FREDERICKSBURG (Virginia) FREE LANCE-STAR Center for migrant children half-filled By CATHY DYSON It took 10 years to get funding for a center to serve children of migrant workers in the Northern Neck and less than three weeks for the program to be half-filled. Las Semillas De Hoy, or "Seeds of Today," opened on June 21 in Warsaw and currently serves 18 students from Westmoreland and surrounding counties. It has 36 slots for preschoolers, ages 8 weeks to 5 years. Two can be the children of farm workers who live in the area year-round, but the rest must have parents who travel up and down the East Coast, harvesting fruits and vegetables. The Hispanic children are picked up by bus and brought to the center as their parents head to local fields. They get two hot meals and a snack daily, and there's no charge to parents. Five of the 24 adults working at the Warsaw Head Start center speak Spanish--and others are learning daily, just as the children around them pick up English. In the toddler classroom, assistants Tori Rich and Ashley Veney documented each new word their students said. They were both giddy when 2-year-old Alex said, "mine," as he picked up a crayon, then "yellow" for the color he wanted next. The children learn more than colors and ABCs. They're taught how to brush their teeth, wash their hands and use the potty. Families also let center workers know when they need food or clothes, said Elizabeth Luna, a teaching assistant whose fiance is a migrant worker. "I think it's a great program for people who work in agriculture," she said. "It's really helping them." Because the center is funded by a federal grant, it's "restricted to servicing migrant families," said the Rev. Jonathan Barton, minister of the Virginia Council of Churches, which administers the program. Barton said "it was a long process" to complete paperwork and studies, but there was little doubt the program was needed. Of the estimated 10,148 migrant workers in the state, 882 were in the Northern Neck in 2006, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. All were Hispanic. The Warsaw center is the fifth such facility in the state. Three others are on the Eastern Shore, and one is in Winchester. The Northern Neck area is the only labor region in Virginia that doesn't have a dedicated migrant health provider, according to the council's 2006 Community Assessment. Families have to travel large distances--an average of 35 miles--for services, and the few established agencies don't have many bilingual workers, the assessment stated. Director Marie Rothwell believes the center will fill up as word spreads about the program. "I think what we're establishing right now is trust," she said. |