Cesar Chávez Celebration to Honor Campus Service Workers

Santa Clara hosted second annual event complete with a prayer and multinational breakfast

Santa Clara held its second annual Cesar Chávez Day event on April 4, a celebration hosted by Campus Ministry to honor service workers on campus.

The event began with a prayer and recognition ceremony led by Victor Lemus, the campus minister for community social justice formation, which was followed by a multicultural breakfast.

During the ceremony, Lemus spoke about Chávez, a 20th-century American labor leader and civil rights activist, and his dedication to fighting for “those that are often forgotten in the work that they do.” 

During the ceremony, one representative from each campus facility department–building maintenance, landscape and food service–was honored and blessed by Fr. Julian Climaco, the campus minister for liturgy and music, as Lemus said a prayer. 

Hosting such a large-scale event was not without its difficulties—specifically, ensuring that school needs were being met while still inviting as many service workers as possible.

“This was only the second time we’ve held a Cesar Chávez event,” said Dr. Alison Benders, the Vice President for Mission and Ministry. “We had to work with supervisors to schedule shifts and overlapping hours.”

Lemus felt it was important to work through scheduling challenges and honor as many people as possible.

“Events like this are our way of showing that we don’t forget those in our community who sometimes can be forgotten if we don’t take initiatives to tangibly express our gratitude for what they do and who they are,” Lemus said. “It’s really special to highlight them and remind them that they mean a lot to this community.”

Students involved were motivated by similar reasoning. Ana Mahomar, a third-year graduate student in Counseling Psychology and a spiritual facilitator in Campisi and Sanfilippo residence halls, acted as a Spanish translator for the prayer.

“I’m here because so many of these people provide me with love and care,” Mahomar said. “This is the time where I can get to say that back with some food and share a meal with them.”

The breakfast portion of the event allowed attendees to build community and share culture.

“To me, sharing a meal allows everyone to sit and learn from each other, and I think the humanity of that is really important,” Lemus said. “There was Mexican pan dulce, Portuguese pastel de nada and breakfast burritos to pay homage to the cultures that make up our service worker staff.”

Outside of this event, he hopes that students will continue to show respect and gratitude towards service workers on campus, especially with the simple act of starting conversations and expressing gratitude for their work.

“All of us live in our heads often, and there’s a lot of people around us that, if we pay attention, can bring us out,” Lemus said. “Having a few minutes to talk to somebody isn’t just beneficial for the other person–it’s mutual.”