Annual celebration helps people connect with local agencies

ALBANY - As the mariachi music poured from the speakers and ribbon-bedecked dresses swirled onstage, Josue Pena-Juare waited patiently to talk with people about politics.

The 18-year-old Corvallis man came Saturday to South Albany High School as a volunteer with Benton County Latino Student Voice in Action, known by its Spanish acronym, VELA.

All around his booth, members of other agencies n Healthy Start, the Oregon Employment Department, Linn County Public Health n shared their information in rapid-fire Spanish with visitors to the eighth annual La Fiesta de Nuestra Comunidad.

At the VELA booth, though, the visitors were the ones providing information, as volunteers asked eligible adults to register to vote, and those already registered to sign pledge cards reminding them to cast their ballot by Nov. 2.

The pledge cards are a fund-raiser, and each is worth $2 to the group, Pena-Juare explained. VELA is part of an initiative sponsored by Voz Hispana of Salem, which is trying to register at least 3,000 new Hispanic voters in Oregon for the coming election.

"I still would have done this even if I wasn't getting paid, 'cause I really believe this election is one of the most important ones I'm going to vote in," Pena-Juare said.

The country's ongoing involvement in Iraq has him particularly concerned. "Whoever is president, it affects everyone," he said.

Pena-Juare is looking forward to the chance to cast a vote, his first. But many people of Latino origin spend little time on politics, even if they are citizens, said Silvia Vazquez-Rios, coordinator of Hispanic Ministries for St. Mary's Catholic Church of Corvallis.

Vazquez-Rios said many of the adults she knows aren't educated past the sixth grade. Their English is limited, as is their understanding of U.S. government.

"The only picture they can see is their survival picture," she said.

Vazquez-Rios said immigration laws concern the families she speaks with, and most are looking for a faster, easier, less bureaucratic way to become citizens. "That's the main thing they have to deal with, besides bringing bread home and finding a place to live."

She picked up a pamphlet from her booth, a recitation of the Rosary in Spanish.

"That's the only hope they have," she said with a wry smile. "They don't depend on politics, they don't depend on nobody. They depend on prayer. That's the hottest-selling item."

Maybe so, but they do have other concerns, said Dania Samudio, chairwoman of the Linn Benton Hispanic Advisory Committee, which puts on La Fiesta with support from mid-valley businesses and organizations.

People of Hispanic origin want to find jobs that pay good wages, she said. They want access to good health care. A big concern, she said, is the desire for their children to do well in school and be able to go on to higher education.

"Our vote is very important, because they can hear us, that we're here, that we're a growing population," she said.

But she agreed with Vazquez-Rios that many Hispanics aren't aware of, or are intimidated by, the need to cast that vote.

That's why events such as La Fiesta are so important, said Nelly Leano, who was handing out pamphlets offering free classes in citizenship for Spanish speakers. (The classes are Tuesdays starting Oct. 12 at Songbird Village Community Center in Albany.)

"We need help for the Hispanic citizen," Leano said, with some translation help from Vazquez-Rios. With education on their rights and responsibilities, she went on, "they can make a better citizen, make our community a happier community, a better place to live. Altogether. Everyone."