Sister Rosa – Georgetown’s Angel

She doesn’t have any children, but more than 5,000 kids call Sister Rosa Alvarez of La Esperanza “Grandma Rosita” and with good reason. When their mothers were pregnant Alvarez that was the one driving them to countless ultra sounds, clinics and eventually the emergency room.

Sister Alvarez came to Georgetown in 1994 after hearing that Hispanic families in Sussex County were struggling. She planned to stay a year, however plans changed and two years later she helped found La Esperanza, a non-profit organization that helps local Hispanic families.

“They keep me alive and I love it, I love it, I love them, they are part of my life and it’s like my family,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez starts her day early and spends Monday through Thursday driving. She says on average she helps 200 families a month, but at a given time it’s tough to keep track.

“I don’t know how many families I’m helping right now, it’s so many,” Alvarez said.

Friday’s Alvarez focuses on doing other work for families she helps, everything from helping file taxes to signing up for healthcare.

Saturday she’s at the Gardena house , a house for domestic violence victims.

“I am 86, I can’t believe it, I am able to do so much,” Alvarez said. “But they are the ones that give me the strength and courage to keep going. I love them.”

Over the years Alvarez has helped so many families, some like Elda Perez, have even named their children after her.

Perez has cancer and sees Alvarez frequently for counseling and help. She views Alvarez as a mother to her.

“Jesus sends things to us like he sent to me. She’s an angel and her name is Rosa… Rosita and she’s my mom,” Perez said.

For a woman whose vows prevent her from technically having her own family, Alvarez has a lot of people calling her mom these days she said. According to her though, what she doesn’t have are regrets.

“I say if I had to do life again, I will do the same because I have (such) a big family and I don’t have my own children but I have 5,000 grandchildren,” said Alvarez, who view each child she helps as one of her own.

Although Alvarez is 86-years-old now, she says has no plan to stop helping anytime soon.

“I always say I live one day at a time, the best I can,” Alvarez said. “I don’t think about the future, we don’t know what’s going to happen.”