Working to benefit others: Virginia García
and community involvement

By Tom Moore

"I want to see positive things happen. I think they can happen. I think people are generally good and they just need a little shove for that goodness to come out," said Virginia García, whose participation in many local social awareness projects is driven by this philosophy. Though she would downplay being called an activist with her characteristic low-key sense of humor (she calls herself "idealistic" with a quiet, self-deprecating laugh), that is what she is. More importantly, that is what she does.
As director of the office of career services at Texas A&M International University, García is involved daily in one of her interests, working with college students and student organizations. She is involved in almost equal measure with domestic violence awareness efforts such as the Clothesline Project and the Silent Witnesses Project, as co-chair of an educational committee for Casa de Misericordia, and as a motivational speaker on career awareness and dating violence at events such as the Sister To Sister conference and the Girls Can! program.
Most recently she cut and donated 13 inches of her hair to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children with medical hair loss.
Additionally, working with the V-Day Project (www.vday.org), a global movement to stop violence against women and girls, and the V-Day College Campaign, she is helping bring the benefit stage production The Vagina Monologues to A&M International, with the backing of the university's Women & Gender Studies program and the sponsorship of Alpha Psi Lambda, a new co-ed university social services fraternity. The V-Day College Campaign assists interested members of college and university communities around the world to present the play on their campuses. Proceeds from the event are donated directly by the schools to local organizations in their communities that are working to stop this violence.
Before moving to Laredo in 1996, García was a volunteer rape crisis counselor for three years in DeKalb, Illinois, where she lived previously. She became a member of the safety, health, and wellness committee at TAMIU, but noticed that there wasn't any group or program dealing specifically with women's issues on campus. She wanted to do something that focused on those issues, and on sexual assault specifically.
From her work as a counselor, García was familiar with the Clothesline Project, an exhibit of shirts featuring artwork created by women or their family or friends affected by violence. The shirts are hung on a clothesline to be viewed by others as testimony to the problem of violence against women. The artwork is a means of expressing their emotions and is part of the person's healing process. Begun in 1990, there are currently over 250 Clothesline Projects organized at local levels, with up to 35,000 shirts created nationwide by survivors.
In 1998, García organized a display of the Clothesline Project on the TAMIU campus. There hadn't yet been a project from Laredo, so she borrowed one exhibit from San Antonio, one from Corpus Christi, and one from Houston. Members of the community assisted at her request, including Sister Rosemary Welsh of Casa de Misericordia.
Inspired by the Clothesline exhibit, several women wanted to make their own shirts, and García's association with Casa de Misericordia grew stronger. Only domestic abuse victims, their children, and social workers are allowed to enter the Casa de Misericordia building, and now García was as well, to help some of the women there make shirts.
"Every year we would have an exhibit and more shirts were added that were created on the spot or were brought in by individuals who created shirts at home," said García. "Now both shelters (Casa de Misericordia and La Frontera, another shelter for homeless women, battered women, other indigent /needy groups) create shirts regularly in their support groups."
The project has an immediate effect, said García. "I think the power of the Clothesline is in the ability to share everything. It's at the creation of the shirt that there is the most impact on the individual," she said.
"There are many stories of women that I have encountered who may have first created a shirt years ago, but in that time have also received individual counseling, group counseling, and other types of sessions that allow for personal and professional development," continued García. "One example was of a woman whom I recently met again. She said that she remembers the first time I went to one of the shelters to provide an interviewing skills workshop, and she remembered that after our practice session, I told her that if I had a position I would hire her. She said that that little statement -- that I don't even recall -- meant the world to her at the moment. Since then, she has been able to find housing, employment, and stability in her life. Much of it was due to the support she received through entities like Casa de Misericordia and other agencies."
García's work with the Silent Witness Project also deals with domestic abuse. As the name states, the Silent Witness Project is an exhibit of wooden male and female silhouettes that commemorate people who have died as a result of domestic violence in Laredo. The Project is put on display annually as part of the Domestic Violence Coalition's observance of Domestic Violence Month. Involved with the initial planning and promoting of the Project, García has been co-chair of the undertaking for the last three years, together with Yvonne Valdez, an educator at the Alexander High School Magnet School.
At A&M International, García currently sponsors the student clubs COLORS (Community Organization Leading Others to Responsibility and Success) and Alpha Psi Lambda (a new co-ed social services fraternity). Previously she was the sponsor for Hard@Work (promoting career success), the Pre-Law Society, the Tae Kwon Do Club, and LUCHA (Latinos United for Culture, Heritage, and Advancement). "That's what I've always wanted to do -- work with student organizations. I think it's kind of cool to hear from an alum years after, that something that you did with them changed their view of themselves," she said.
García has had to face a minor obstacle, however. "Laredo tends to be a little more passive," she said. "That makes it hard if you are in student development, and the students don't necessarily see themselves as that next intern in Washington, D.C., or the next trainee for a management position, or the next president of a student organization. They can't picture themselves in those roles."
García received a master's degree in counseling with focus in student development in higher education from Northern Illinois University. "When I was a student, I became involved with student organizations, and that had such an impact on who I was. I saw that if I had an idea I could make it happen. I was heavily involved in student clubs and activities. My intention was to benefit the community in one way or another," she said.
"I have an insatiable curiosity about understanding the world around me. It parallels how I feel about how community works. I like to see students who may not have known each other get together, and watch them grow. I have tons of different ideas that I want to see into fruition. I like to see that happen -- to see a goal and to get to that goal. I think I'm a good planner and a good organizer," said García.
"I think sometimes people operate in their own little worlds. They have an idea and they start to work on it, but they work on it in isolation. In any project that I work on, I look for partners. Sometimes, on your own, yes, it happens, but it doesn't have the same impact as a coalition of clubs or agencies. I'm constantly volunteering, with the Laredo Under Seven Flags Rotary Club, Communities In Schools, HACU (the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities)," she said. "With everything that you do, you can benefit someone else."