In the words of Governor Tim Kaine, it was an amazing sight -- an overflow audience of over 1,000 people including a large contingent from St. Anthony of Padua gathered at T.C. Williams High School on a rainy Monday evening in mid-July to have their VOICEs heard on the need (1) to better serve the poor by providing dental care for adults and (2) to expedite the incredibly slow immigration processes for citizenship. Governor Kaine, Senator Webb's Chief of Staff, and the other assembled political leaders were clearly impressed by the turn-out!
Having heard the testimony of individuals in our area who suffer from the lack of dental care and how it impacts their life, Governor Kaine said that until V.O.I.C.E. (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement) leaders met with him, dental care for adults in Virginia was not on "his radar." However, after having met with the V.O.I.C.E. leaders and now hearing citizens of Virginia telling of the impact the lack of dental care had on them, dental care for adults was very much on his radar. Having successfully added dental care for more than 100,000 children earlier in his term, he pledged to do as much as he could in his remaining six months in office to find money for a pilot project.
V.O.I.C.E. members then heard from members of Dar-al Hijrah Mosque about their frustrating experiences with applying for permanent resident status and even applying for U. S. Citizenship. The stories of unexplained delays and lost records were truly amazing.
Senator Webb's Chief of Staff, Paul Reagan, agreed on behalf of Senator Webb (who had a Committee vote and could not attend the meeting) to help try to set-up a meeting with Secretary Janet Napolitano of the Homeland Security department or her senior staff. He expressed Senator Webb's concern about the continuing delays in processing citizenship paperwork. To help concretely demonstrate the real extent of the problem, Fr. Grinnell presented Mr. Reagan with a large box filled with cases were immigration paperwork was unreasonably delayed.
Governor Kaine added his support and noted that one of his parish priests had his paperwork rejected because his medical exam was over a year-and-a-half old -- except the paperwork had been filed on time and had just sat on someone's desk! Senator Warner, who was also tied up in Congress, sent a letter of support.
This was an exciting, energy-filled meeting, but just another step forward in addressing these issues. V.O.I.C.E. leaders will follow-up with Governor Kaine, Senator Webb, and Senator Warner. The next public action on October 18 will be to meet with Virginia's two candidates for Governor and other key elected officials.
Photos courtesy of Scott Engdahl; for a video slide show of the event click here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12v0vc2l.5ir37k4l&x=0&y=-i6rndj&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_album
