WATSONVILLE — When Paz Padilla was a recent immigrant struggling to learn English, Sister Rose Veronica gave the fourth-grader extra lessons in her tiny office at Moreland Notre Dame School.
Padilla now uses the same office as associate director of Catholic Charities’ Immigration & Citizenship Program, where she has worked since 2000.
“She believed in me,” Padilla said. “Every time I go into that office I can feel her telling me, ‘don’t worry. It will be OK.’”
That full-circle journey may have met an apex this month when she was named Grand Marshal of this year’s Spirit of Watsonville Fourth of July Parade.
She said she was shocked by being chosen.
“It was an honor,” she said. “I’m grateful that people see what I do for the community that has given me so much and taught me how to be a leader.”
Padilla also chairs Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, serves as youth coordinator for Holy Eucharist Parish in Corralitos and sits on the board of Moreland Notre Dame Academy.
As part of the Immigration & Citizenship Program, Padilla helps immigrants with the increasingly complex process of gaining legal citizenship. The organization also offers family support services such as rental assistance and food stamps.
Padilla is moving to Catholic Charities’ Salinas office, a move she said is bittersweet. She graduated from Watsonville High School in 1992, and moved to San Luis Obispo where she eared an associate’s degree and worked for Catholic Charities as an Immigration Specialist.
Padilla’s own struggles as an immigrant to become a U.S. citizen, which occurred in 1996, give her empathy for people in that situation.
“My main goal is to help people who come from all over the world to become legal residents,” she said.
Padilla said her drive to serve her community comes from her religious conviction, and from the values of equality instilled in her by her family and her community.
“I was taught that the person in front of you is the same as you,” she said. “It’s all part of being grateful to the people who have helped me along the way. I owe a lot to Watsonville.”
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The Spirit of Watsonville Fourth of July Parade begins at a new time, 1 p.m., in downtown Watsonville.
