La Casa de Amistad will hold its annual Hispanic Heritage Month Community Celebration and Awards Ceremony Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. This year’s ceremony will honor three Hispanic community leaders: Susana Lagunas, Ricardo Parra, and Amada Salazar.
Juan Constantino, CEO of La Casa, said these three have played integral roles in Michiana's Latino community.
“Each within their own space,” Constantino said, “have made an immense commitment and have given so much of their lives for well over a decade for the latino, hispanic, and immigrant communities.”
Lagunas, a nurse practitioner, focuses on providing high-quality healthcare services to LatinX populations. Parra helped establish the El Campito day care center and has supported various other organizations. Salazar works as a case manager, advocating for families in St. Joseph County to ensure they access necessary services.
Salazar said getting nominated is an honor, but was quite the surprise.
“I’m really happy,” Salazar said. “I was not expecting this at all. I’m nervous, of course, because I don’t know what to expect.”
Salazar expressed her surprise at receiving a nomination, calling it an honor. She also has a personal connection to the celebration, as Parra is her godfather.
“Mi padrino has been a major influence on my desire to serve,” Salazar said. “He and his wife, Olga Villa, are my godparents. They have done so much for the community. I look up to them. Seeing what they’ve done to the community has brought me so much love since I was little.”
The City of South Bend partnered with La Casa de Amistad to make this celebration possible.
“There’s great things the city of South Bend and La Casa are doing,” Salazar said. “Especially how they come together for the hispanic community.”
“I’m grateful to the city of South Bend and the mayor’s office,” Constantino said. “They’ve been great partners along the way.”
Beginning next year, community members will have the opportunity to nominate honorees for the Hispanic Heritage Month Community Awards.
“Next year we will have an open nomination process,” Constantino said. “It will live on the website of La Casa de Amistad as well. So as we rev up for the summer and start getting closer to Hispanic Heritage Month, there will be a form, where the community, at-large, can nominate folks here in the city of South Bend for one of these awards.”