Jeanette Vargas -
Women's Program Manager

My name is Jeannette Vargas and I come from a beautiful two-parent household. My mother was a waitress and my father was a farm worker. They dedicated  themselves to raising my sister and I. My father started his own business and became the first Latino to sit  on the Moxee City Council.

Even with all the love from my parents and the stable household I still fell victim to the ills of our society  at a very young age. I became addicted to drugs and rapidly found myself in the streets doing what people in the streets do to survive. Homelessness became a way of life for me of which I thought I would never make it out. Throughout the years I benefited from the different programs that offered food ,temporary shelter and needle exchange. In May of 1992, by the grace of God, I found my way into a 12-step recovery program by a beautiful lady who promised to show me a new way of life ,and did. 

As part of my new way of life I wanted to give back to those programs that I once benefited from and began volunteering my time.  For the past 35 years I have been married, raised my two children  and  I am currently raising my granddaughter.

Having been blessed with a beautiful life it is important to me to give back to my community through different programs reaching out and touching those that are homeless, feeling as alone and desperate as I once was.  

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Throughout the past 25 years I have been blessed with the opportunity to volunteer for Yakima  Juvenile  detention center , Yakima health district for needle exchange , Yakima homeless coalition ,POCAAN to help start  a program called the TARR PROJECT. and  have advocated on Regional, State and Federal levels  on HIV/ AIDS prevention efforts,

  Although it may sound like a cliche, if I just touch one person , I can change the world. The lady who helped me ,changed my world.