United Blend celebrates first anniversary

WILKES-BARRE —You’ll notice the flags first. There are a lot of them.

Dozens line the walls of the United Blend PA Community Center, representing different countries from across the globe.

“It’s amazing when people come in and they look and find their flag,” said co-founder Miriam Malave. “This one guy — he was crying. He was from the Middle East and that flag was there. I said, ‘Look, if it’s a country in the world, it should be there and if it’s not there, we’ll get it for you.”

Taking the time to recognize and honor different cultures from around the world sends a clear message: no matter who you are or where you’re from, you are welcome at United Blend.

To celebrate its one year anniversary, the center hosted a cookout Sunday, where people were welcome to grab some food, listen to music, and learn more about the mission of United Blend and its goals for the future.

“It’s been a roller coaster. Lots of up and downs,” said Elizabeth Perez, one of the directors of the center. “We’re also learning because we started this fresh. We didn’t have no experience at all, but we’re so happy to be here.”

Located at 215 S. Main St., the community center’s mission is to advocate for equality and educate residents on the resources available to them so they can grow and thrive in the community.

The center provides a wide range of services including Zumba lessons, English classes, citizenship test preparation, a food pantry, a clothing bank, classes for first time home buyers, and more.

Although Wilkes-Barre has a large Spanish-speaking population, Malave and Elizabeth Perez, one of the directors of the center, said immigrants from all over the world, from Siberia to Haiti, have come to United Blend for help in orienting themselves to a brand new place.

“I always say, ‘My race is humanity.’ So, we open the door for everybody. It doesn’t matter. And if we don’t speak the language, I have Google Translator right here on my phone so we can communicate,” Perez said.

United Blend was founded by Malave and Evelyn Santos about a year and and a half ago because they recognized that many people in the community, especially those who didn’t speak English, needed help understanding how to access the resources available to them.

Malave explained that people used to go to Santos’ home and she would help them fill out paperwork to apply for services like medical assistance and welfare.

Since opening, Malave said that United Blend has helped more than 4,500 people and the center’s food pantry regularly feeds over 300 people.

However, the thing she’s most proud of is the fact that everyone who took the center’s citizenship class and then took the citizenship test, passed it.

“It’s a blessing. I feel like I’m doing a good job,” said Franciso Gonzalez, who teaches the class. He also owns a small business in Wilkes-Barre, Franchesca Multi-Services and Travel, located on Hazle Street.

He continued, “Helping people to become citizens of the United States is great because they could go register to vote now. There’s a door that opens with that.”

As a nonprofit, United Blend relies on donations and fundraising to keep its doors open. Malave said a lot of the expenses are often paid for out of pocket as well.

Although she hopes to see more support from the city itself in the future, Malave said that community partners like Bravo Supermarket and Daryl Lewis, Executive Committee Member of the Wilkes-Barre NAACP, have been a huge help, giving donations and offering advice and support from day one.

“Every organization has a different reach. There are people in the community that United Blend can reach that my organizations or myself don’t have access to. You can tell how much they care from the amount of time and effort they put into feeding people, clothing people, making sure that they have the ability to stay without being harassed,” said Lewis.

Lewis also stressed the importance of supporting nonprofits like United Blend and praised the organization for its efforts to help the most vulnerable members of the community.

“For how far they’ve moved along without support in the short time they’ve been here, that is what dedication looks like,” he said.