Season of Sacrifice: Heading back home

Local Hispanic Alliance boosts culture and language

Linda Rodriguez, president of the Hispanic Alliance in Lynchburg, provided translations for this story.

The alliance is a group that promotes cultural awareness and helps Hispanics become more acquainted with the community by providing basic services. It meets on the second Friday of each month at Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg at 7 p.m.

It also offers free beginning and advanced conversational English classes on Saturday mornings for working adults, with needs to fit their schedules.

The Saturday class is not only for Hispanics. There are students from Russia, Korea, Germany, Romania, India, Vietnam, the Ukraine, China and Jordan. Rodriguez said they are all learning English to make a better life for themselves in the U.S.

In cooperation with CVCC, the alliance can also offer language learning in English or Spanish to employers on a contract basis.

Rodriguez also serves as site director of the CVCC Altavista Center and has a master’s degree in bilingual teacher education and linguistics. She has more than 26 years of experience in higher education.

For more information about the Hispanic Alliance, contact Rodriguez at (434) 309-1225.

-- Justin Faulconer

An eight-month wait to see his family again was coming to an end and Martin Alvarez Avalos couldn’t stand still.

Though excited to return to Mexico, at this moment the construction worker just wanted to stay warm.

The late November air was frigid last Saturday morning as he and a dozen other seasonal workers waited in the parking lot of Los Amigos, a Hispanic store on Lakeside Drive, to begin their ride home.

They shivered while talking and laughing with their bags packed for a 50-hour journey.

After working construction spring through winter for May Bros., Inc., the Bedford County company that has hired them for the past four years, the only task left was to say good-bye.

Steve Canter and Thomas Jones, crew leaders at May Bros., drove them to the departure site. The two Americans waited in the cold with them for more than an hour.

They have bonded after working long hours together, so Canter said they wanted to see the workers off.

“They’re our buddies.”

It took several minutes to jam their bags and suitcases in a van starting them on their journey back. They would transfer to a bus in North Carolina.

They came over to shake hands and hug Canter and Jones before jumping in.

“Next year,” Canter said as he embraced several of the men.

“Take it easy, amigo!” Jones waved as the van pulled out of the parking lot.

Martin’s older brother, Ramon, said the first thought on his mind was just getting back with no problems.

“We put our lives in God’s hands and hope we arrive safely.”

Ramon was carrying a special surprise gift with him on the ride back for one of his daughters, a college student. It was a lap top computer he purchased at Best Buy for less than half of what he would have to pay in Mexico.

“She really needs it,” he said.

Martin and Ramon worked 34 straight 40-hour weeks installing pipe, pouring concrete, and lifting heavy equipment for just more than $8 an hour.

The brothers, May Bros.’ longest-serving seasonal employees, said the hardest part is spending time away from their loved ones, although they have learned to cope.

“As long as they are OK over there, you feel a lot better being over here,” said Ramon, 53.

Initially leery of the U.S. after encountering violence in L.A. as an illegal immigrant, Martin said he has grown attached to Central Virginia and returning year after year as a legal guest worker.

He said he would love to bring his wife and four kids to live here permanently and is exploring options to do so.

“I want to bring my family over here but I know it’s very, very difficult.”

As the construction industry took a hit this year due to the slumping economy, St. John said he might have to cut his seasonal workforce of 20 positions in half when next year rolls around.

He said he prefers keeping workers who have been there the longest, including Ramon and Martin.

He also said next year he wouldn’t rent several apartments near Timberlake Road that have housed more than half of the seasonal workers in past years. He would instead house the entire seasonal workforce on his land on Hooper Road where his shop is located.

Though he hasn’t disclosed his entire plan, he said he has some “by right” uses under Bedford County zoning that he is thinking of using. Some of the men already live in a home next to the shop — St. John said he doesn’t know if that would continue.

The brothers said they would be back next year.

Despite questions about the sluggish economy, Martin said he wants to continue using the federal guest worker program as long as he is physically able.

The numerous interviews, background checks and probes from the government are worth it to keep earning money to send home, he said.

Though it’s not the easiest job, Ramon said he would want his children to have the same chance he has in striving to make their situation better. He said several young boys in his hometown said they wished they were of legal age so they could come to the U.S. through the federal program.

“If there continues to be opportunities,” he said, “they will come.”

Part 4 of 4 in a series. Click here for more stories in this series.