Humanitarian Mirta Cairo will tell you that her affliction a few years ago with multiple myeloma, a type of plasma cell cancer, was a transformative experience. But don’t categorize her as one of those victims who vow, only after serious trauma, to prevent suffering in others – because Cairo was doing that long before she got sick. If anything, cancer made her renew her vow.
It would take a lot of space to list the honors and awards that she’s accumulated, to list the organizations she’s a member of, to list the boards she serves on, the influential people who request her company and solicit her advice, and the newspapers and magazines that have profiled her. And that’s just the past five years or so.
“I like being that voice that informs and gets the ball rolling.” – Mirta Cairo
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Besides operating the shelter, PERC operates a community kitchen and an after-school program for low-income children.
Recent appointment
Cairo met PERC Director Emory Edwards about a year ago at a meeting for the new Union City-West New York Rotary Club.
After talking a bit, Edwards invited her to see the most recent work PERC was doing. Cairo already knew well PERC’s role in the community, and had, most recently, served up Christmas dinner to the homeless there with her husband, Raul.
When Edwards suggested she work with PERC, Cairo accepted despite her position on the boards of other organizations and memberships in many more.
“[Union City] is a town that works together. Everybody’s struggling in the same way.” – Mirta Cairo
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“I was very honored when I was asked,” she said. “[PERC] is the only homeless shelter for families in the county. There is a need there. It’s a place where a family can be together and not separated during an emergency.”
As a director, Cairo will spread the word about the shelter’s newest projects, such as its permanent housing program to be completed this spring, and its refurbished Community Center this summer, and help with future projects.
Important to Cairo is changing the common misconception that abounds when it comes to the homeless.
“There are people who think it’s a choice,” she said. “This is a situation. This is the reality of life. Not everybody’s life is perfect. Not everybody can find a job.”
She relates the story of shelter guest Laynier Dieguez, who had been a renowned ballet dancer in his home country of Cuba. Before arriving at PERC, Dieguez had been dancing with a local ballet company in Ecuador as part of a cultural exchange, but dire circumstances forced him to flee for America. When he finally made his way to the shelter, he had little more than the clothes on his back and nowhere else to turn.
A community figure
The seed for Cairo’s humanitarianism was planted in her at a young age, when her family came over from Cuba when she was 13 years old. She’ll never forget, she said, “the people that opened their homes and hearts to us.”
From that point on, she vowed to give back “whatever little I could, as long as I can do it.”
Also, because she had moved so much during her youth, she promised herself that after she got married, she would settle down, which she did in Union City in 1977.
“[Union City] is a town that works together. Everybody’s struggling in the same way,” she said. “I go out on the street and everybody knows me, and I know them.”
Her community doesn’t just “know” her. They recognize her as well. She has received numerous honors and awards from the city of Union City, the town of West New York, the Hudson County Freeholders, the Hudson County Executive, and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.
She was named 2010 Mother of the Year by the Hispanic Mercantile Federation of N.J., and has received the Elena Mederos Award, the Dominican Republic Award, Distinguished Women of the Year, Woman of the Year, Creciendo Juntos Award, Los Tres Proceres Antillanos Award, Godmother of the Association Mujeres Martianas, Valores Humanos for service to the Hispanic Community, and the Juvenile Diabetes Golden Sneaker Award.
Cairo stresses that her goal is to do her best for the community at large. She does, however, particularly enjoy helping the Latin community to discover and navigate the many healthcare and different services that abound.
“I like being that voice that informs and gets the ball rolling,” she said of her volunteerism. “My reward comes from knowing I was instrumental…that I have given my little help.”
Human rights in Cuba, too, are a special priority for Cairo.
Last April, with a group of four other women, she organized a walk in solidarity with the “Ladies in White” in Cuba down Bergenline Avenue, asking for freedom for Cuban political prisoners and respect for human rights. On the day of the event, 5,000 people dressed in white showed up in support, despite cold and rainy conditions.
Life goes on…
Ask Cairo how she does it all, especially after cancer, and she’ll relate a special visit from Father Paco of Holy Family Church while she was in the hospital, after her lungs had failed her the night before.
“He said to me, ‘You still have a job to do – not only with your family, but with the community,’” she said.
After being “on the verge of not making it,” she realized she had the opportunity to do more, and found herself reenergized by helping others.
“I get more back from all of this than anyone can realize,” Cairo said. “It’s helping me more than it’s helping other people.”
Deanna Cullen can be reached at dcullen@hudsonreporter.com.