EOFULA is reborn with Life	287 ask the government to cancel and not extend program (g)
Latin vote can give the victory to Deeds	Rafael Lopez thinks about how to be delegated of VA
They find body of missing girl	Catholic church opens his arms to the Anglican ones

Life attends to more than 600 major adults annually. They not only receive consultancy in nutrition and a medical control but also find the heat of hearth that so much they need. photo: photo: Alvaro Ortiz/Washington Hispanic.

Mitzi Mace
Washington Hispanic
For decades the Educational Organization for Close Latin Americans (EOFULA, by his initials in English) has been recognized for providing services and programs to the Latin community of the third age in Washington DC. Now his annual 40 celebrates, but with a different name that according to his executive director, Angel Luis Irene reflects better the mission of the organization. LIFE is the new name that EOFULA adopted from May, 2009, but the extract keeps on being the same: to improve and to raise the quality of life of the biggest adult of Hispanic origin.
Life created under the name of EOFULA by Carlos Rosario and a group of leaders in 1969 with the intention of attending to the Hispanic community that was facing language and cultural barriers, changed mission in 1974 on having turned into the first center in offering services to the biggest adult of Hispanic origin. His 40 years of life it will realize a gala holiday on Tuesday, the 27th of October in the embassy of Finland. For some it is the place where they can find a warm meal plate, others receive medical attention to his chronic illnesses, many come in search of a little of entertainment or simply to find someone in spite of whom conversing and in spite of the fact that the most intimate of his memoirs to remember. With what they all coincide the fact is that Life earlier called EOFULA is not a simple center where to obtain services for persons of the third age, but it has turned into the enclosure that every day lodges the biggest adults of Hispanic origin to offer to them the heat of hearth that they need.
Vida Senior Center is of anniversary and celebrates his 40 years of creation with many challenges, but also with many needs in his mission to want to serve every time better to the Hispanic community of the third age, which in the last years has presented a big growth. Life, ex-EOFULA is the only center in Washington DC that Hispanic speaker offers services culturally sensitive to the population with very peculiar characteristics.
“ For 40 years thousands of grandpas have happened for our doors receiving services that no entity is proveído. In the last 9 years our population of major adults has grown in more than one 48 per cent, but for lack of resources we can only attend to 15 or 20 per cent of this increasing community”, it points out Washington Hispanic. Angel Luis Irene, executive director of Vida Senior Center.
To satisfy the needs of our grandpas Vida it offers services focused more in improving the health and the quality of life of the adult major than in creating spaces of recreation and socialization.
“ We stay awake because our grandpas take his medicines and offer a nutritive diet to make sure that they stay healthy and with the typical chronic illnesses like the diabetes, the cholesterol and the blood pressure completely controlled”, tells Irene.
In this sense his director tells that they have managed to increase the expectation of life of the persons to that he attends. While the life expectancy in the city is 78 years, 40 per cent belong to the grandpas that it serves the center they have more than 80 years with minimal income or below the poverty line.
“ Life is his family”
Another determinant aspect in the class of services that offers Life is that 65 per cent of major adults of Hispanic origin in the District live alone, 27 per cent have never married and widowers are 34 per cent.
“ For this reason for many grandpas Vida it is his family. Particularly when they fall ill we we visit them and take them a bit of happiness”, tells the director of Life.
Other of the big challenges that the Latin grandpas face is the absence of access to housing of low cost therefore one of his most important projects is the construction of a building where a center of services will work and provide housing to the persons of the third age with major need. The project for 8.5 million dollars hopes to open his doors in March, 2011.
All the services that Life offers are free and the organization survives thanks to the funds that the local and federal government delivers – that every time are more limited - and also they receive donations of the private enterprise. One of his sources of income is the Holiday of Gala that they will realize on Tuesday, the 27th of October in the embassy of Finland. For reports to call to 202-485 5800 ext. 232.

Victor Caycho
Washington Hispanic

Walter Tejada headed a telephone mobilization between Latin Americans to support the democrat Deeds for governor of VA. photo: Edgar Becerra/WH

The election race for governor of Virginia is extremely tough, in accordance with all the surveys. Scarcely one or two difference points, in one or another sense, take the candidates Creigh Deeds (democrat) and Robert McDonnell (republican), according to such opinion polls.
“ The contest is so closed that the Hispanic vote can define the election”, pointed out Walter Tejada, member of the Meeting of the County of Arlington (Virginia).
Tiled it headed a “telephone mobilization of Latin voters” last Tuesday, the 20th, to support Deeds, “and to achieve that the Hispanic vote does the difference in the decisive elections of Tuesday, the 3rd of November”.
He remembered that in recent state elections, other democratic candidates like Mark Warner, Tim Kaine and Jim Webb, also were appearing behind the republicans in the surveys. “But in the end we win, for few hundreds of difference votes, but we win”, he affirmed Tiled, while it was doing calls to the electorate of Hispanic origin along with other activists of the community.
The act was fulfilled from 6:00 p.m. of Tuesday, the 20th, in the head office of the Democratic Committee of Arlington. It was the beginning of a campaign that foresees to communicate with thousands of citizens of Hispanic origin in Virginia.
“ Nobody must be missing this day, because his vote is very important”, it supported Tiled, “and they must do it for the democratic candidate Creigh Deeds, whose record and precedents put it very close to our community”.
Tiled, who is of Salvadoran origin, said that on the contrary the republican candidate McDonnell has taken antiimmigrant actions along his campaign, like that to 287 insist in the program (g) that he allows the police officer departments to interrogate on the migratory status of the persons.
“ Also, it has been evident against giving facility to the immigrant young people who deposit the university”, he told. “It joins it – it added - his position of years ago against the women who work and the members of the community gay”.
“ Now he wants to present himself like moderated, and that forget his precedents like conservative in end”, he said Tiled.
As for the democratic candidate, he emphasized that Deeds “armed the economic strategy that managed to extract Virginia forward, after years of bankruptcy”. Also, it alluded to “his constant fights in the Senate of Virginia” to defeat antiimmigrant projects caused in the Delegates' Chamber, up to making sure that they should "die" – according to the legislative lexicon - in the Upper House, thanks to the look observer de Deeds.
Finally, Tiled there praised the initiative of so called Deeds “Fund of opportunities”, which focuses in the economy, “that is the topic number one in the nation”.
Back to top

Mitzi Mace
Washington Hispanic

Rafael Lopez considers a migratory reform to be necessary in harmony with the interests of the country. photo: Edgard Snapdragon.

His passion for the public service joined his motto of campaign that consists of providing a new leadership that works for the interests of all there were the keys to achieve the republican nomination of Rafael Lopez supervised by delegate for the District 52 in the next elections of November 3.
Graduated in business administration of University George Mason, Rafael Lopez, of Bolivian origin was councilman of the city of Dumfries, the most ancient of the state of Virginia, at the age of 25 years and previously it occupied a public position as manager of areas. These experiences allowed him to know closely how the local politics works and they it kept in touch directly with the public.
“ I never imagined that he was going to be a politician, I studied business administration, but this is the way that appeared before me and I think to continue in him. I feel much honored to have obtained the republican nomination. I believe that they evaluated my work, my experience and the formula of my campaign”, it expressed to Washington Hispanic, Rafael Lopez.
Of the republican candidate is chosen there will replace to also republican Jeffrey M. Frederick, who has been the delegate of the District 52 for three periods and chief of the republican committee of VA, charge of which was destituído.
In a beginning Lopez was disputing the nomination with the wife of Frederick, Amy, but weeks before the primary elections Amy Frederick decided not to present before herself. The delegate Frederick is considered to be the first elect Hispanic in the Delegates' Chamber, title that provoked controversy. Lopez faces the democratic candidate, Luke Torian.
Proud of his Hispanic heredity Lopez makes sure that he is the young people who have in his hands the construction of a better future. Of equal way he thinks that it is an error to label the Hispanics of democrats or republicans “because our community has devoted itself to fight for his interests and I believe that neither the republicans, nor the democrats defend our interests to 100 per cent. It is better that the Hispanics are independent and should evaluate what proposal is convenient for them more”, affirms Lopez.
His engagement book
Rafael Lopez is very conscious of the problems that affect the Hispanic community, especially to the undocumented immigrants, but at the same time he admits that the biggest challenge is to arrange the economy.
As representative Lopez will focus in attracting more business to the north of Virginia because in turn these will turn into generating employment sources. For it it will be employed at legislations that promote the office complexes establishment, facilitate the access to the licenses and permissions, between other points.
The same way like a resident of the city of Dumfries it faces every day the chaos that one lives in the principal highways of the city for the big traffic quantity. In this sense he made sure that it will concentrate in 95 extends the highways of Interstate and to improve the highways of the crowded Route 1.
“ We have to apply other formulae to obtain more Richmond money and to invest them in our projects. We depend on quotas that come from the federal government and we must learn to obtain more resources”, tells Rafael Lopez.

Víctor Caycho
Washington Hispanic

Father Mario Dorsonville, executive director of the Hispanic Catholic Center. Photo: Alvaro Ortiz / Washington Hispanic

The news spread on Tuesday, the 20th from The Vatican, on an ecclesiastic canon approved by the Pope Benedicto XVI, who will allow to the Anglican ones to join to the Catholic Church, re-rocked the ecclesiastic spheres to world scale.
In Washington, DC, the priest Mario Dorsonville, executive director of the Hispanic Catholic Center and vice-president for the mission Catholic Charities (Catholic Charities), thought that “it is not a question of any proselytism”, and that “basically it is a movement for the configuration of a dialogue more than for the entire unit”.
In declarations to Washington Hispanic, Dorsonville indicated that the decision taken in The Vatican “is founded in the respect between the churches and to the fundamental values to moral standard of living”.
On this matter, sources of the Vatican pointed out that there has been facilitated the participation of the Anglican ones that want to join to the Catholic Church, in answer to the disappointment of many of them by the bishops' election openly homosexual and for the consecration of the marriages of the same sex.
“ I believe that it is the beginning of conversations to encourage the unit and a dialogue context between Anglican and catholic, at social justice level, development and assistance to the neediest”, said Dorsonville.
“ Like Catholics we applaud the initiative, although it will motivate a reflection time on adónde go and what is what we want”, it specified, before pointing out that critical points must be examined like the fact that the Anglican ones have not recognized the Pope as a Supreme Pontiff.
New structure
The ecclesiastic canon will allow to the Anglican ones to turn “simultaneously that will be able to support many of his spiritual characteristics and liturgical traditions”, as emphasized the cardinal William Levada, chief of catholic doctrine, in the head office of the Vatican.
The new catholic ecclesiastic structure will consist of units of the faithful inside the local catholic churches headed by Anglican prelates who will provide spiritual attention to the Anglican ones that want to be Catholics.

Back to top