Caroline House helps mothers, children
November 19, 2008
By Keila Torres
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Phil Noel/Staff photographer Jean Fredericksreads to day-care children in Bridgeport. |
All around us are people in need. You may see them in your downtown, down on their luck, out of work or perhaps dealing with a mental or physical handicap. Others are not so visible. Call them the working-poor, if you choose. They hold onto a job, a home, but need help with food, clothing, fuel or some other aspect. Their ranks are growing. In our community, people are committed to helping, not just in this Season of Giving, but all year. A series of articles, beginning today in the Connecticut Post, will show what some are doing – and what you can do to help.
BRIDGEPORT – For Amarilys Rodriguez, who left Puerto Rico for Connecticut four years ago, helping her 2-year-old son with his learning disabilities was not easy. That’s because Rodriguez, 22, barely speaks English and “not everyone is willing to be a translator for you,” the young blonde said in Spanish. So when someone at the Optimus Health Care Center on East Main Street told her about the Caroline House on Stillman Street, where both she and her son could obtain the services they needed, she jumped at the chance.
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Connecting mothers with their children is one of the key goals of the Caroline House, which is run by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. “We have a really strong mother/child program”" said Sister Ann Moles, executive director at the Caroline House. |
Phil Noel/Staff photograher Computer learning classes taught by Sister Ellen Fitzsimmons. |
The women attend classes from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, while the children are cared for in one of two play rooms in the building.
“You’re teaching the moms and helping them teach their kids and advocate for their children,” said Mary Ellen Gavin, development director for Caroline House.
“The kids never hear Spanish” in the day care, said Sister Moles. “By the time those kids leave here they can be put in a mainstream kindergarten.”
Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University students serve as volunteers in the day-care center and even help with the tutoring.
On Fridays, the women attend a Life Skills program, in which the SSND provide speakers or activities to inform the women about different topics important to the women, like breast cancer.
The Caroline House was founded in 1995 by a group of SSNDs who converted the yellow Victorian – donated by longtime city resident Alice Simon for the purpose of educating the community – into a nondenominational educational center.
“If we push being Catholic here we don’t get grant money,” Sister Moles explained. The school is funded by private grants and donations.
Several years ago a $90,000 addition was built, which brought the total number of classrooms to four and allowed room for several small offices.
“When we came to the United States we came for immigrants and now we do the same thing,” said Sister Mariano Pardo, who teaches fourth-level English.
Although most of the women in the center hail from Central and South America, there is also a woman from China and the nuns are expecting a Rwanda native to join them next year.
“Our community started in Bavaria, Germany, in 1833, and at that time only rich women could be educated,” said Sister Moles. “We [now] have sisters in 36 countries throughout the world.”