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Vines Funeral Home in LaFayette hosted the first night of ESL class on Tuesday night with a roster of 16 registered students from the local Latino community. 

“For LaFayette to grow and prosper, we have to all pull together, and that’s the African American community, that’s the Caucasian community, that’s the Latino community,” said Merilyn Vines, a principal organizer of the LaFayette Latino Outreach Group. “If we all pull together and work together, we can really make some progress. And it starts somewhere.”

Vines said the program came about when she was inspired to open the chapel of her business, Vines Funeral Home, to the local Spanish-speaking community for ministry. Though she wasn’t sure yet what form that would take, she began taking steps toward that goal. 

The LaFayette Latino Outreach Group began at this year’s Love LaFayette downtown event in February. After connecting with Daniel Gonzàlez, the pastor of the Latino ministry at First Baptist of Opelika, Vines discovered that one of the biggest challenges for the community was the language barrier. 

With the help of LaFayette Fire and EMS Chief Jim Doody, she was able to offer her chapel as a space for a satellite ESL (English as a Second Language) class sponsored by Southern Union State Community College in Opelika. 

“I just see this as an opportunity, not only to help them with their abilities to communicate with the community but also with their jobs,” Vines said. 

“This is not only a benefit to the Latino community, but it’s a benefit to the city as a whole,” Doody said.

Beyond that, Doody said the program can mean the difference between life and death in the case of emergency response. Building better communication with the Spanish-speaking community can also build confidence and trust in the local emergency services.

“There’s a lot of the Latino population that’s really afraid to call 911, and we don’t want to have that barrier. We need to let them know and understand that there’s resources available,” Doody said.

Doody, who has also been heavily involved in the Chambers County Community Health and Wellness Center in LaFayette, said there are Spanish-speaking clinicians available at the center so that all community members can have the same access to healthcare. 

Another issue is transportation. Many community members may not have transportation to SUSCC’s campus but are within walking distance of Vines Funeral Home on B Street.

Most of the enrolled students are in their late teens and early twenties. A lot of them will be coming to class after a full day’s work. Still, Vines said, they are very eager to learn.

“They’re serious about learning this. They know that it will help them in so many ways, and plus, it will help the community,” she said. 

The class has a maximum limit of 25 students and after that, others will be put on a waiting list for the next class. 

However, Vines said her next goal is to get a Spanish- and English-speaking pastor within the community who can continue the outreach work that Gonzàlez has started. 

Vines praised the rest of the LaFayette Latino Outreach Group, Doody, Bethany Durden and interpreters Roxana Ramirez, Keila Ramirez and Perla Pulido for their help in getting the program started. 

“It takes a community effort,” she said.

Vines also thanked SUSCC instructor Kathryn Smith, ELL Coordinator Greg Helms and Director of Adult Education Connor Chauveaux.

“With LaFayette Main Street and everything, we just got a lot of great stuff happening,” Doody said. “And this was just something that wasn’t difficult to do, it just took a group of people dedicated to making things happen, and Southern Union was absolutely thrilled to do it.”