Meet CVRAN’s New Coordinator Of Services For Spanish Speakers!
¡Saludos! Greetings!
My name is Liza Earle-Centers. I grew up in Richmond, VT and from a very early age had both a deep love of my home state and a strong longing to travel and to experience other cultures. When I was 15 I saved up babysitting money to spend the summer with my eldest brother, a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica at the time. That was a life changing experience. I fell in love with the way of life–the people, the food, the music, the dance, and the land!
I decided to major in Spanish at Mt. Holyoke College, and did a study abroad year at the University of Seville, in southern Spain. Since graduation, I’ve taught preschool – high school students in outdoor education settings in both CA and VT. I was a classroom teacher at Calais Elementary for four years. I served as the full- time director of programming for children, youth, and adults at the Unitarian Church for the past six years. I managed to carve out time over the years to travel and/or participate in service trips in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Nicaragua.
I live with my husband, Lincoln Earle-Centers, along the North Branch in Montpelier. We have two children at home and one who has recently graduated and flown the nest. I’m also starting to volunteer with Home Health and Hospice and will be enrolled in UVM’s End-of-Life Doula Professional Certificate coursework this spring.
I’ve admired the good people and projects associated with CVRAN since its inception. Apart from helping in very minor and occasional ways over the years, I’ve been mostly on the sidelines, in awe by the generous outpouring of time, talent, and treasure to make a lifesaving difference for so many individuals and families. I am deeply grateful to the hiring committee for their time and discernment. I am honored to be chosen as the Coordinator of Services for Spanish Speakers and look forward to serving and learning as part of this remarkable organization. ¡Adelante!
Some highlights of the job in these first few weeks are:
- An introductory meal with the families to get acquainted–much laughter and good food!
- Witnessing the collective wisdom of the teams in communication with the families
- Feeling the joy of speaking Spanish on a nearly daily basis once again!
- Being part of a collaboration in which one family voiced a need for a couch. A CVRAN volunteer offered hers since she was about to replace it. She recruited some of CVRAN’s more veteran “new Vermonters” to help load the couch into a CVRAN volunteer’s truck! He brought it over to Stowe from Montpelier, and the family members gratefully helped get it from the truck to their house. Many stages of mutual aid and support!
- Recruiting new volunteers in the Stowe / Waterbury area including one who I met while a flight of mine was delayed for six hours at the Burlington Airport (made the most of it)
I welcome others from CVRAN to reach out to me at cvran.liza@gmail.com The position of Coordinator of Services for Spanish Speakers is currently a one-year position for 20 hrs. / week. I’m organizing my time primarily Mon. – Thurs. during school day hours (8:30-2:30). During those hours feel free to call 802.793.8510 (c) or 802.223.2487 (h). Evening or weekend conversations are fine if there’s an urgency to them or if planned ahead of time to work with a volunteer’s schedule. I will be on a vacation (which was scheduled before applying for the job) from April 19-29.
~Liza