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Shoreline Students Unite Through Service

Al Larriva-Latt | January 24th, 2022

Shoreline Students Unite Through Service

Culture & Community  |  Guilford  |  Arts & Culture

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CIMP founder Gabriela Garcia-Perez with Abigail Rivera and Juan Salas. Photo courtesy Gabriela Garcia-Perez.

Over three dozen bags sat in a long line atop the granite countertop. Among them were a smattering of black school backpacks, a neon drawstring bag, and a gently used soccer bag with the previous owner’s name written across the front. Nestled inside was a bevy of essentials: personal hygiene products, winter weather accessories, and school supplies.

Also accompanying each bag were home-made cards. “Hope you enjoy the bag, keep warm out there,” one card read, punctuated with a sideways smiley face.

These completed care packs, to be distributed to New Haveners experiencing homelessness, were the collaborative efforts of the children, teens, and young adults of the Community Integration Mentorship Program (CIMP). They gathered this past Saturday afternoon in the lobby of a New Haven hotel located in the city's Long Wharf area (the hotel asked that its name not be used), to pack them during one of the coldest weeks New Haven has seen this winter.

Half of the bags will go to individuals facing housing insecurity at Columbus House and the other half will go to students from the New Haven Public Schools in need of support.

“It really just takes one person to ask people to come together to make something happen like this,” CIMP Founder Gabriela Garcia-Perez said. “It’s not something that is too hard to do and if we can do it, why not?”

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Federico Barrera sets up the sign-in station. Gabriela Garcia-Perez Photo.

CIMP, which Garcia-Perez founded as a sophomore at Guilford High School in 2018, has been remarkable in its ability to adapt and expand in size and ambition since the onset of COVID-19. Four years after its launch, Garcia-Perez is a second year at University of New Haven, and CIMP has continued working towards its goal of integrating students of varying socioeconomic statuses, language abilities, and experiences through service, career-building, and group bonding activities.

In less than an hour, the 25-plus members of CIMP in attendance transformed the lobby into a care pack assembly headquarters, taking on the roles of bag stuffers, card makers, and activity facilitators. In the far end of the lobby, students added notebooks and bouncy balls to the children’s packs. On the right and left sides of the lobby, they added menstrual products to the women’s packs and facial hair razors to the men’s packs.

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Miguel Salas writes a card. Al Larriva-Latt Photo.

Younger kids like Miguel Salas, a fourth grader at East Shoreline Catholic Academy, sat on their knees in the center of the room. Using the rectangular coffee table as a desk, Miguel used different colored markers to write a positive message to one of the families. Miguel’s father, Juan Salas, looked on supportively from his perch on the broad ledge of the lobby’s slate fireplace. He and other adults had repurposed it as a seating area.

“I want to help the homeless a lot, but I can’t really get to them,” said Miguel, emphasizing the power he felt as a member of a group. “If we were only one person, it wouldn’t work as much.”

The sourcing of the packs and supplies were the result of the wide-ranging efforts of individual CIMP members. Students orchestrated “mini donation drives” within their individual schools and communities. CIMP member Federico Barrera talked to the administrators at Daniel Hand High School to receive approval to collect donations from his peers. Garcia-Perez asked for donations from community groups as disparate as the Soccer Club of Guilford and her neighbors on her street-wide email chain.

And just like that, the care packs were complete. Garcia-Perez stepped to the front of the room, and the CIMP members instinctively quieted down. With the confidence of a community organizer far beyond her years, Garcia-Perez encouraged the CIMP members to array themselves at the far end of the lobby and each say a few words about the impact of CIMP on their personal growth. As the older CIMP members took turns speaking to an audience of younger CIMP members, parents, and one or two school administrators in attendance, Garcia-Perez’ mother Andrea Perez proudly recorded the moment on her cell phone.

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Members of the group. Al Larriva-Latt Photo.

Each CIMP member’s takeaway was different. For Branford High School junior Luisa Rojas, participating in CIMP has helped her grow in confidence. “I was such a shy person like my freshman year, three years ago, when I started. You showed us we could actually have a voice,” she said. 

For seventh grader Gregory, who is learning English as a second language, CIMP has been a source of linguistic and social support. Clad in a bright red puffer jacket and a matching red and white Spider-Man beanie, Gregory began speaking to the audience in Spanish while sitting at the edge of the fireplace. At the encouragement of the bilingual Perez, Gregory finally stood.

“CIMP has been the only Spanish-speaking resource available to me at this time,” he said, reflecting on his two years in the program. “I’ve been able to learn English and make friends.”

In a final burst of energy, CIMP took to the far corner of the room for a group picture. In a three-row mass, with shorter kids in the front and the tallest in the back, the CIMP members raised their completed care packs and the accompanying cards. In the tightly packed frame, the diversity of the group was on display. There were teenagers wearing sweatshirts from rival high school sports teams, students speaking in both English and Spanish, and a smattering of supportive adults.

“At the end of the day,” Garcia-Perez said, “We’re doing this to unite kids.”

Students who would like to join CIMP can learn more on the group’s website.