At the Invitation of the White House, the Redlands Christian Migrant Association Sent Seven

RCMA SENDS 7 TO OBAMA TOWN HALL MEETING

Frankie Valentin, honor-roll sixth-grader at RCMA’s ImmokaleeCommunitySchool, shook the President’s hand.

IMMOKALEE, FL – Feb. 11, 2009 -- At the invitation of the White House, the Redlands Christian Migrant Association sent seven representatives to President Barack Obama’s town hall meeting in Fort Myerson Feb. 10. Two of them shook hands with the commander in chief as he left the HarborsideEventCenter.

RCMA Executive Director Barbara Mainster received a phone call from the White House two days before the President’s visit with an offer of tickets.Obama’s office learned of RCMA’s good work in the immigrant community through RCMA’s affiliation with the National Council of La Raza, the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights organization.

In addition to those attending the event, the entire sixth-grade class of RCMA’s ImmokaleeCommunitySchoolwatched the meeting live on the wide-screen TVs of Lozano’s Mexican Restaurant in Immokalee.

“President Obama is very inspiring and certainly has an excellent grasp of the realities of the current economic situation as it relates to regular people,” Ms. Mainster said. “We were honored to be part of this historic event.”

Joining her were Ed Galvan of Immokalee, an RCMA Board member and a state labor investigator; Olga Gutierrez, a teacher at RCMA’s Immokalee Community School; Maria Jimenez, RCMA director of charter schools; Bonnie Rosenmeier, an RCMA volunteer; Frankie Valentin, who has the best grades among sixth-graders at the Immokalee Community School; and Marbelia Zamarripa, RCMA’s Homestead-area coordinator.

Frankie and Ms. Zamarripa managed to shake the President’s hand as the town hall meeting concluded.

Frankie’s classmates, meanwhile, watched the event while enjoying an authentic Mexican lunch at Lozano’s.

“Given the historic nature of the President’s visit, and the fact that a teacher and fellow student were attending, we were very grateful that Lozano’s accommodated our sixth-graders,” Ms. Jimenez said.

“It’s one thing to watch the abbreviated coverage on the evening news or to read about it in the morning paper,” she added, ”but watching it live, knowing a classmate and teacher are in the crowd, really made a lasting impact on the students.”

Based in Immokalee, RCMA provides child care and early education for approximately 8,000 children of working-poor families throughout rural Florida. In CollierCounty, RCMA serves over 1,300 children, including approximately 220 students at the ImmokaleeCommunitySchool, a K-6 charter school.

RCMA is a nonprofit, nonsectarian association,which is funded by local, state and federal grants, as well as the generosity of businesses, individuals, the United Way,Naples Children and Education Foundation and other organizations. For more information, see

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