In the late 1980’s, a small group of alumni of the De La Salle Schools in Cuba felt called to serve needy persons in their community. These alumni, residents of Miami, FL, began searching locally for a community in need of help. Their search took them to South Dade Camp in Homestead, FL. South Dade Camp is administered by the Homestead Housing Authority and provides very modest, low-income housing to qualifying underprivileged families. In 1991, the De La Salle alumni officially founded the “SJB De La Salle Vocational Center” with the goal of helping the children of migrant workers.

The Board of Directors of the Educational Center Saint John Baptist De La Salle, Homestead, FL, decided to officially name this month, February 2007, Miss. Maggie Sweeney as Director of the Center.

Maggie arrived in September 2006, as part of the cooperation offered by the Lasallian Volunteers USA, as a response to the request made by Brother Alvaro Rodriguez, Superior General, in his visit to the Center July 3rd, 2005, with the motivation of the centennial of the arrival of the brothers in Cuba.

Maggie is an alumnus of the Brothers in Minnesota, where she graduated from DeLaSalle High School in 1999. She received her bachelor’s degree in 2004 in Spanish and Justice and Peace Studies from the University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul, MN.

She worked as a volunteer in the Americorps National Civilian Community Corps 2000-2001 and with various community organizations during the following years, including a month in Honduras working as a volunteer. She has also traveled to Spain, Mexico, Cuba, Morocco, and studied for a semester in the Dominican Republic. After graduating from college she joined the Lasallian Volunteer Program. She served for one year as a tutor at the Lasallian Educational Opportunities (LEO) Center in Oakland, CA. Maggie continue as a Lasallian Volunteer for a second year and served as teacher at San Miguel Middle School, Minneapolis, MN, where she taught English, Spanish and physical education.

Maggie will serve as Director until December of 2007 and will prepare for the future presence of Lasallian Volunteers. The Center also currently has with them for three months Miss Adriana Garcia, Lasallian Volunteer from Mexico, who is working with Maggie in all the educational efforts of the Center.

For more information about the Center,
their work with migrant workers
and to receive their “wish list” of needs,
contact Maggie Sweeney at:
m13sweeney@yahoo.com
or call (305) 245.5810

Educational Center of SJB De La Salle
31250 S.W. 134 Avenue
HOMESTEAD, FL 33030 USA
Phone: (305) 245.5810
E-mail: celasalleh@aol.com
www.celasalleh.org

 
(This Center was founded, supported, and directed by Lasallian alumni in Miami, with the collaboration of the Brothers of the Christian School)