Page 9 - Reedley Exponent 2-7-19 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent PB anorama
Section | Thursday, February 7, 2019 www.reedleyexponent.com
Event helps students 'dress for success'
Washington Elementary students raise money for a good cause
More Photos, See B10
Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654
The View From Here
There were many exciting things happening in the city of Reedley within the last week. I attended the first Reedley Town Hall meeting on the evening of Jan. 28.
Juanita Adame
By Juanita Adame
Juanita@midvalleypublishing.com
The Career Center at Reedley College was bustling with excite- ment on the morning of Feb. 5 as the first ever, "Dress For Success" event took place on campus.
Inside the center, it was shoul- der-to-shoulder room only as stu- dents took breaks between class- es to browse through the various racks of tops, slacks, belts, ties, and more.
"We really saw the need to pro- vide our students with an opportu- nity to get access to professional clothing," said Ellyce Parento-Gari- ca, the Career Counselor Coordina- tor at Reedley College.
"And so we thought, why not do a pop up closet, and unfortunately we don't have the space to host a closet to be run year round, so we decided to do this pop up closet and make it a two day event."
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It was encouraging to see how many community members showed up to let their voices be heard.
The topic at the town hall meeting was homelessness. City manager, Nicole Zieba spoke to the crowd, so did Reedley's Police Chief, Joe Garza, Lt. Marc Edidger and Sgt. Gary Kincaid.
The conversations between the city officials and residents were definitely informative. They talked about areas of town that tend to be inhabited by homeless people.
There were moments of debate between community members who felt strongly on behalf of help- ing the homeless in town. And oth- ers who felt more needs to be done to have these people rehabilitated once and for all.
The town hall meetings will continue each month through June. The next one is Monday, Feb. 25 and will focus on economic de- velopment, facts and myths in Reedley. The title of the next meet- ing will be "Why don't we have a Target yet?"
Also this past week I attended the St. La Salle Benefit Auction at the Reedley Community Center. There were so many items up for bid. And it was good seeing Tony Cabrera and his wife Raquel at the event. Congratulations to St. La Salle on a successful event, keep up the great work.
Prior to the event that night, I experienced a little mishap with my car.
I went to the gym earlier in the day, and as I got back into my car and turned the key. It would not start. The battery was dead.
I thought to myself, oh no, this is neither the time nor the place. It was pouring rain outside and I don't know the first thing about swapping out a dead battery.
After a ride to purchase a new battery, my mom and I drove back to the spot where my car was.
I googled "How to swap out a battery" and found an instructional video on youtube.
"Ok, here goes nothing," I said to myself. Wrench in hand, I pulled up the hood on my sweater to avoid the rain, popped the hood and then struggled for a good five minutes in the rain to try and open find the hood latch underneath the hood.
Once my mom and I figured it out, I began the grueling task of taking out the bolts that held the battery down.
As I was deep in thought, at- tempting to be the best impromp- tu mechanic I could be, I heard a voice say, "Do you need help?" I looked up and saw a man wearing a Lakers jersey. I said yes, please. "All you need to do is change the battery?" Yes I said, we have a new battery. "Ok, I can do that for you."
This man took the next 30 min- utes in the pouring rain to swap out the dead battery in my car.
I just want to say that there are good people in the world. I know we see a lot of bad news on TV at times, however, good people still exist. I was surprised because he didn't have to do this. It was pour- ing rain yet he had the best atti- tude about it the whole time.
Having worked in tv news, I ran into some questionable people. I interviewed people who had done some really bad things. Sometimes we believe there are only those types of people in the world.
Then a complete stranger in a Laker's jersey comes along and reminds you that good people still exist.
And speaking of good people, I met Ellyce Parento-Garcia on the morning of Feb. 5. She is the Career Counselor Coordinator at Reedley College.
She told me they had a num- ber of students come by and tell
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Juanita Adame / The Exponent
ABOVE: Representatives from JC Penny talked to students and offered discounts on the stores clothing on the morning of Feb. 5. This was the first year that the pop up closet was held on campus. Reedley College Career Counselor Coordina- tor, Ellyce Parento-Garcia said she was surprised with the response from students.
Juanita Adame / The Exponent
ABOVE: Rows of folded slacks were laid out on a table inside the Career Center at Reedley College during the 'Dress for Success' event.
Clovis author visits Reedley Drama Club
Anne Briggs detailed her life of growing up in an Irish orphanage
Photo Contributed / The Exponent
ABOVE: Author Anne Briggs held up her book 'The Swan Garden' during the Jan. 8 meeting of the Reedley Drama Club. Briggs is an Irish Mother - Baby Home sur- vivor and shared her experiences with those in attendance.
Contributed
Clovis authorAnneBriggsvis- ited the Reedley Drama Club on Jan 8 to share her life story which began in an "Irish Mother - Baby Home" in Castlepollard, Ireland in 1949.
Irish Mother - Baby Homes were orphanages for unwed Irish mothers and their babies. The cen- ters operated from 1904 through 1996.
Briggs lived in an Irish orphan- age in Dublin through her 4th birth- day. Shesaidthatalthoughshewas in poor health, she was brought to America at age five to live with her new adoptive family.
She shared her experiences of growing up with her adoptive fam- ily in the United States, and her de- sire to connect the missing dots of her life by finding her birth mother and Irish family so that she could understand what had happened.
According to IrishCentral.com, a three year long investigation called the "Clann Report" detailed abuse by nuns against the unwed mothers and their children who stayed at these types of orphanages.
Nearly 100 people were inter- viewed for the report. It is believed that an estimated 6000 babies and children died in the nine homes dur- ing that time that the centers oper- ated.
Briggs told members that she did extensive research on the moth- er baby homes in hopes of filling in missing information regarding her early years as well as finding her birth mother and extended Irish family so she could find out exactly what happened during that time.
Biggs traveled to Ireland in 2008 with her daughter. She was able to meet and spend time with her birth mother.
Shehas writtenseveral books, "The Swan Garden," "Garden of Nails" and is currently working on her third novel of the Garden tril- ogy, "Shared Gardens."
All of Briggs' novels were written from different perspec- tives about the Irish Mother –Baby homes.
Irish Mother - Baby Homes were orphanages for unwed mothers. They operated from 1904 - 1996
Successful weekend for St. La Salle School
ABOVE: Tony Cabrera, anchor for ABC 30's morning show was the emcee at the 28th annual benefit auction for St. La Salle on the evening of Feb. 2.
Photos by Juanita Adame / The Exponent
ABOVE: Auctioneers help the keep track of who was bidding on various items during the benefit auction.
ABOVE: Auctioneers keep track of the items that are were sold and the amounts during the annual benefit auction benefitting St. La Salle Catholic School in Reedley.