SILER CITY — The Hispanic Liaison’s oldest volunteer, Elena Gonzalez, just became its newest employee.
A former assistant nutritionist at Siler City Elementary, Gonzalez, 61, started on Oct. 26 as the Hispanic Liaison’s new workers’ rights program coordinator — though she traces her history with the organization to 1999.
Besides her volunteer work, she’s the Liaison’s official chef, but she said that’s not why she got the position.
“They know I am capable of running the new program and can deliver good results,” she said.
Executive Director Ilana Dubester said she’s excited about adding Gonzalez to her team.
“Beyond being one of our best and veteran volunteers, she also served on our board of directors for 10 years,” she said in a Facebook press release.
Gonzalez’ exact duties are still being developed, but they will center around helping poultry workers. She’s also making connections with other organizations in the area so she can help Hispanic workers who don’t work in the poultry industry. Though she’s assuming more responsibility as an employee than as a volunteer, she’s ready for the new challenge.
“I have a desire to help my community,” she said. “The desire to see real change and to be a part of that.”
Although Gonzalez was born in Mexico, she immigrated with her husband to California from Guatemala in 1986. But after her husband’s family told them that “beautiful” Siler City was a better economic option, they decided to move to the town in 1999.
“When I came to Siler City, I stopped worrying about going out and started to get involved,” Gonzalez said. “I came to the Hispanic Liaison because I needed help.”
As time went by, volunteering became a routine and a link to the greater community. Gonzalez started to dip into many different groups, always seeking a way to make a difference. When she came across the Coalition of Family Peace, a group of domestic violence survivors, and saw a need, she took the initiative.
“The group was like putting their fingers in the wound,” she said, “and it wasn’t growing from there.”
Alongside Maria Pavon, the coordinator of the domestic violence program, they formed Women Improving the Future. Gonzalez became the group’s president, which focused on teaching and passing along different hobbies and raising money to help anyone who needed it. As members moved to other places and time went on, the group fell apart.
Later in 2010, she worked as the breast cancer coordinator in Chatham County for El Pueblo, a Raleigh nonprofit that seeks to forge young and adult leaders in Wake County’s growing Latinx community.
No matter where she went or who she worked with, her involvement with the Hispanic Liaison was always there.
“I have collaborated with the Liaison for 20 years as a client and as a volunteer,” Gonzalez said. “I belonged to the board of directors for 10 years. I always work with the Liaison, but this is a new stage.”
When asked what motivates her to be so present in the community, she immediately said, “My mother,” with a smile on her face. When children from surrounding towns didn’t have a school nearby to attend, Gonzalez’s mother would allow them to stay in their home back in Chiapas, Mexico.
“Some parents paid, but others didn’t,” Gonzalez said. “So my mother let them go to school, gave them their uniforms, and allowed them to eat there.”
As a young girl, Gonzalez used to help her mother cook. She remembers making tortillas for 20 to 30 people every day. That was the beginning of her love for cooking.
Though a graduated chef in her home country, her certificate became invalid when she stepped on American soil. But following in her mother’s footsteps, who finished elementary school at the age of 60, Gonzalez enrolled in CCCC when she was 54.
“She finished all her studies and pulled all the adults in the neighborhood to continue studying,” she said.
Fearful of not knowing English, Gonzalez once again turned to the Hispanic Liaison for help. During that time, Marcia Espinola Grimes was the Liaison’s interim director and accompanied Gonzalez to enroll in the Organic Chef program.
Once enrolled, she had to work twice as hard, translating everything from English to Spanish and vice versa. One day she was so overwhelmed, she emailed her teacher, saying she was ready to quit because she didn’t want to delay her classmates’ learning.
The teacher responded in Spanish, saying, “I want to see you until the last day of class; you are my best student.”
Throughout her time at CCCC, Gonzalez learned to understand English ,and today she is little by little letting go of her fear of speaking it in public. Opportunities like these are not available to people her age in her home country, so she doesn’t take them for granted.
Besides, Gonzalez said she wants to keep growing — and she added, “It’s never too late.”
“You have to keep looking,” Gonzalez said. “So it really is a good change that I have the opportunity of this position, to continue growing and working for my community.”
Reporter Patsy Montesinos can be reached at pmontes2@chathamnr.com.