In support of Carmen Rue

To the editor:

My friend and mentor Carmen Rue is running for village trustee in Monticello on Tuesday, March 18.

I met Carmen in 1997 while a sophomore at Monticello High School. Carmen rang our bell on Bennett Street while registering voters and campaigning for candidates. She came so regularly that people on our block called her “the lady of the votes.”

Carmen is different, for me, than other candidates because of the impact she has had in my life. Growing up, I never thought college was possible. No one in my family had gone and I knew my parents could never afford to pay tuition for me. Carmen was interested in me beyond election times. Visiting repeatedly and talking to me respectfully, as though I were an adult, Carmen helped me see myself as someone with potential.

When I was a senior, Carmen helped me apply for financial aid. I went to the Rue home with my parents’ permission and a folder of financial records. She helped me fill out online aid applications, which seemed complicated to me at the time. She helped me apply to Sullivan County Community College and later—with my parents, family, and her husband—proudly watched my graduation. This year I will receive a BA in Education from SUNY New Paltz to be an art teacher.

I believe Carmen will serve the village with the same devotion and passion that she showed a teenage girl from a low-income Monticello family—before I was even old enough to vote.

Carmen has helped many other young and older people as a voluntary advocate (sometimes in the name of organizations; often on her own), privately helping resolve landlord or employment disputes, negotiate human rights complaints, find jobs, get nutrition assistance and housing and translating. Most important, she has given hope to people who previously saw little chance for a better future.

I hope my friends and neighbors support Carmen Rue for trustee in the March 18 election, as I will.