Fourteen Years of Evolution
By Job Lopez

When Saint Joseph the Worker Center (SJWC), now Day Worker Center of Mountain View (DWCMV) opened for business in the fall of 1996, on Jordan Ave. and El Camino Real, after having a temporary office for a few months  at Saint Joseph Church Rectory on Hope St., I never thought  or dreamed  the day would come when the Center will have a building of its own to call HOME!

SJWC was founded thanks to the vision, tenacity and good will of Fr. Eugene O’Donnell, the then Pastor of Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Mountain View, and the late Kate Wakerly ex-editor of The View and co-founder of Mountain View Voice.
The goal of Fr. O’Donnell and Mrs. Wakerly was to provide a dignified setting for day workers who in those days had begun to gather on both sides of El Camino Real between San Antonio Road and Showers Ave. in Mountain View and Los Altos looking for work. 
On April in 2004 we sadly lost the other pillar of the center:  Mrs. Kate Wakerly passed on long before her time. But many other people as generous as Fr. O’Donnell and Kate Wakerly stepped in to help the Day Worker Center of Mountain View, to the extent that today 14 years later the Center is the proud owner of a debt-free building it now calls HOME.
Maria Marroquin, the Executive Director of the Day Worker Center in Mtn. View since 2002 is one more of the key players in the accomplishments of the center. Without her dedication, long days of hard work and great love for the cause of the workers ?men and women- many things would not had been accomplished.
John Rinaldi, who joined the Day Worker Center Board of Directors at the end of 1996, played a key role in getting the Center reopened in May of 2002 at the Calvary Church on California St. and Escuela Ave, in Mountain View. This was the third site for the Center after it closed at Jordan Ave., Los Altos, CA. when the lease was not renewed.  Fr. Robert (Bob) Moran from the very beginning has been a pool of moral support, our spiritual ambassador through whom the Supreme Being has assisted us all.
The fall of 1996 witnessed the Center’s birth. The Fall of 2010 sees the Center proudly moving into its brand new home:  professionally landscaped, appropriately renovated and remodeled to better serve the day workers with the dignity they deserve and for whom it was founded to begin with. It is with great satisfaction to see how the new building has been designed and remodeled to provide space for English as a second language classes and meeting rooms, ample space for the workers to gather while they wait for employers to hire them.
There is the kitchen, dining area, patio, classrooms, restrooms, offices, and lobby all beautifully furnished. For those of us who have been involved with the Day Worker Center and have followed its history through its 14 years with all its ups and downs, sad and happy days, just entering its new offices, walking through its various rooms, lifts up our spirits.
Even though the main purpose of the Center is to connect the workers with prospective employers, unfortunately not enough employers come in daily to hire those who need to work to provide for their families. The Center addresses other of the workers needs. For instance, it provides them the opportunity to meet other people and make friends and gives them the opportunity to learn English thanks to the many volunteer teachers who come daily to teach.
It provides them with basic legal and medical assistance, food and clothing supplies thanks to some private donors and agencies that donate the items to the Center. In a way the Center is for many workers a second home, a place where they can socialize as a way to forget at least for a short while other difficult situations they face daily.
In view of such a reality I can only say, once again, thank God for the good people, who contributed their treasure, time and talents to make real the dream of a beautiful Day Worker Center in Mountain View that the Lord Himself, I am sure, is proud of.

Job Lopez is a cofounder of DWCMV and was the first President of its Board of Directors.