The Learning & Loving Education Center
Literacy and Dignity
to Immigrant Women
Written By Jordan Rosenfeld
T
o look at the small, modest building of the Learning
and Loving Education Center in Morgan Hill, you
might never know just how vast its offerings to its
population of low-income, immigrant women.
Inside, the Center bustles with life; people passing in the
halls, stopping to chat with each other or help themselves to
the daily hot lunch provided free to the Center by a
nonprofit program called Loaves and Fishes.
“Learning is the key thing we do…and loving is the
community that we form here as we prepare them to reach
out to the wider community,” Director Christa Hanson told
TODAY .
The Center offers numerous classes for a one-time annual
fee of $70, though as Hanson made clear, no one is ever
turned away for lack of funds.
The organization was named the2018 Non-profit of
the Year by Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce. Hanson
beamed when she described her pride in the community’s
support. “The community values the dignity and worth of
the immigrant population that we serve,” she said.
The Center was founded in 1994 by several members
of the Sisters of the Presentation religious order based
in San Francisco, who felt there needed to be a place for
immigrant women to go to break the language barrier that
was often preventing them from getting ahead in life. The
Center started out at the old St. Catherine of Alexandria
Parish hall with a handful of volunteers serving just 20
women, then moved to an old barber shop on Monterey
Road, before moving to its current location on
Church Street.
Now, in its 24 th year, the nonprofit funds ten part-time
employees, as well as Hanson, but relies heavily upon
40 or more regular volunteers who do everything from
administrative tasks to teaching classes.
The Center’s Board of Trustees Chair, Jim Yinger, worked
in the Morgan Hill Unified School District for 27 years. He
pointed out that while there are other opportunities for these
women to learn English through adult school, this program
offers something more: “Here they are in community with
their children and with other women who are educators,
which gives them such personal power.”
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Volunteer Driven
Volunteers are the lifeblood of the well-oiled machinery of
the Center. “If we had to pay all the people who help here
what they’re worth, we couldn’t afford it,” Hanson lamented.
She said she is grateful for each and every one.
“In the 16 years I’ve taught at the Learning and Loving
Education Center I’ve definitely received much more than
I’ve given,” Barbara Palmer said. She volunteers as an English
teacher at the Center. After 32 years as an elementary school
special education teacher, Palmer feels that, “For me this is
a woman-to-woman endeavor. These lovely women want
the same things from life that all of us do—to be safe, to be
treated fairly and to have the best for their families.”
Along with volunteers, the Center relies upon the support
of grants, individual donations and a number of services
such as food donated by Second Harvest Food Bank and
Safeway stores, janitorial services, and partnerships with
other organizations such as Community Solutions and
Rebekah Children’s Services. Other local philanthropic
organizations like Rotary Club, Gilroy Assistance League,
and the Kiwanis also donate time and money.
A Foundation of Literacy
While they teach many things, the centerpiece of their classes
is literacy. “We teach English on five levels, starting with
basic pre-literacy,” Hanson said.
The women range from those who have never gone to
school and don’t know how to read or write in their own
language, to those who matriculated in their own country
but just don’t speak any English. As of this year, 20 of their
women are taking classes at Gavilan College in Gilroy.
“Last year we gave five scholarships,” Hanson said
proudly. Those women use their scholarships to pay for reg-
istration, parking and books at Gavilan. “They bring us their
papers and show us what they’re doing.”
Literacy classes continue with grammar, writing, and a
book club to read books which they can borrow from a little
lending library curated and managed by college student
Megan Yabumoto. She volunteers her time cataloguing all
the books, creating a check-out system, putting up book-
shelves and painting the room.
Continued on page 53
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JUNE/JULY 2018
gmhtoday.com
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