Suburban organizations facing a shortage of bilingual volunteers

Suburban organizations need more people like Veronica Patino - willing to volunteer, but most importantly, able to speak Spanish.

Civic groups are struggling to communicate with increasing numbers of non-English speakers in need of social services such as food and shelter and language classes, as well as those who need a helping hand to care for a sick child or relative.

Patino, 27, of Lake in the Hills, is one of very few Spanish-speaking volunteers in the West and Northwest suburbs for the Make A Wish Foundation of Illinois. Last year, she granted 10 wishes for children with life threatening illnesses. This year, there are 17 on her list.

"Wish-makers are a key factor in making a wish come true and bringing joy to a child's life," said Patino, who works with families from across the state. "They are important to the healing process."

Though statistics on the number of bilingual families and individuals that need assistance is difficult to quantify, organizations say evidence lies in the number of requests received.

"The need for bilingual or Spanish-speaking volunteers has definitely grown," said Annette Sommer, program director for the Volunteer Center of Northwest Suburban Chicago, an Arlington Heights-based organization that pairs volunteers with more than 140 service agencies in 53 northern Cook County and northern DuPage County suburbs.

"This (economy) is hitting everyone so hard now, and these are people who need services, too," she said. "We need to be able to serve them, as well as those who speak English."

While Spanish is the predominant language spoken after English, volunteers fluent in Polish, Korean, Japanese, Russian and Hindi are also needed, Sommer said.

"Our population has become so diverse; we need to be able to help everyone," she said.

However, program leaders say, attracting volunteers - let alone those who can speak another language - is vexing.

Martha Carlos, managing director of marketing for the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago, said about 30 percent of the people the Red Cross serves in the Chicago area are Hispanic, but the number of Spanish-speaking volunteers is well-below a third of the 3,000 people who offer their services every year.

"We are increasingly seeing a community of folks who are primarily comfortable with speaking Spanish," Carlos said. "We always try to mirror the community, but it is difficult."

The shortage is evidenced at SER-Jobs for Progress in Lake County, a community-based organization that helps Hispanic residents improve their lives through education and advocacy. The organization teaches English as a Second Language to more than 300 people a week. There are eight teachers and one high school student intern.

"The main purpose of the program is to communicate with the people we help who are 100 percent Hispanic," said Reni Mitkova, the ESL program director at SER-Jobs for Progress. "The volunteers help with the delivery of instructions and provide some one-on-one help. We would like to help everyone succeed, but class sizes are 20-to-1 so not all questions can be answered. I would like to have more."

For 14-year-old Karina Cazares, a freshman at St. Martin de Porres school in Waukegan, helping out at SER is a win-win situation.

"I get to develop my skills and learn what will be expected of me in a job," said Cazares, who spends about 25 hours a month teaching people to use computers. "It shows me what I can do in a job and how I can help others who only speak Spanish."

Jeannette Herrera, of Carpentersville, understands the need for a bilingual volunteer. Her son, David, 12, was diagnosed with a brain tumor three years ago. The family was put in contact with the Make a Wish Foundation of Illinois to make David's wish of being in a band come true.

At first, the Herrera family worked with an English-speaking volunteer who could not communicate in Spanish. That made it difficult for the family because David's father, Gabriel, does not speak English, Herrera said. The family then began working with Patino.

"It was so very, very helpful," Herrera said. "We did not ask for someone who spoke Spanish, but when they saw that David's dad didn't speak English, that's when we started working with her. That way, we could both understand her."

The Make A Wish Foundation lists bilingual volunteers as the number one need throughout the state.

Jessica Miller, communications manager for Make A Wish, said each year the foundation grants more than 650 wishes. Of those, 14 percent of the families identify themselves as Hispanic. In contrast, just 6 percent of the organization's 1,300 volunteers across the state are bilingual in English and Spanish.

"Having someone who can speak both languages makes the process move forward more smoothly for the family and that there is a clear understanding of the process," Miller said. "It ensures that the Foundation is granting the essence of the child's wish."

The organization is strengthening outreach programs educating people on the need for bilingual volunteers who can speak Spanish - as well as Polish, Cantonese and Mandarin - and what volunteerism involves, Miller said.

<p class=factboxtext12col>• Make A Wish Foundation: <a href="http://wishes.org/volunteering" target="new">wishes.org/volunteering</a></p> <p class=factboxtext12col>• SER-Jobs for Progress, Lake County: <a href="http://serlake.org/aboutSER.htm" target="new">serlake.org/aboutSER.htm</a></p> <p class=factboxtext12col>• The Volunteer Center of Northwest Chicago: <a href="http://volunteerinfo.net" target="new">volunteerinfo.net</a></p> <p class=factboxtext12col>• American Red Cross of Greater Chicago: <a href="http://chicagoredcross.org" target="new">chicagoredcross.org</a> and click on the "volunteer" tab</p>