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CRUSADER HONORED
By GEOFF
Romo and Arturo Fuente Jr., voted
Hispanic Man of the Year,
will be honored Sept. 18 at the annual Tampa
Hispanic Heritage Gala at the
Hyatt Regency Tampa hotel.
Romo, 74, was one of five women nominated for this year's award, said
Luz Lono, a member of Tampa Hispanic Heritage's board of directors.
"Her work in the community has been extraordinary,"
Lono said. "She's been
devoting her time and efforts to helping the farmworkers and the poor.
She's founded several organizations through which she can reach them and
take care of their many needs. She's devoted so many years to these
efforts."
The grandson of a cigar roller, Fuente is president of
Tampa Sweethearts Cigar Co.
in
Tampa Hispanic Heritage, a nonprofit organization founded in l979, works
to "preserve, promote and celebrate
After speaking to a
Vacation Bible School class
Wednesday morning at the
Trinity Church on State Road
54 in Wesley Chapel, Romo said she was surprised when notified about the
award.
"It was kind of out of the blue," she said.
She quickly changed the subject to the work she still is trying to do in
Tommytown, the depressed, crime-ridden area of Dade City that Romo has
devoted the past 30 years of her life to improving.
"There are a lot of different things going on, as usual," she said. "I'm
still trying to get a new social service office and a new clinic. We
submitted a proposal to the county, but for the third time we didn't get
it. Maybe the fourth time we will.
"We are a part of this county, too. Every time I've asked, they say
they've given us all the paved
streets and lights and
sewage, and we're grateful, but that's not for Farmworkers Self-Help."
Romo said she will make another plea for Community Development Block
Grant money at a meeting of the Pasco County Commission on Aug. 10.
A
In 2007, she told The Pasco Tribune that everything she does is to honor
her mother, Anastacia Villareal.
"They said she was a very good lady and caring for others and was always
helping someone to the end of her days," she said. "I just feel like
she's been a shining star for me. She wasn't here, but I feel like her
spirit was here."
Tommytown is an impoverished and sometimes deadly area where shootings
of migrant workers are not rare. Walk the streets with Romo and you may
observe her point out a prostitute as the woman walks within earshot.
Through the years, she has earned other awards for farmworker advocacy,
been recognized by the Girl Scouts as a woman of distinction and served
with the Florida Education and Employment Council for Women and Girls as
well as the Health and Human Services Board of Children and Family
Services.
She will never leave Tommytown.
"I've pretty much given my life to this community because it's my
calling," Romo said. "It wasn't even really a choice. Once the big guy
up there tells you what to do, you just do it."
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