For 17 years, Graciela has come to El Programa Hispano Catolico looking for connection. Each time, she has found a place that feels like home. When she speaks about EPHC, her eyes fill with emotion.

“Es como mi segunda casa.”

Her story reminds us why our community-centered services matter. Through senior support, emergency assistance, and programs that build belonging, EPHC offers dignity, stability, and hope when families need it most.

A Beginning Met with Community

When Graciela first heard about El Programa from a neighbor in Portland more than 15 years ago, she was simply looking for someone who could help her understand her mail. But what she found was so much more: a place where she felt seen, welcomed, and not alone.

“All the letters came in English,” she remembered. “We worried what are they saying, what do we have to do?” At EPHC, staff greeted her with patience and warmth. They translated the letters, helped her understand her options, and reassured her that she had a community to lean on.

As Graciela and her family navigated their early years in the U.S., EPHC walked alongside them. When work was scarce and several relatives shared the same small home, the program helped ensure that there was food on the table, the lights stayed on, and rent could be paid.

“Whenever money was tight like rent, electricity, or lunch, EPHC helped. I’m so grateful not only to the staff, but to the donors whose generosity made it possible. They helped us breathe again.”

As the years passed, Graciela became not only a participant, but also a pillar of what is now our Latine Senior Program within Community Wellness services: a culturally rooted space offering weekly meals, social connection, wellness workshops, and resource navigation. It quickly became one of the places she felt safest.

She first volunteered in the kitchen, using her food‑handling experience to prepare and serve meals. But the deeper nourishment came from the way staff and participants cared for one another. The program offered what Graciela calls “acompañamiento del corazón” – support with dignity, compassion, and joy.

Workshops on self‑esteem, grief, healthy relationships, aging with dignity, and navigating community resources helped her build confidence.

“I learned to value myself… I’m not worth more than anyone, but I’m not worth less than anyone either.”

Her most cherished moments come from weekly gatherings, where warm meals become a doorway into friendship. Our space offers:

· Culturally familiar lunches
· Healing‑centered workshops
· Creative arts activities
· Peer support
· Wellness education
· Field trips & community outings
· Resource navigation
· Volunteer opportunities

For Graciela, these offerings were more than services, but also lifelines that helped her rebuild community and identity far from home. She build community with shared lunches, storytelling, field trips to local parks and farms, and friendships that span Peru, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, and beyond.

Art classes became another anchor. Painting with friends and having her artwork displayed at the public library, have made her feel like a true artist.

“For me, [the senior services program] is like a garden of different flowers. Different cultures, but the same hearts.”

From Our Archives: A Proud Beginning (2008)

Graciela keeps a copy of the El Centinela newspaper from 2008 and showed it to us proudly. She was present at the inauguration of EPHC’s first building in Gresham, where Archbishop John Vlazny blessed the new space. In the photo, you can see Graciela receiving a certificate alongside community members and volunteers – an early milestone that foreshadowed the deep involvement she would have for years to come.