By Anne DiBernardo - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | At 85, Alicia Abreu can finally retire in peace. The fundraising campaign to which she pledged her undying support 16 years ago has reached its goal, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.

A donation of $435,000 satisfied the outstanding balance of a $2.2 million building loan incurred by the Centro Hispano Católico Child Development Center back in 1997.

What could have moved someone to perform such an act of generosity?

Abreu, who was the director of the child care division of Catholic Charities for 24 years, is convinced "it must be someone who is familiar with the work of the Centro."

Do you realize, she said, "how many hundreds of thousands of children and working families have been served" by the center over the past five decades?

The history of Centro Hispano Católico goes back to January 1959, when Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba and an exodus of exiles - including 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children - began arriving in Miami.

Located in a six-story building behind Gesu Church downtown, the Centro was the only place where the newly arrived could obtain clothes, food, job referrals, child care and, medical and dental services - as well as religious and spiritual attention from the Catholic Church.

The Centro was operated by what was then called the Catholic Welfare Bureau, the predecessor of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami. Its director was a young Irish priest, Father (later Msgr.) Bryan O. Walsh, who was quickly becoming revered in the Cuban community.

Aside from his role in establishing the Centro, he had been instrumental in welcoming, finding homes and caring for the unaccompanied Cuban children who later became known as Pedro Pans - the name given to the largest recorded exodus of unaccompanied minors in the Western Hemisphere.

Twenty-three years after its founding, in 1982, Centro Hispano Católico was forced to move out of the shadow of Gesu when the aging building it occupied was demolished. It moved into an old firehouse on 27th Avenue which the City of Miami rented them for $1 a year.

By that time, a ladies' auxiliary had been created to help the Centro raise funds for its operations. The auxiliary renovated the firehouse so that it could be used as a child care center.

"As the Cuban influx began to wane, the center focused on child care and then child development services," explained Deacon Richard Turcotte, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities.

In 1996, parking restrictions forced the center to find yet another home. Abreu came up with the idea of moving trailers left over from another child care center to a plot of land already owned by the archdiocese in the Wynwood section of Miami.

At that time, Wynwood was the site of a small after-school program called San Juan de Puerto Rico Center. Prior to Msgr. Walsh's retirement in 1995, he and Abreu had brainstormed and decided to merge the two programs.

In 1997, Abreu herself retired from Catholic Charities, but her retirement was short-lived. At her farewell party, she was invited to attend the ladies' auxiliary meeting. That is when it became clear to her that the Centro needed a permanent home rather than the deteriorating trailers in order to continue to provide child care services to the community.

She suggested the ladies approach the archdiocese and ask for financial backing to build an adequate structure, with the understanding that the auxiliary would help raise money to pay off the debt. The project was approved by all parties and Catholic Charities secured a loan to start the building in 1997.

However, there was a catch. Msgr. Walsh said, "Now that Alicia gave us the idea of raising the funds she has to be the head of fundraising."

Abreu protested that she did not know how to raise private funds. Msgr. Walsh put his hand on her shoulder, and said, "Alicia, you will learn."

She said yes, but with the caveat that the building would be named after him. He reluctantly agreed.

"Msgr. Walsh and I worked together beautifully for 24 years. He gave me the ball and I ran with it," Abreu said.

As the years passed, however, the ladies' auxiliary kept getting older and smaller. Today, it has "about 17 active members," Abreu said, noting that most of the women are like her, in their mid-80s.

It was becoming increasingly obvious to her that, despite the hard work of years and years of fundraising, the building debt might not be erased in her lifetime. This weighed heavily on her heart because of the confidence Msgr. Walsh, who died in 2001, had placed on her.

When she and the auxiliary's treasurer, Emma McCormack, delivered their annual report to Deacon Turcotte this January, they presented him with a check for the total raised over the past year. The amount came to $45,000 - barely enough to keep up with the principal and interest of the loan.

Abreu told Deacon Turcotte, "We are not getting any younger and the new president of the ladies' auxiliary has one daughter who is willing to help us explore another fundraising technique."

He agreed to look at that option and a meeting was arranged. On the day of the presentation, the remaining building debt was roughly $431,500. Deacon Turcotte brought along a few other people who work at Catholic Charities and they listened to the proposal for about five minutes. Then he spoke up.

"I felt so bad because this lady had worked so hard to make this presentation and now she was interrupted," Abreu said.

But Deacon Turcotte continued: "Well, Alicia you told me you were going to have a birthday sometime in March, and I'm going to give you a birthday present. We have an anonymous donor that decided to recognize the work that you have done with Catholic Charities for so many years and paid the remaining debt of $431,500 in full."

At that point, Abreu recalled, "I put my hands on the table, looked at Emma McCormack and I said, 'Emma, it looks like my job as the chair of the building campaign is finished.'"

The ladies' auxiliary will continue, however, as government funding does not cover the cost of providing before or after-school care for the children who attend the center.

FIND OUT MORE

• Centro Hispano Católico Child Development Center, located at 125 N.W. 25 St., Miami, is one of six child care centers operated by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami. All of them offer a psycho-social development program to prepare children ages 3-5 for kindergarten.
• All of the centers serve low-income families. Funding sources include the state of Florida's VPK (volunteer pre-kindergarten) program, Head Start, the United Way, and the city of Miami.
• About 275 children are currently enrolled at Centro Hispano Católico, with no more than 20 children per classroom who receive breakfast and lunch daily.
• For more information, call 305-573-9093; email [email protected]; or visit the Catholic Charities website, www.ccadm.org.
• The group's upcoming fundraising activity is an annual luncheon set for Saturday, Oct. 12 at noon at the Big Five Club, 600 S.W. 92 Ave., Miami. Tickets are $45. For reservations, call Esperanza Alvarez at 305-274-8510 or Emma McCormack at 305-666-4322.