How did you get interested in VISTA?

Ray: It was the summer of 1968. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy had just been assassinated. There had been race riots in a lot of cities. I figured there were more important things I could do than stay at MIT. The VISTA motto then was, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." VISTA seemed like the right thing to do.

Monique: The same thoughts were going through my mind. I had just received my certification as a baby nurse, but I felt there was more I could do. VISTA allowed me that opportunity.

What were VISTA's goals, back in 1968?

Ray: The focus of our training was to empower the people in the neighborhoods where we lived and worked.

Monique: We tried to do this through community organization. We tried to teach people to work with the system and not to be afraid of it. Even though the system had exploited them, it was our job to help them to find ways to use the system to their advantage.

What were your projects?

Ray: When we first arrived we actually did not know what to do. San Antonio was a big city with lots of VISTA volunteers, and very few leaders. We were pretty much on our own. We had seen a movie during training, showing a group of VISTAs organizing a neighborhood cleanup. We thought that would be a good way to introduce ourselves to our neighborhood.

In the midst of the cleanup, we found an abandoned school house. Some of the neighbors had expressed a desire to clean up this area and create a playing field for the kids. After organizing several community meetings, it was decided to try to obtain this building from the school department and use it as a community center.

To pull this project off, we had to get the residents involved. One of my great memories is of Jesse Dominguis, who spoke in front of the school board in favor of the community center. His English was lousy, but he gave a really moving speech. It took a while, but eventually we got the school board to rent the building to us for $1 a year.

We ended up receiving tens of thousands of dollars in donated building materials for the community center. There were lots of businesses and individuals throughout San Antonio who were wonderfully helpful.

By the time our year was over, the community center was just about finished. The building was eventually used for adult education classes, community meets and a recreation center for the children.

What were the working conditions like?

Ray: We lived with other VISTA volunteers, in the neighborhoods in which we were working. There was no room or board provided. You got free health care and 40 bucks a week, with which you had to clothe, feed and entertain yourself. The truth is, lots of people in our neighborhood got by on even less.

So... how did you two meet?

Ray: We met in training, in Oklahoma. VISTA's training was designed to weed out the people who were not resourceful and self reliant.

One day, one of the leaders was setting up a ropes course, and asked for volunteers to hold the safety ropes. I volunteered. Little did I know, I had to carry 100 pounds of rope up a mountain--with no safety rope to hold onto for myself. Yikes!

But, that's how I met Monique. We literally met rappelling off a cliff.

What would you say to someone today, who might be thinking of VISTA?

Ray: You might meet a babe!

Seriously, people coming out of college today are very eager to get in on the high tech revolution. Everyone knows a story of someone who got stock options and is now worth ten million dollars. It's easy to think, "Why should I waste a year or two in VISTA or Peace Corps, when I could make ten million dollars, and then become a philanthropist?"

It's bothersome. Everyone is being pushed in a selfish direction. The fact is, the money will always be there. But, you may never have an opportunity to do something like VISTA again -- you may get a job, get married, have kids -- and you may miss the opportunity.

What did you learn from VISTA?

Monique: VISTA teaches you that you can make a difference. During our year, we didn't think we accomplished very much. Looking back, we see that we did touch lives and our lives were also touched.

Ray: Our VISTA experience will be with us forever. When we encounter injustice, discrimination and prejudice, we don't turn away. VISTA has influenced how we live our lives and the way we raised our kids.

If I had to do it over again, I would have stayed another year. There was a lot to be done, and there still is a lot to be done.