Reflecting on the Jubilee Year 2025 and its theme of hope, the staff, volunteers, supporters and clients of the El Centro program of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton, maintain that providing hope for Spanish-speaking people who are new to the Trenton area and the country has been at the heart of the agency’s mission for the past 25 years.
Bishop O’Connell is shown taking photos with El Centro staff. Monitor file photo
John Batkowski “El Centro is my second home,” said Isabel Madrid, one of the first clients to seek services after El Centro opened in 1999.
As one of thousands of clients who credits El Centro for giving her family the help they needed, Madrid, a Trenton resident and member of Our Lady of the Angels Parish, said: “The staff respects me. They gave me any information I needed. I’m very comfortable here. I love El Centro.”
Housed in the former convent on the grounds of Sacred Heart Parish, Trenton, El Centro – The Family Resource Center – was founded by Roberto Hernandez and has since provided everything from basic necessities to education and long-term development for anyone who walks through its doors.
El Centro takes a unique, family-based approach in providing services to the community, Hernandez said, emphasizing that that “the family is key” and the goal is to work with the entire family on a holistic level.
“It is important because without the nucleus of the family, I think that as a society we are going to struggle,” said Hernandez, a member of Sacred Heart Parish.
El Centro’s staff of nine plus 20 volunteers work to offer services that include free assistance to pregnant women and new mothers to help them learn parenting skills for healthy child development. The center also offers English as a Second Language classes, review courses for high school equivalency tests, job skills training programs, advocacy and referrals, counseling services, case management, health navigators, eye screenings, anger management classes, citizenship classes, rental and utility assistance, and clothing and food.
Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., is shown with El Centro staff in this Monitor file photo. To the Bishop’s left is Roberto Hernandez, director. At far right is Msgr. Dennis Apoldite, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish.
John Batkowski
Widening The Reach
Over the years, El Centro has seen a surge in the number of people needing assistance. In 2024, the agency helped 2,300 families and Hernandez estimates that over the past 25 years, El Centro has helped more than 500,000 families.
“That’s a lot of families,” he said, adding that about 58% of Trenton’s population is Latino; the majority have “come here for help at one point or another.”
In more recent years, Hernandez said, the agency has broadened its reach to provide services to new arrivals from Haiti, Africa and Poland.
“We’re here to help,” he said, noting that while the predominant population needing services is Hispanic and staff and volunteers are bilingual, translators accompany the French-, Creole- and Polish-speaking clients.
Hernandez acknowledged appreciation to both Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., and Msgr. Dennis Apoldite, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish and episcopal vicar of Mercer County, for their unwavering support of El Centro over the years then spoke of how the agency works closely with its faith-based community and government partners. He noted that El Centro offers annual events that draw thousands of people, such as the annual health fair, a Three Kings celebration on the Feast of the Epiphany and a Way of the Cross procession throughout the streets of Trenton on Good Friday.
The health fair, usually held each spring in Sacred Heart Parish Hall, is a means for many living in Trenton to access health care; cost and language often are barriers to normal access. Dozens of organizations and medical professionals provide pro-bono services. The number of attendees at the health fair now exceeds 1,000. El Centro also partners with other Catholic Charities agencies to provide clients with mental health services.
Msgr. Apoldite noted the privilege it is for him and his parishioners to work closely and regularly with the El Centro staff and volunteers in its many outreach endeavors.
“It’s a model program,” Msgr. Apoldite said, and to have more parishes and agencies like El Centro work collaboratively to benefit the greater community would be ideal.
Hernandez said that much of the clients’ comfort level in seeking services at El Centro is knowing the agency’s immigration program is accredited by the Department of Justice and Homeland Security and works with other agencies that assist with immigration laws, social services and other needs such as poverty and mental illness, Hernandez said. He acknowledged that many of the clients have been victims of scams.
“They have to be careful out there. There are too many wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing,” he said.
El Centro staff, volunteers and clients celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany held in Sacred Heart Parish, Trenton.
Distinguished History
Hernandez’s history with Catholic Charities dates to 1979 when he started his career as a family counselor. The impetus for his wanting to help families further and go on to establish El Centro was based on an experience from when he was 7 and his family migrated to the United States from Arecibo, Puerto Rico. He recalled his father, a World War II and Korean War combat veteran, giving him $20 to pay the public service bill, but young Roberto lost the money on his way to the utilities office. Roberto was unsuccessful in trying to explain the situation to the clerk. Later, when Roberto returned to the office with his father, the clerk responded with profanities and ethnic slurs and told the elder Hernandez to “Come back when you learn to talk English.” Hernandez said his father responded by apologizing to the clerk for wasting his time.
“There was no need to treat people that way,” Hernandez said, and as angering and hurtful that experience was, he said his Catholic upbringing helped to counteract his emotions and focus his attention on being of service and helping others.
“They trust El Centro and they trust the Church,” he said of the clients. “The Church is part of who they are, and they look at El Centro as being part of the Church and the mission of the Church.”
“Thank God, we are here to be able to make a difference in some of our most vulnerable residents,” he said. “It’s a privilege to have an opportunity to serve them.”