Editor:

This past Saturday, You, Me, We Oakley!, Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO) and the International Institute of the Bay Area (IIBA) hosted a Citizenship Drive at O’Hara Park Middle School, and would like to thank everyone that helped make this event a success.

We would like to thank The Friends of Oakley, and Oakley residents Julie and Alan Hartford for making a generous contribution to our Citizenship Drive. Combined, The Friends of Oakley and the Hartfords sponsored 15 Oakley residents by paying their $40 registration fee.

The Citizenship Drive would not have been possible without the help of our amazing volunteers, who recognized the need to help others on their path to citizenship. We would like to extend our gratitude to all of the legal and non-legal volunteers who dedicated their time and expertise to our community: Winnie Inago, Yolanda Diaz, Mary Guzman, Beatriz Rodriguez, Adriana Rodriguez, Noor Abdullah, Erika Ramirez, Nonie Reyes, David Alejandro Lopez, Alondra Lopez, Emilia Rodriguez, Gabriela Narez, Gabriela Melena, Alfredo Coronel, Karla Rodriguez, Stephanie Zelidon, Gaynell Braxton, Patricia Sanche, Darlene Dulick, Aislinn Miller, Michael Epstein, Jaime Cader, Spoimie Nasiri, Eleonore Zwinges, Teresa Alonso-Bray, Silky Sahnan, Elisa Duarte, Rekha Tavva, Ana Villanueva, Caroline Donohue, Justin Skinner, Ildar Hafizor, Sheryl Munoz-Bergman and Dannhae Herrera Wilson.

There were also others who volunteered their time for this event and we would like to give a special thanks to O’Hara Park Principal Roger Macdonald and the Oakley Union Elementary School District for allowing us to use O’Hara Park Middle School to host the drive and for helping us coordinate all the details behind the scenes, which allowed us to have an incredibly organized event. From the OUESD, we would like to thank Ed Zurawski, Mario Gutierrez, Leo Ibarra and Robert Gregory, who helped us make all the logistical arrangements necessary for the event.

We would also like to thank Liberty Adult Education and the Liberty Union High School District for coordinating with us in order to provide civics classes for the participants here in Oakley.

Food and beverages were donated for the volunteers by Los Panchos of Pleasant Hill and by Guzman Legal Firm from Concord. We would also like to thank the Starbucks located on Main Street in Oakley for offering a special deal on the coffee that helped fuel all the volunteers throughout the event.

With no doubt, this citizenship drive was truly a community event that brought together a diverse group of organizations/institutions, volunteers, businesses and, of course, applicants who are now on their way to becoming citizens of the U.S. and fully functional members of our community and civic life.

Gabriela Baños-Galván

Program Coordinator

You, Me, We Oakley!