What women want

To spend time with the moms is to see: Alone, some could find themselves drowning. But together, they've been able to do more than tread water.

She was the first person in the community to test positive for the coronavirus, and she ended up in the hospital for six days. Escobar said that Romero asked United Community whether a truck could deliver food to the trailer park, and now, a truck comes every Friday. When it arrives, the women unload the contents and distribute them. Also there was Ivana Escobar, director of collective impact for United Community, a nonprofit that provides food to the trailer park and support to the women. They wouldn’t know who to ask about their rights when facing eviction. She also wanted to make sure none of her neighbors was going hungry during the pandemic. “When Ana asked, ‘Who wants to volunteer?’ the answer was ‘Me, me, me,’ ” Elizabeth Villatoro said. Moreno first learned about the women when one of them, Ana Delia Romero, called to ask whether she could come speak to them about health care. As two young boys ran through the backyard, the mothers talked about some of the community’s needs. The population of the trailer park is one that nonprofit workers often worry about. That’s why the women want people to know what they’ve created in that trailer park on Route 1. Moreno has spent the last two decades as an outreach worker for Anthem HealthKeepers Plus, a job that takes her into low-income communities throughout Northern Virginia to teach residents about their Medicaid benefits. What affects one trailer affects the whole community.”