re really rolling now,” said Bursese. “We’re inspired.”
Often inspiring for clients, says Bursese, is when caseworkers add up what can be made working and compare it to what they make on welfare.
“A lot of times clients see that if they work a certain amount of hours, they can make a lot more money for their family than if they remained on welfare,” Bursese said. “After they see that, it’s a matter of figuring out what needs to be done to get that job.”
“A lot of times the client only needs someone who will believe in them,” says Grover, a caseworker since July.
“We’re definitely a hands-on program,” adds caseworker Elena Grover, explaining that Mujeres Pueden doesn’t just refer clients to other agencies that can help them get back on their feet, but actively works with women to rewrite resumés, prepare for job interviews and provide childcare, among many other services.
Grover even has her family believing in the program enough to recruit six of her relatives – from sisters to a grandmother – to help distribute gifts, serve food and help out in other ways at last week’s holiday party.
“They knew I was part of planning the event and they heard me talking about it for months. I asked them to be a part of it, and they were willing to help,” said Grover.
Bursese and her staff were pleased by the turnout Dec. 12 at the Senior Center, where before gifts were distributed, families enjoyed a Mexican dinner and dessert as they watched a slide show and listened to Gilroy High School chamber singers croon traditional holiday carols.
The gift drive and dinner event was made possible by more than 40 Gilroy businesses who contributed food and money toward the evening. Staff, parents and students of St. Mary Parish School were instrumental in garnering the 300 toys made available to children of Mujeres Pueden clients, setting up collection boxes at several businesses around town and then wrapping the gifts as they arrived.
Next up for the Mujeres Pueden group is an attempt to land nonprofit status and break its ties with the city.
“That will make it easier to get funding in the future,” explained Bursese, a former Department of Labor grant manager.
