[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 48 (Thursday, April 11, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E421]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING MANO A MANO FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 11, 2013

  Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the work of Mano a 
Mano Family Resource Center, an organization in my district that is 
dedicated to helping immigrants realize their dreams here in the United 
States. We are a nation of immigrants, but without the work of 
organizations like Mano a Mano, we are merely a nation that accepts 
immigrants, rather than one encouraging them to be active, engaged 
members of the community.
   Started out of a small storefront, Mano a Mano has grown over the 
last decade to help more than 4,300 people per year. With language 
courses, early education programs, GED tutoring, computer skills 
training and health education, Mano a Mano has helped countless 
families and individuals become complete participants in American life.
   The beauty of these programs, and what makes Mano a Mano so 
effective, is how they are tailored to client and community needs. For 
example, recognizing challenges managing or understanding life with 
diabetes, Mano a Mano launched an initiative to educate the community 
on living with a chronic disease and how better to manage it.
   The success stories go on and on and on and are too many to 
enumerate. Let me highlight, however, what I think is a most telling 
attribute of their success: year after year, Mano a Mano clients often 
return as volunteers, tutors or educators. Not only are these programs 
successfully enriching our communities and the lives of their clients, 
but they also inspire a tradition of giving back, of paying it forward, 
and of doing for others as Mano a Mano did for them. Such is the 
cycle--a community of reaching out--where one good turn leads to 
another and another.
   On the eve of the annual gala, I thank Mano a Mano for all that they 
are and all that they do. I am proud that this organization makes its 
home in our Tenth District.

                          ____________________