My name is Laura Pascal, and I volunteer with the CPLC Community Center, which provides after-school programming to children in West Phoenix. 

From the moment I started volunteering, I felt welcomed: We were watching a movie with the children one day, all masked up because of COVID. I was sitting next to Anita, a little girl I still know today and adore. 

I don’t remember which movie we were watching, but it was a Disney movie where the mom dies. When it happened, I looked at Anita, and we were both so sad. 

“But I love my mom,” Anita said. 

“I love my mom too,” I replied. We were both on the verge of tears. 

It was a simple exchange, but it meant so much to me at the time, because my mom had recently passed away. 

Anita is now going into fourth grade, and it always amazes me to see the children grow up, see how their personalities develop, and see them weather difficult times—like the time one little boy told me his mom was getting remarried. 

Or the child who told me her mom had been in detention. 

At the root, they’re just families that love each other so much. And their parents are just trying their best to give their children a better life. 

My own grandparents came from the Netherlands. But back then, everyone assimilated. No one wanted to be a “foreigner,” so they didn’t try to preserve their culture. 

But as I’ve gotten to learn more about our community here in the Southwest, and how proud people are of their heritage, I’ve embraced the Latino culture into my own, in the same way they embraced me. 

After volunteering for so long, I feel like these children expect me to be there, so I take my job seriously and keep showing up. And I always feel appreciated! And like I belong.  

And I only wish the same for everyone who comes through our doors. 

Best wishes, 

Laura Pascal