03/19/2026
Carmen is 17.
She misses home. She misses the way her grandmother’s kitchen smelled in the mornings. She misses hearing Spanish everywhere she goes.
She doesn’t miss the violence. That’s what made her leave. She crossed the border with the help of a smuggler. After that, she spent several days in a Homeland Security shelter, just waiting, unsure of what would happen next. Now she’s here, starting over.
She just began high school. The hallways are loud. The lockers are confusing. The English comes fast. Once a week, she meets with a volunteer from Open Arms. They sit across from each other at a table and practice. Simple words. New phrases. Homework questions. Sometimes it’s frustrating. Sometimes they laugh.
It’s slow work. But slow work matters.
Carmen isn’t looking for sympathy. She wants to graduate. She wants to build a life that feels steady. She wants to feel like she knows what she’s doing. At Open Arms, our tutoring program gives her that space, one hour at a time. The goal isn’t just better grades. It’s confidence. Stability. A future that feels possible.
If you’d like to help young people like Carmen find their footing, you can volunteer. You can give. You can pray.
And we’ll keep showing up every week, one student, one lesson, one conversation at a time.
