I lived in Queens for more than 23 years without legal status, and in all those years I didn’t go to my country once. In 2015, I got my green card, and now I use it to visit my friends and family twice each year.
Meet Carmen, a longtime neighbor of our Forest Hills Community Center. For years, Queens Community House provided her and her family with the resources they needed to enrich their lives.
I called QCH’s Immigration Services because I had no one else to turn to. Before, I was very shy to talk about my case, and all the time I was feeling scared. When I spoke to Carmen, I knew that Queens Community House was the right place for me. She helped me so much.
“When I transferred to Voyages South High School, it wasn’t all cupcakes and rainbows. There were times when I would wake up and think to myself, ‘Do I really need school?’ My environment was completely unstable.
I started volunteering at Queens Community House when my husband passed away over twenty years ago. If you sit around when you get old, you’ll dry up, so I keep myself busy. I work in the kitchen and help with Meals on Wheels. Anything my hands find to do, I do it.
I recently retired from a 25-year career as a New York City social worker; 5 years with the Department of Health’s HIV/AIDS Services Division as Coordinator of the Anonymous Counseling & Testing site at Chelsea Clinic, and 20 years as a related service provider/counselor with the Department o
I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. As a kid, I loved academics and learning a piece of new information was always exciting. Education wasn’t a big priority at home, so I learned to motivate myself.
