Watsonville Activist Recognized

COMMUNITY NEWS

Watsonville Activist Recognized

Anissa Banuelos, program coordinator for the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County’s Youth Homeless Response Team, was honored with the Cesar Chavez Community Award March 28 for her work with homeless youth in Santa Cruz County.

Banuelos was one of the honorees at an awards ceremony via Zoom presented by the Friends of Watsonville Parks and Community Services and the City of Watsonville Parks and Community Services Department.

The Cesar Chavez Community Awards recognize individuals, organizations and businesses that engage Watsonville youth and empower them to help contribute to their community. The event’s theme was “Determination,” one of 10 values recognized by the Cesar Chavez Foundation: “Determination that is characterized by an attitude that with faith, steadfast commitment, patience, and optimism, human beings can prevail against all odds.”

Latina labor leader, activist and community organizer Dolores Huerta, president and founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, was the keynote speaker.

“Like a lot of us, we don’t do this for the recognition, we do it for the youth that we serve,” said Banuelos a few days after the event. “I had a whole speech planned, but I didn’t read it, I just spoke from the heart. I felt really honored, happy and excited, especially since we’re such a small program. We only have four people in the department, so we’re the underdogs.”

Banuelos said she got word that she was to be a recipient of the award on Friday, March 25, which just happened to be her first anniversary as program coordinator of the Youth Homeless Response Team. She started as an intern with CAB in 2018 working in a variety of departments from administration to youth education and finance, before joining the Youth Homeless Response Team as a case manager in 2019.

Born and raised in Watsonville, Banuelos said she’s “always had a passion for helping people,” and started on that path when she began attending Cabrillo College, then later CSU Monterey Bay, where she majored in collaborative health and human services with an emphasis on social work.

While attending college she held multiple jobs, including as a property manager, community organizer for the United Way’s Project Thrive, with Cabrillo College itself, with the state CalWORKs program. Along the way, she garnered three associate of arts degrees from Cabrillo, had a daughter (now 9, with a 1-year-old sister) as a single mom at age 22.

Her deep roots in the community helps her in her work.

“I have a good connection with the community, with a lot of real-life experience,” she said. “That’s why I’m so passionate about it, I went through some of the programs they’re going through, so I can be real and raw with them.”

Having Latin icon Huerta on the Zoom call was an added thrill.

“She’s definitely had a big impact on my work,” Banuelos said. “As a Chicana, a Latina whose father is from Mexico, it was such an honor. It made it more real. She’s 91 years old and still doing the work. I said to myself, ‘That’s going to be me!’” n

Anissa Banuelos

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“Ukraine, With Love” from page 11 • The story of Marija Ivajev, 37, with a cat.

She’s running away from war for the second time, coming from the Donec region from the town of Volnovacha. When the fights in Kramatorsko started in 2014, she left for Kiev. When they started bombing Kiev, she went to Lvov, then to Užhorod, where she crossed the Slovak border from where the bus took them to Michalovce. They sent them from Michalovce to Žilina. I really want to go home as soon as possible. • The story of Vita Bakaj, 42, mother with 2 daughters, Darja, 15, and Anna, 19.

They come from the Kharkiv region, Izjumenskij district. They were leaving quickly when the bombing started, with only 2 backpacks. A pressure wave broke all windows in their house. From the town of Barvinkove 180 km from Charkov, they traveled by train to Užhorod. The border was crossed by foot through Ve Veľké Slemence. From there, the bus brought them to Košice and from Košice, they traveled to Žilina. Their parents stayed in Ukraine because their health conditions did not allow them to go. They want to return home as soon as possible.

Jenkins, who was with the Red Cross for seven years, is used to volunteering in domestic disasters. She’s worked with World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, but she had not taken the training necessary for a Red Cross international mission.

When she saw a maternity hospital in Ukraine bombed, she was motivated to act.

“I was so upset,” she said.

Searching online, she connected with Milan’s sister, Viera Surovcakova Matysakova, on Facebook Messenger, and learned that Milan and his wife

Marija Ivajev and her cat. were exhausted and desperately needed someone to manage the refugee shelters.

Jenkins learned that host families were stepping up to take in refugees and 1,000 free flights had been arranged to take refugees to countries where they have relatives. Most go to Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and France.

Jenkins was aghast that children are without parents — “all the dads have to stay” to defend Ukraine.

The latest from Milan Dubec: He is launching a Slovak course for 600 people from Ukraine “so they can stay and work here” with a day camp for children to learn the language.

He explains, “Nobody knows how long the war in Ukraine will last, nor how long the reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure of Ukraine will last. Many people will not have a place to return … For our guests from Ukraine to take care of themselves and find a new job equivalent to their education and experience, there are two things that matter, first of all, they must master the Slovak language and at the same time they must have the opportunity to place their own children during working hours … to the day camp.”

The first classes have already begun. n •••

How to Help

To contribute to Camp Zilina, use this account: SK79 0900 0000 0051 8803 6306

To sponsor a course for 12 people, call Lenka Matúsová Krivošová at 421-0911-962-999.

Vita Bakaj, with daughters Darja and Anna.

“Crisis Symposium” from page 8

At 2 p.m., the doctors will take questions.

At 3 p.m., youth Ideas Lab representatives will talk about what young people need most: Citlalli Nava, a senior from North Salinas High School, Emilie Fernandez, a sophomore from Everett Alvarez High School, Gia Panetta, a sophomore from Carmel High School, Marley Miller, a freshman from Salinas High School, Michael Julian, a senior from York High School, and Roxy Bennett, a senior from Monterey High School. n

Tickets are $25 per person, free for students. To register, visit: http://AIMymh.org/ scientific-symposium