People

'Mima' knows best

Her husband may be the pastor of the Good Samaritan Mission, but it's Dora Cruz who makes sure parishioners have full stomachs and a steadfast friend.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 7, 2003

BALM -- There's nothing like diapers and fresh chicken to get Dora Cruz jumping.

When the shelves at Good Samaritan Mission are bare, the pastor's wife worries and wrings her hands. But when the pantry is well-stocked, Cruz can barely contain her excitement.

On this Tuesday, she stands before dozens of hungry farmworker families in the sanctuary at Good Samaritan, and gives a little jump as she announces the good news: A truckload of food is outside, the result of donations from dozens of local residents and businesses.

"Tenemos mucha comida para esta semana, mucha comida para la proxima semana, y la proxima semana," Cruz says, clapping. We have plenty of food for this week, plenty of food for the next week, and the next week. "And diapers! We have diapers! And chicken breasts! Aren't you happy? So happy! God opened the doors of heaven, just like we asked him to. Hallelujah!"

For the next hour, Cruz leads young mothers with toddlers through the mission's food pantry, urging them to take one more box of pasta, one extra jar of peanut butter.

Over nearly two decades, Cruz has committed her days to this work, to helping the hundreds of local farmworker families who live so precariously on meager salaries and unpredictable harvests.

Her husband, Pastor William Cruz, provides the spiritual food at Good Samaritan.

But it's Dora Cruz who makes sure parishioners have full stomachs, and a steadfast friend.

"My father is the pastor of the congregation, but my mother is the pastor of the community," says daughter Laura, 47, associate pastor and director of the mission. "She's the heart."

Cruz brings in social workers to talk about domestic violence, and has lawyers provide legal advice. She dotes on the toddlers in Good Samaritan's preschool, and beams when she sees longtime parishioners who have grown from little tikes to tall teens.

She is as generous with hugs as she is with food.

When the pantry shelves go bare, Cruz hustles about, making calls and searching for an overlooked bag of beans or a spontaneous donation.

"I think about the children," says Cruz, who has raised six children and is grandmother to more than a dozen. "They will be so hungry."

Cruz knows about hunger.

She grew up in Utuado, a small town in Puerto Rico, the second of six siblings abandoned by their father.

"We were always half-hungry," Cruz recalls.

She set an example for her siblings by putting herself through college, earning an associate's degree and a bachelor's in education.

Today, one brother is a lawyer. Another practices medicine.

"My Uncle Raul will tell you the first pair of shoes he wore were bought with money my mother cobbled together," Laura Cruz says.

Cruz committed her adult life to the less fortunate, starting a ministry in Puerto Rico with William Cruz soon after they married in 1952.

After a stint in New Jersey, the Cruzes moved to Ruskin.

"That's when we saw the suffering of the farmworkers," Dora Cruz recalls. "We knew we had to do something."

In 1984, they were part of a group that formed "Friends of Migrants," the first incarnation of the mission. Today, the mission serves hundreds of families each week on a spacious spread off Balm Wimauma Road.

Cruz's title is "Christian educator -- volunteer." Whether it's cooking for the preschoolers, or scouring nearby estate sales for items for the mission, she does it with a balance of humility and fervor.

And always with a smile.

The preschoolers affectionately call her Mima, Spanish for grandma.

Cruz has seen thousands of children pass through the mission, and watched many grow into college-educated, successful adults.

She remembers them all.

Like Francesca Pecina, who started coming to the mission nearly two decades ago, when the youngest of her 10 children was 3 months old. Pecina's husband told Cruz the children didn't need to go to school.

"He told me, "Oh, what for? They'll always be farmworkers.' No! I told him. We have to get them in school.' Now, you see? So successful!"

Today, Pecina teaches in the day care, and one of her sons is a physician's assistant in Ruskin. The youngest child recently graduated from high school.

On a recent visit, 16-year-old Yolanda Ramos tells Cruz she dropped out of school.

Without skipping a beat, Cruz grabs Ramos' hand and says: "Oh, no. We'll get you back in. Yes, yes. You must."

Dora Cruz

Age: 71

Family: Four daughters, two sons, 15 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren.

On a mission: On the rare occasions when Cruz has a few free minutes, she likes to watch preachers on television. She also goes to local estate sales -- to look for things for the mission.

Finding God, and Bill: After "meeting the Lord" at age 20, Cruz said goodbye to a boyfriend who did not share her plans for a life devoted to God. But she found William Cruz, a friend of her brother's who planned to spend his life as a pastor. The couple celebrated their 50th anniversary last year.

Eat, eat: Daughter Laura says her mother "cooks for an army." Her specialty? Arroz con gandules, "rice with pigeon peas."