The Californian from Salinas, California • A8

8A FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2021 THE SALINAS CALIFORNIAN Monterrey Paz Chihuahua Los Angeles Washington New York Miami Atlanta Detroit Houston Chicago Minneapolis El Paso Denver Billings San Francisco Seattle Iqaluit Yellowknife Churchill St. John's Halifax Saskatoon Toronto Montreal Winnipeg Calgary Vancouver Fronts Cold Warm Stationary Showers T-Storms Rain Flurries Snow Ice torney fees. The Castroville program has approximately 25 to 30 new U.S. Citizens per year, according to Arreguin. Some potential residents wait longer because they lack English Language skills, but Arreguin encour- ages those wanting to become U.S.

Citizens to apply and attend the Castroville program. are many students in the area who are re- luctant to take the interview in English because they feel they are not going to pass," he said. can pass the English interview to get their citizenship. They need to wait to turn 50 years old, a lot of time that they wait for this Arreguin credits Childs with the work he's done. He said he is inspired by her love for the community and dedication to her work.

Childs, a white female in this community, is very loved (by) these people because she loves our community. She loves immigrants. She loves minor- ities and something we appreciate a lot in this he said. For more information on the U.S. Citizenship pro- gram enrollment process, contact Maximina Cortez, the Administrative Assistant at North Monterey County School District at (831) 633-4333 ext.

1227. DACA Application Assistance In July, changes to Deferred Action Childhood Ar- rivals (DACA) program were announced by the De- partment of Homeland Security (DHS). Since the an- nouncement, there have been many concerns. Those changes included the rejection of all time DACA applications and instead of having to ap- ply every two years, recipients were required to apply annually. But those changes were rejected on Dec.

7, after a U.S. District Court order was issued to the U.S. Citi- zenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). With confusion still lingering, Arreguin, who also volunteers at the Family Resource Center, hopes po- tential DACA applicants and current recipents will go to him for help. He was working outside of the library but the win- ter weather sometimes made it impossible to work.

So, Arreguin reached out for help. Diana Jimenez, LULAC North Monterey County Chapter president and Noemy Loveless, NMCUSD As- sistant Superintendent for Student and Family Ser- vices, helped come up with a solution. There is now a small space inside the Castro Plaza Family Resource Center where Arreguin can speak with those interested in DACA services. He is at the resource center from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Monday through Friday.

No appointments are need- ed. In the last two weeks, there have been 14 new DACA applicants, and one renewal currently in process, ac- cording to Arreguin. of the DACA applicants in this area are a dif- ferent kind of Dreamer, they are not the Dreamers that you see on TV," he said. are people who work in the They comply with most of the requirements to get the DACA status and the thing they need is edu- cation. Many of them only a few years of school in Mexico.

Fortunately, the school district opened the GED class for them to start deserve this opportunity he said. For more information on DACA assistance contact volunteer Luis Arreguin (831) 595-1740 or Visit Castro Plaza Family Resource Center. Luis Arreguin, NMCUSD U.S. Citizenship program instructor and volunteer for DACA assistance at the Castro Plaza Family Resource Center ANGELAYDET ROCHA Library Continued from Page 4A cause we each had these extraordinary Mahon describes the book as a kind of relay, with each woman playing their part then handing the baton to weave a tale as it goes along. She struggled the most with faith and was kind of a skeptic.

relied on each other and we kind of met and talked about the things we were Mahon said. other two were both instrumental in getting me to open up and see a bigger Phillips called the survival part and parcel with their stores. think that throughout the book, see that things happen in life, really what you do with those things that happen to you that matter and that you can take something make some- thing good come out of Phillips said. that you want the bad to have happened, but you can choose another Hill said the real miracle might be that they were able to publish the book without an agent. During their book tour, people came out and told their own stories.

turned out that that was really just the begin- ning of it and that people, once they had an opportu- nity, they wanted to share their stories, sometimes to make sense of Hill said. This all leads to their second book, Miracle Collectors: Uncovering Stories of Wonder, Joy, and which Mahon and Hill wrote, and Phillips wrote the foreword for. The book is set to be published in March. Angelica Cabral is a journalist and podcaster for The Californian covering a wide variety of topics from movies in Monterey County to how much polit- ical candidates have fundraised. Have a tip for an in- teresting story? Email her at You can also follow her on Twitter 'The Miracle Chase' is about survival, faith and friendship.

PHOTO COURTESY OF STERLING ETHOS Book Continued from Page 4A dents, is one of nearly two dozen in Southern Califor- nia and the agricultural Central Valley that have es- sentially run out of intensive care unit beds for CO- VID-19 patients. Health warned Wednesday that hospital- izations will continue for at least the next three weeks as people who ignored social distancing rules to gath- er for Christmas and New Eve fall ill. Hospitals statewide with room have been told to accept patients from others that have exhausted their ICU beds but in fact most of the state is reporting struggling to provide ICU beds, with non-COVID-19 patients spilling into corridors, tents and cafeterias. To the north, in Santa Clara County, with about 2 million residents, say 100 infected people a day are winding up in hospitals. as awful as it is, it could get said Dr.

Ahmad Kamal, the director of Healthcare System Preparedness. had a situation where two people are out of breath and one person gets a ventilator. We could get More than a quarter-million new weekly cases por- tended a continued overwhelming crush. Vaccina- tions being administered at what Gov. Gavin Newsom has said is too slow a pace will take weeks or months.

Virus Continued from Page 4A.