When Karen Cervera came to Philadelphia in 2018, she had big dreams. But the Mexico City native struggled to adjust to life in the U.S. Her language skills were fine for the classrooms back in her home country, but they failed to keep up during casual chitchat and especially during more high-pressure situations such as […]
When Anuj Gupta first started attending board meetings for The Welcoming Center, he was just a graduate student. He was there because the organization’s founder Anne O’Callaghan saw that he had something to offer: a passionate and research-driven perspective on the value of immigrants to the City of Philadelphia. Gupta made himself an expert on […]
Pat Eiding has always been a leader. When he was just 20 years old, he ran an Army radio outpost in Korea. By his mid 20s, he was a member of the Insulators and Asbestos Workers Local 14, a building trades union, and a foreman. At 36, he was head of that union. Eiding eventually […]
Anne O’Callaghan was born in 1942 and raised six miles south of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. That geography fostered an innate empathy for strife and displacement, in addition to techniques for sneaking discounted butter past the guards — wear a belt and tuck it under your shirt. “When that […]
After 11 years serving as President and CEO of The Welcoming Center, Peter Gonzales recently announced plans to transition out of his role by the end of June 2023. Peter succeeded the organization’s founder Anne O’Callaghan in 2012 and has led The Welcoming Center through a period of transformative growth and change. When The Welcoming Center opened its […]
