Yvette Walker
With KVCR News. I'm Yvette Walker. This is IE Latino Voices, where we invite representatives from Latino led and Latino serving organizations to share their stories and their impact in our region. Joining me today is Sira Uribe, president of LULAC of Riverside. LULAC is short for League of United Latin American Citizens. Thank you so much for being with us today, Sira.
Sira Uribe
Thank you for inviting me.
Yvette Walker
How did you learn about LULAC and what inspired you to become the president of the organization?
Sira Uribe
So I first heard about LULAC when I was in college. I was attending Cal State San Bernardino, and I was doing a lot of volunteer work in regards to medicine in general, because that's the field I wanted to go into. So I noticed that LULAC had a health fair event at the time, and so I was a volunteer there for the event. And then slowly I started becoming more involved, not only with the health fair, but also with the other council activities that they did, to the point where I had enough free time and I had the sense of purpose with the organization. And so I decided to start making sure that it can help lead the way as president.
Yvette Walker
Please talk about LULAC's mission and the role of scholarships awarded through LULAC.
Sira Uribe
LULAC's mission at the national level is just to empower and advance the Latino community in terms of educational attainment, economic condition, political influence, the health and civil rights. And so our council in Riverside's main focused on health scholarships or education in general, to make sure that the community, the students in particular, know that we support them and want to invest in them as the piece of the community that can help us in the future eventually, when they can give back in some way.
Yvette Walker
Can you share an overview of events aimed at serving the community?
Sira Uribe
So our council does an annual health fair event. This year, we had our 12th annual and we do, in partnership with Riverside University Health Systems, Healing California, and Medicos Voladores, we put together a one day event where we do free medical care. So they do everything from like sports physicals, from pediatricians and more. They do dental care, so fillings, extractions, cleanings by dentists and oral surgeons also volunteer their time. Vision care, so they can do an eye exam by an optometrist, but also get prescription eyeglasses delivered to their home completely free. They do vaccinations. We distribute free produce in partnership with Overflow Farms, we distribute free brand-new clothing and accessories with our partner Bordando Nuestras Raíces. In combination with all that, that's the main event that we have every year. Our next one is going to be in May of 2025. We're still figuring out the details, but it's going to happen. We always do it. The community loves it, but also we do the scholarships. So this year, we gave out over $7,000 in scholarships to deserving local high school graduates so they can focus on their academic journey.
Yvette Walker
Please talk about the feedback you gather from the health event, as well as the recipients of the scholarships.
Sira Uribe
Yeah so the for the health fair event, people are always grateful, because it's open to everyone in the community. They don't have to show any kind of documentation. It's more so just demographics so they can receive medical care. But we don't ask about insurance. We don't ask about any kind of papers. They are sometimes waiting since four in the morning the days of the events to make sure that they can get services that we are able to offer with the help of our volunteers. So they're always eternally grateful, because health makes a big difference.
Yvette Walker
Please talk about opportunities to support LULAC efforts.
Sira Uribe
So we are a 100% volunteer led organization, so we always are looking for people to help us out. In terms of volunteers, whether it's the health fair event, whether it's the scholarship award ceremony that we do, whether it's any kind of the civic engagement projects that we have planned, but being a volunteer, donating your time and energy to us that would make a big difference, but also helping us out financially, if you can, we do have the opportunity for them to donate on our website. So LULACofriverside.org. They can log on there and donate to us, but they can also find out more about what we do. We meet every month, and they can come in. They don't have to be a member right away. They can just learn about us and then see how we can work together to make Riverside a better community.
Yvette Walker
What is the best way to connect with the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC?
Sira Uribe
So our council out here in Riverside, council 3190 we do have a website. It's lulacofriverside.org. They can also email us at LULAC3190@gmail.com. They can reach out to us on any of our social media channels, so like Instagram, Facebook, we're on there. They can reach out to us in terms of calling or texting me. I do have a phone number associated for LULAC, so if they wanted to call or text me any questions or ways that they can participate, that phone number is going to be 951-777-0810.
Yvette Walker
Thank you so much for being with us today. Sira.
Sira Uribe
Thank you for having me.
Yvette Walker
Join us again next week for IE Latino Voices. You can find this story and others on our website, at kvcrnews.org/IELatinoVoices. IE Latino Voices is produced by KVCR Public Media and is funded by generous support from the CIELO Fund at IECF, uplifting and investing in the IE's Latino community. For KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker.
