Tag Archives: Community Support

Tea Empowers Women Through the Ages

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For centuries, drinking tea has played a significant role in the lives of women around the world. As we celebrate Women’s History month alongside the 24th annual Catherine’s Tea, take a look at a few key women who utilized tea and tea gatherings to mobilize resources and support for women’s rights!

Penelope Barker, United States – 1770s

Penelope led the first organized women’s protest movement called the The Edenton Tea Party, boycotting British goods after the passing of the Tea Act. An all women-organized protest was a new concept, and unlike the Boston Tea Party, the women protested peacefully.

Oura Kei, Japan – 1850s to 1880s

By herself, Oura was responsible for creating the Japanese tea market. During a time when women had few rights, Oura Kei was building a tea empire, and even convinced farmers to grow a new type of tea, sencha. Today, sencha is Japan’s main type of tea.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, United States – 1840s to 1900

For over fifty years, Elizabeth was one of the most influential leaders of the US Women’s Rights Movement. Her love of tea was clear as she carried around with her a travelling tea table that was used at tea events, and on it, the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments was signed, opening the path to women’s suffrage.

Catherine McAuley, Dublin, Ireland – 1770s to 1840s

Catherine McAuley, for whom the Center is named, devoted her life to educating women and serving the vulnerable alongside other women in Dublin, Ireland. The Sisters of Mercy, the religious order founded by Catherine, span the globe with their commitment to service today, and actively address five Critical Concerns: Nonviolence, Racism, Immigration, Earth, and Women. In her last moments, Catherine asked one of the sisters praying beside her to “be sure you have a comfortable cup of tea for them [the sisters] when I am gone,” thus inspiring us all to continue her spirit of hospitality in our service.

Keeping with Catherine’s tradition, we gather each year to share a comfortable cup of tea, and honor the hard work and dedication of our neighbors who seek services at the Catherine McAuley Center. Help our neighbors make their own history and take a taste of Catherine’s Tea home with a Patronage Tea Package!

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Giving supports refugee resettlement and support

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Dear Friends,

As a friend of the Catherine McAuley Center (CMC), you know that our refugee and immigrant neighbors are finding valuable connections at CMC. But did you know that last year, 260 refugees made Eastern Iowa their home with the Center’s help? These neighbors who have experienced untold violence in their lives now have housing, medical care, education, and employment right here in our community.

While this is something to celebrate, recent federal changes and executive orders threaten the ability of some of our newest neighbors to reunite with family members who are still living abroad in refugee camps.

  • A recent executive order allowing states and municipalities to opt out of resettlement continues to create a culture of mistrust and can send a message that refugees are not welcome in our communities.
  • No more than 18,000 refugees will be admitted to the U.S. this year, down from 110,000 in 2017. This is an all-time low in the history of refugee resettlement in the U.S.
  • A week-by-week moratorium on all refugee resettlement in late 2019 meant CMC went without resettlement revenue for nearly three months.
  • The recent expansion of the 2017 travel ban restricts immigrant visas for individuals from six additional countries, preventing some clients at CMC from reuniting with their families.

Mother and child reunited

In the face of this unpredictability and uncertainty, individual giving is more important than ever. Will you take a stand for the dignity of our neighbors, here and abroad, and give?

While changes to the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program are out of our control, you can bolster the educational and supportive services available to all CMC clients—refugees, immigrants, adult learners, and women experiencing crisis. Together, we can work together for an inclusive community in these volatile times.

With hope,

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Paula Land signature

Paula Land
Executive Director

P.S.  Setting up a monthly gift offers hope and opportunity to our neighbors all year long.

Volunteer Spotlight: Rose Mary

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Through all stages of life, the conventional wisdom is to make a plan and follow it carefully. Whether it be college, a career, a big move, even a vacation – take calculated steps to get there. While this is usually very sound advice, in some cases not having a plan can end up leading you to the right place. This was the case for Rose Mary, a long time CMC volunteer that has been involved at the Center since 2008. 

“They always said ‘Before you’re retired you should be sure you know what you want to do,’” Rose Mary said, “Well I retired and I didn’t know what I wanted to do!” 

After retiring from Rockwell Collins and trying to find a way to fill her days, Rose Mary took a chance on a program that pointed retirees towards volunteer opportunities, and she eventually decided on the Catherine McAuley Center. Rose Mary has volunteered all over the Center since she first started, helping out with things such as filing, stuffing letters, preparing our event invitations for mailing, and managing CMC’s scrapbooks that are viewed at our Annual Celebration. Some of her jobs, like preparing tea bags, are a testament to how long she’s been helping out. 

“I started as a tea lady, did you know they used to sell a lot of tea?” she asked, before discussing some of the highlights from her first years at CMC.

“It was a whole group of us around the table in the sunroom. We had to tear these little bags apart and put a teaspoon of tea in there and iron them shut. I did that for a couple years, and that was fun because we always said ‘Whatever’s said in the tea room stays in the tea room!’”

Rose Mary has seen plenty of change during her years at the Center, most notably the increasing amount of people and the decreasing amount of free space as we approach the long-awaited move into a larger building. 

“We just keep getting more and more people!” she said as we discussed the move this summer, “The basement used to just be the basement, but they had to fix that up to make room for more people, so it just keeps growing.”

Besides the ever-growing need for space, one of the most common talking points about the Catherine McAuley Center is the feeling of welcome when you step inside. There are friendly faces around every corner, which plays a large role in keeping volunteers like Rose Mary coming back for so many years. 

“Everyone always says thank you. I feel like I put smiles on people’s faces. That’s what’s kept me coming back– the people. I don’t remember ever leaving in a bad mood, I’ve always felt better.”

English Classes with Raining Rose

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Raining Rose facilityIn October 2019, CMC was offered a unique opportunity to partner with Raining Rose and expand our education services outside of the Center. Raining Rose is a manufacturer of personal care products based in Cedar Rapids, as well as a consistent employer of immigrants and refugees, some of whom have settled in the area through CMC’s services. Due to language barriers in the workplace, Raining Rose reached out about a partnership that would involve on-site English classes for their employees – a need CMC is uniquely equipped to meet! 

Angie Miller, our Tutor Student Liaison, has been teaching at Raining Rose since the beginning of the program in October. She teaches classes on site on Mondays and Wednesdays at 2 and 3 p.m. to accommodate both first and second shift workers. This is one of the many advantages of this partnership – it offers even more flexibility for students to coordinate classes around their busy work schedules.

Angie Miller

Tutor Student Liaison, Angie Miller, shares a sample of one of her lessons for students

There are plenty of familiar faces, between employees who have previously used CMC’s Refugee & Immigrant Services and others who have sought out additional English lessons at the Center or one of our satellite locations. Angie says that building relationships with her students and other employees has been one of the most notable highlights, along with the opportunity to get consistent teaching experience.

Unlike the one-on-one tutoring sessions offered at the Center, Angie’s classes can include up to ten students at a time. The results have been just as noticeable, however, even though classes have only been taking place for a few months. Angie says that she has been approached by multiple Raining Rose employees who have noticed an increase in clear, confident communication from her students. 

Raining Rose has been the Center’s first partnership like this, and will hopefully be the first of many. Language barriers can be a common obstacle for immigrants and refugees as they look for employment, but there are always solutions to be found. CMC will be looking for more partnership and outreach opportunities, as well as looking forward to continuing our work with Raining Rose.

Volunteer Spotlight: Myrna

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A sense of community is something to be cherished. As people, we seek out those connections and interactions that make us feel truly human and more in tune with the people around us. Volunteer tutor Myrna Loehrlein, who has enjoyed tutoring at CMC for the past eleven years, shared that the connections she’s made through working with students is high on the list of reasons that she’s stayed with us for so long!

Myrna teaches basic learning skills to adults at the Center as a volunteer tutor. Some of these students are learning how to read for the first time in any language, and others are learning English. No matter a student’s background, Myrna’s ability to teach is bolstered by her remarkable background in child education. While teaching itself can be infinitely rewarding, Myrna says one of her favorite aspects of tutoring and being at CMC is the interactions that she gets to have. Myrna states that she feels “not only appreciated, but respected,” and has “never had a student who was grumpy!” According to Myrna, seeing students achieve their goals is always something to be celebrated, but it is the connection between student and tutor forged in the hours of study that is most meaningful. “The things that are really most encouraging aren’t necessarily student achievements but a sense that even if there isn’t a really an identifiable student achievement, there’s something important going on. You know that all of us here are complete people,” she continues, “We want to be serious and we want to learn but we understand that the heart of us needs to be taken care of.”  And that is exactly what Myrna, and the hundreds of other volunteers at CMC, do each day. 

The community at CMC is one that is built on connection. It is a place that places a premium on respect and understanding of one another. Each person, whether entering our doors as a compassionate teacher or an eager learner, is appreciated for the unique strengths they bring to our community. At CMC, all will find that the passion to connect with and care for others is shared among our staff and volunteers; a passion we believe to be truly exceptional. Thank you, Myrna – for a great conversation, all of the work you do here, and contributing to the good spirit of the Center!

We began this series on our volunteers to shine a light on just some of the hundreds of people that give their time and talents to contribute to CMC.  Follow along to get to know more of our volunteers who are working together for an inclusive community at CMC!

From the Director’s Desk: Letter to the Editor of the Corridor Business Journal

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As the only refugee resettlement agency in the Corridor, the Catherine McAuley Center (CMC) values the partnerships with the Gateways for Growth initiative with the City of Cedar Rapids, and the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance. Working with hundreds of refugees and immigrants each year, CMC understands the unique barriers confronting these newcomers as they seek opportunities to contribute and connect to their new community and achieve self-sufficiency, the ultimate goal of the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

While immediately eligible to work, our highly motivated refugee newcomers often experience cultural and language barriers that can be overcome through education and skill-building. For instance, CMC’s Job Club helps refugees and immigrants understand how to be successfully employed in the U.S. by explaining things like the importance of being on time, a concept that is not a part of some African cultures. Similarly, understanding paychecks, benefits and taxes is a foreign concept to many.

But client education is just one piece of the puzzle. By working directly with local employers, we are able to address the unique barriers to accessing employment at companies who are in need of a committed and capable workforce. CMC offers tangible and concrete suggestions and information. When local businesses hire someone, they are hiring a person, not a demographic. We invite local employers to reach out to us to help facilitate that understanding with their diverse workforce!

From helping women become registered in-home child-care businesses, to breaking down language and cultural barriers, to partnering with local employers, CMC can only bolster the efforts of initiatives put forth by the City of Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance and other groups in our community. We see both challenges and successes of our clients, we watch them grow, and understand their needs on a personal level, and continue to identify ways to address them. CMC offers a place of welcome and appreciates the many individuals and organizations who recognize the great value and benefit of a diverse and inclusive community.

Sincerely,
Paula Land
Executive Director
Catherine McAuley Center

You can read the published Letter to the Editor in the August 19-25, 2019 edition of the Corridor Business Journal.

Volunteer Spotlight: Deb and Stacey

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The two individuals we’re introducing today use the skills and passions they’ve developed throughout their lives in behind-the-scenes roles at CMC to contribute to a more inclusive community. Meet Deb and Stacey Frank!

Their relationship with CMC started around five years ago, but their relationship with each other was founded upon a propensity to help others for much longer; Deb and Stacey met while volunteering at the Relay for Life event in 1998! Deb was serving as the head of the food committee and Stacey, who had been volunteering to provide education to children with cancer, was helping out wherever he could at that year’s event. After meeting and dating for two years, the two married and would continue their lives of kindness and generosity together.

Though both had full-time jobs, Stacey as a machinist and Deb as a judicial assistant, they continued to volunteer when they could find the time. It wasn’t until around five years ago that Deb began volunteering at CMC, knowing she “wanted to reach out and do something more.” Since then she has worked the front desk (while it was still there), performed data entry and monitored data integrity, transcribed videos, and performed numerous other tasks each week.

Stacey began volunteering when CMC was in desperate need of someone to maintain the grounds. When asked to help by former Volunteer Coordinator, Kristin, Stacey gladly took up the offer and has helped keep our building and grounds as welcoming as the people inside ever since.

Now that both have retired, Deb and Stacey spend their time fishing, reading, and visiting their eleven grandchildren across the country when they’re not volunteering. Luckily for us, both are regulars at the Center. Deb shared, “I just really like the variety and the flexibility and people are so nice and so appreciative. It keeps me coming back and it’s a great organization.” Stacey stated it’s “the appreciation that’s shown and the friendliness of the people.”

Deb and Stacey have had no small part in the growth of CMC over the past few years. We sincerely thank both of them for the compassion they show to CMC, the time they devote to their fellow community members, and the kindness they display on a daily basis. Both are familiar faces, so if you see them around the Center, don’t hesitate to say hi!

Volunteer Spotlight: Jane & Theo

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So much of CMC’s mission to offer hope and opportunity depends on dedicated and kind volunteers who lend their skills in areas ranging from administration to grounds-keeping. Without such dedicated and kind volunteers we wouldn’t be able to serve the community in such a profound way. So, over the coming months we will be sharing stories of various volunteers as just one way to show our appreciation. Join us as we get to know some of the hundreds of people who dedicate their time to CMC.

Jane Carlson has tutored at CMC for eight years. In that time, she’s gained more than just the satisfaction that comes with volunteering: Jane has made new friends, kept up with long-time friends, and ushered an individual through some of the most significant points in his life, all while developing some new perspectives of the world around her.

Jane has been a resident of Iowa for 39 years and spent 28 of those years managing the accounting department at DC Taylor Co. in Cedar Rapids before retiring in 2009. With her new-found spare time, Jane began volunteering. Following another volunteer experience that proved more stressful than fulfilling, she was in the market for a new opportunity. She came to CMC in 2011 after reading about the Adult Basic Education Program in the newspaper.

Throughout her time here, Jane has worked with a multitude of adult learners in English and helped one particular student prepare for the U.S. Citizenship Exam. Jane first met Theo when she stepped in as a substitute for Theo’s usual volunteer English tutor. But by what seems now to be serendipity, the two were later matched for weekly lessons, where Theo gained confidence in his English skills. According to Jane, “his English got so good that other things became higher priorities for him.” After spending some time placing more focus on his love of farming, he later contacted Jane in 2017 to request tutoring in U.S. Citizenship Exam preparation. After working diligently for some time, practicing the 100 questions with Jane and watching films on U.S. history that she recommended, Theo passed his citizenship exam and invited Jane to attend his naturalization ceremony.

The tutoring experience is certainly rewarding, if for no other reason than to watch someone grow as they work towards their goals. But as Jane found out, the satisfaction doesn’t have to be limited one reason. Jane has been able to make friends with other volunteers and maintain friendships from her own community of Mt. Vernon with people who also volunteer at CMC.

The most important lessons, though, challenged her perspective. Jane says she kept “remembering how this is all new to the person, that they come here, and they might know about freedom or religious freedom, but they don’t really know the background and how we have to explain that.” Moments like these and the connections she’s been able to make are the reason why tutoring “is the highlight of [her] week.” Tutoring is challenge and as an accountant it requires, “using a whole other part of [her] brain.” There’s always something to learn here at CMC whether you’re a volunteer, staff or client. The amount of people and cultures that leave their mark is immense. Jane’s never stopped taking in all CMC has to offer plus “… to see all the people learning English from different countries interacting with each other [is] really great.”

Thank you, Jane for the part you play in our community of learners!

New: Refugee Child Care Program!

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Twenty-three percent of all residents in Iowa live in a “child care desert” where there are three times as many children as there are open child care spots according to the Center for American Progress. This lack of child care can result in financial and personal instability as family members forgo employment to take care of their children or send their children to unlicensed child care facilities.

This has a particularly heavy impact on refugee and immigrant communities. Many child care facilities lack the appropriate cultural or linguistic training to provide comfort and understanding to parents of different backgrounds. making child care options for these families even fewer. CMC remains committed to ensuring we create an inclusive community where everyone has an equal opportunity to become independent and self-sufficient and is proud to be launching a new initiative to address the lack of child care and provide career opportunities for refugees, in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

CMC is working with local partners like Iowa Child Care Resource and Referral, HACAP’s PACES to Quality Program, and 4Cs to guide refugees and immigrants through the training and DHS approval process and establish their own in-home child care businesses. This program is modeled after a similar program organized by Lutheran Services of Iowa in Des Moines that has had great success.

Hannah Miles, Refugee Child Care Program Coordinator

Hannah Miles, Refugee Child Care Program Coordinator, was hired to direct the program thanks to a federal grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement. CMC is one of eight organizations in the nation that was selected for this funding. As the coordinating agency, CMC strives to not only increase the amount of culturally and linguistically appropriate child care, but also to help participants become more financially stable and self-sufficient by providing potential career opportunities and more accessible child care.

 

The Gazette Gives Back… New Tutors!

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The volunteers at Catherine McAuley Center play a huge role in carrying out our mission with the community. We are forever thankful for the opportunities they grant to clients and for the hard work they put in daily. 

We recently spoke to new volunteer tutor, Janet O., who started volunteering after seeing an ad about volunteering at CMC in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. We spoke to Janet about her time so far at the Catherine McAuley Center.

Question: So, how did your session go today?

Answer: It went very well. [My student] was very appreciative, he catches on fast!

Question: Did you know about Catherine McAuley Center, the education program or volunteering opportunities that we offer before you saw the ad in the Gazette?

Answer: I had heard about the Center for several years and I knew they offered these programs.

Question: What was it that actually drove you to volunteer here then?

Answer: This is my second year in retirement and it’s winter, so I thought ‘It’s time I started volunteering.’ I’d always been interested in immigrants and international students, that sort of thing.

Question: What was it about the education aspect specifically that drew you to volunteering?

Answer: I am a retired teacher, so I thought I would enjoy it. Then I saw the ad in the newspaper and I thought the time was just right so it all came together!

Question: So far, what you say have been the most rewarding aspects of tutoring?

Answer: What I like is that [the students] are very motivated. I know the difficulties of the person I’m tutoring. This is his fourth or fifth language that he’s having to learn so he’s very motivated, he’s working hard and this is on top of the normal things that all of us have to do like work and take care of family! I empathize and I’m impressed by all of that.

Question: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Answer: Of course I am still pretty new at this, but I’m excited about it and as time allows and as I get more used to the program, I hope to volunteer more. To encourage other people– I think as the person tutoring you get so much out of it and it’s a good thing to do.

Like Janet, you can sign up for a new tutor orientation, which is offered twice monthly! Don’t forget to vote for the Catherine McAuley Center in the Gazette Gives Back by December 31!