[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 129 (Friday, September 21, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1610-E1611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING IRENE SAUCEDA FOR HER TIRELESS EFFORTS ADVOCATING FOR HOMELESS 
                          CHILDREN IN AMERICA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DONALD A. MANZULLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 21, 2012

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an exceptional 
young lady named Irene Sauceda. From a very young age, Irene and her 
family struggled to stay in one place. Irene went to seven different 
elementary schools. A variety of difficult circumstances made it 
impossible for Irene to stay in one school for more than a year, until 
high school. Irene graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San 
Antonio, Texas in 2011 with a 4.0 GPA. She was the President of Gamma 
Sigma Girls, a leadership organization within the Girl Scouts, and was 
also President of the National Technical Honor Society. Irene is now a 
sophomore at Texas State University, where she is studying Anthropology 
and Social Work.
  The economic downturn has impacted children in very unique and 
troubling ways--none more so than the idea of a family losing their 
home and depriving a child of a much-needed and deserved stable home. I 
commend Irene for having the fortitude and determination to succeed so 
phenomenally amid such tumultuous circumstances. I am also including, 
for the record, Irene's very moving personal testimony from the 
briefing:
  ``My mother had dropped out of high school in tenth grade which I 
feel contributed greatly

[[Page E1611]]

to the reason why we were homeless. She raised my sister and I as a 
single mother and had to work all the time while my sister baby sat me.
  We lived in Colorado for the first five years of my life, but I was 
born in San Antonio, Texas. My mother and I, along with my older sister 
moved to San Antonio because it's where the rest of our family was. It 
wasn't even my mom's idea to go to Colorado in the first place so the 
first chance we got to come back, we took. Growing up in San Antonio 
was quite difficult. As soon as we arrived, my mother asked a family 
member for a place to stay. She needed time to find a job for herself 
and an elementary school for me. My sister was old enough by this time 
to get her own job and begin living her own life, so that's exactly 
what she did. Eventually, the family of the family member we were 
staying with began to grow and my mother knew it was time to give them 
their own space back. We felt somewhat intrusive, as we did for most of 
the others we stayed with. The people we stayed with usually already 
had their own family, but still had the heart to offer a whole room to 
my mother and I.
  My mother was great with keeping me in school, but not so great at 
staying put in one place, or keeping a job. This sounds really 
negative, but the reasons will explain why she couldn't keep a job. My 
mother found out that she was a diabetic when I was in the second 
grade. The next school year, we found out that I was also diabetic. She 
fell ill quite a bit, and so did I. We were both new to this disease, 
so we didn't quite know how to control it like we do now. Most minimum 
wage jobs expect a doctors excuse if a day is missed. For my mother, 
that was difficult. She never learned how to drive, so we stuck to 
public transportation, but for a woman who is ill, public 
transportation is just not safe. I remember feeling so helpless knowing 
that my mother, the woman who'd kept me healthy and up to date with 
shots and other records was sick and I could do nothing. By the fifth 
grade, I'd been to seven elementary schools, and my mother had worked a 
handful of jobs. The last person we stayed with lived in the courts. 
They got evicted because we weren't on their lease. We got someone 
kicked out of the courts. After that event, my mother felt so low and 
so bad about what we'd done. After that, she decided that it would be 
best if we were on our own instead of hurting others.
  We moved into the Dwyer Avenue Shelter and I feel that was the best 
decision my mother made. The shelter provided so much information about 
the services that were available to us. They even offered my mom a job 
as receptionist in the front office of the shelter. They helped us get 
in contact with Transportation Services who provided school busses for 
me to attend which ever school I was last attending. Unfortunately, I 
had just moved up to junior high school so I attended yet another 
school, but I still felt more stable than I had before. The Shelter 
case workers helped all of the families who lived in the shelter find 
an apartment complex in a really nice part of town at an extremely 
discounted price. After the lease was up, my mother had worked enough 
as a receptionist that we could now afford our own apartment.
  After two and a half years of successfully staying on our feet, my 
mother fell ill. Her liver had become inflamed and she was hospitalized 
for a month. She lost her job and we lost our apartment. For a whole 
month I lived with friends; Friends who I was able to create bonds with 
because we were stable. After that month, we had to move back into the 
shelter. My mother was told that she wouldn't be able to work ever 
again. This news threw my mother into a depression because she knew 
that she could no longer support herself, much less her daughter. The 
shelter, once again, helped us move into an apartment complex that 
wanted only a fraction of our total income, and helped us with 
transportation. Luckily, my father had begun paying child support a few 
years earlier so we had an income. We lived there for two and a half 
years, until I graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, ranked 
number 7 of my class.
  That summer, I left to attend Texas State University. Moving from 
school to school made me slower than the other students because of all 
the different teaching techniques I'd been exposed to; some teachers 
even thought I was dyslexic. However, I made it all the way. I plan to 
go so much further, too, because I'm tired of being homeless. 
``Education is power'' is my motto. Look at me now: ``Only after two 
semesters of college, I'm influencing the decisions of congressmen!''

               A TRIBUTE TO PETTY OFFICER GREGORY GAYLOR

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DAVE CAMP

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 21, 2012

  Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Petty Officer 
Gregory Gaylor, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician with 
the United States Navy. Petty Officer Gaylor is being honored by the 
Navy at the USO annual gala this November as the 2012 USO Sailor of the 
Year. He is being recognized for the steadfast determination and 
unwavering courage he displayed in saving the lives of his fellow 
soldiers and furthering the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.
   Perhaps the most notable aspect of Petty Officer Gaylor's service 
came when he expertly led a three man EOD team during combat operations 
in Afghanistan from December 2011 to June 2012, in which he was 
responsible for locating and dismantling Improvised Explosive Devices 
(IEDs), among other objectives. In April of 2012, Gaylor and his team 
were fired upon by four separate machine gun positions, but with little 
regard for his own safety he managed to clear a nearby compound of 
explosive hazards and help transport those wounded from the line of 
fire. Overall, he located and destroyed four IEDs, faced six direct 
fire engagements, and trained over 300 Afghan Commandos in Counter-IED 
tactics and basic demolition techniques, which aided in the autonomy of 
Afghan security forces.
   The courageous and selfless actions of Petty Officer Gaylor are 
truly commendable and indicative of the skill, professionalism and 
fortitude of the men and women of the United States Navy. On behalf of 
the Fourth Congressional District, I congratulate Petty Officer Gaylor 
on achieving the USO Sailor of the Year honor and thank him for his 
remarkable service to this great nation.

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