The music stopped, and Decatur counselor and Abuelitos Unidos de Wise County Director Cynthia Alvarez was out of breath. 

She guided her wheelchair-bound dance partner, Nina Galvan, 85, into her final twirl, putting an exclamation point on the Baile folklórico performance — a 10-minute blur of color, heritage and skill. 

At Alvarez’s right were around 20 other dancers, each over the age of 65, posturing with chins up and shoulders back in their vibrant dresses. When the whoops and applause washed over the Decatur Conference Center stage, the ladies — and the lady who brought them all together — stood even taller.

A few years ago, the longtime school counselor would have never pictured volunteering countless hours to create a senior outreach program, much less providing live entertainment with a troupe of elderly women at the Wise Senior Expo.

What it meant to be a counselor for Alvarez veered in a completely different direction in 2023.

Two years ago, Alvarez left her job at Decatur ISD to work at Wise County Christian Counseling. The bilingual counselor thought she would primarily work with children, and see some adults, too.

Instead, she found a disproportionate amount of elderly Spanish speakers in her office, noticing a pattern of depression, exacerbated by isolation and a sedentary lifestyle. 

Many Spanish-speaking seniors in Wise County live with family, or are plugged into the community through church. But not all have that luxury. Her clients felt alone and forgotten.

While Alvarez could provide guidance and coping mechanisms, there was only so much she could do in her capacity as a counselor.

She searched for programs or resources that could help her clients socialize and become more active. She couldn’t find any, at least one that was nearby. 

So, Alvarez did something about it.

In 2023, Alvarez established Abuelitos Unidos de Wise County, the first designated space for Spanish-speaking seniors in Wise County, through a partnership with the Wise County Committee on Aging.

“There was this glaring need and they needed help,” Alvarez said. “I just knew it was the right thing to do. The best thing is how the community helped. This is not my effort alone. The community was waiting for something like this, and we were ready.”

Two days a week, the Abuelitos dance, eat, exercise, play games and share stories at the OWLS Activity Center, making new friends along the way. 

The program is therapy in action. But it doesn’t feel that way to the seniors.

​​“We all come here for the same reason,” Ulbaldo Luevanos told the Messenger this summer. “To have fun.”

Her dedication to building a bridge over a glaring gap in the community is why Alvarez is the Messenger’s Wise County 2023 Person of the Year.

Close to home

Before impacting Wise County schools and seniors, Alvarez was an immigrant.

She was 10 years old when her family came from Mexico to start a new life in Decatur.

Like most students arriving at a new school, Alvarez was concerned with how she would fit in. The culture was new, and she was just learning to speak English.

“It was a shock,” Alvarez said.

Those early challenges brought about Alvarez’s habit of encountering an issue and taking it upon herself to try to fix it.

“Not a lot of the teachers spoke Spanish here then. I thought, ‘You know what? Maybe I need to be a bilingual teacher,’” she said. “My teachers made me feel loved. That’s what I first wanted to do. Then I thought I would like to help families on the counseling side of things. The teachers and counselors here had such a special heart, making room for all these students, and it just grows each year.” 

Alvarez graduated high school and attended the University of North Texas, pursuing her dream to help her community. She completed her Bachelors of Education in Psychology and eventually obtained a master’s degrees in school counseling and in professional
counseling from UNT.

Most of Alvarez’s career was dedicated to teaching and counseling at Wise County schools, helping children, like that 10-year-old girl who showed up to school in Decatur.

She was a counselor at Decatur ISD and Bridgeport ISD, and was recognized as the Rann Elementary teacher of the year in 2021, before being called to Wise County Christian Counseling.

You can see the influences from Mexico and Wise County in Alvarez’s life. 

In Decatur, she said she witnessed a community who took a special interest in her family. Shortly after arriving in Decatur, she answered a knock at the door to find a porch full of presents.

“The generosity of a stranger blew our minds,” Alvarez said. “Later in life, I realized a teacher likely passed along that we could use help that Christmas.” 

In Mexico, Alvarez was shown how to take care of your elders. She said families often live with their grandparents, or at least live nearby.

“Mexico is super family oriented. Your elders are part of your life, and they have that socialization and are active,” Alvarez said.

“It’s not that people don’t want to care for our seniors as much in America,” she added. “Sometimes, people just can’t. When you’re establishing a career, it can be difficult to do both. There’s a crunch for people to maintain their lifestyles, and sometimes that means moving away.”

Over the years, Alvarez would eventually raise her own family in Wise County. And as her children worked their way to their own diplomas, she was called to Wise County Christian Counseling. She didn’t think that much would change. 

Everything did.

Helping hands

The stories of seniors in her community weighed on her heart. When she started searching for local resources that are geared toward Spanish-speaking seniors, Alvarez found an abundance of programs for seniors; however, there were no local resources available for Spanish-speakers.

She and her husband, Rigo, decided they could bridge that gap in the community, pitching the idea for the Abuelitos program to Wise County Committee on Aging (WCCA) Executive Director Amy Pegues. 

Before long, WCCA and Alvarez worked to form a program for seniors to connect with each other, and for the Wise County community to connect with its Spanish-speaking seniors. 

With the WCCA’s support, the program now had a facility, a source for weekly meals and a squad of people ready to help the program reach as many seniors that could use the assistance.

And after a lot of leg work and spreading the word about the new program, Alvarez and others nervously awaited the turnout of the first meeting on Jan. 20, 2023. 

She expected a modest amount to join. The room quickly filled up, with around 40 seniors signing up to participate.

“I was blown away,” she said. “It exploded. And then it just kept growing.”

To keep up with the demand, the Abuelitos program was offered twice a week.

Now, there are around 100 who have signed up.

The program brings in special guests and speakers, while promoting social interaction and exercise. 

While the program is led by Alvarez, she has encouraged members to take ownership of some key aspects of the meetings. Seniors lead the post-lunch fitness classes, conduct Lotteria (Bingo!) games, organize the “Abuelito of the Month” presentation and even offer their own live music. The exercises vary. Depending on their capabilities, the seniors will do calisthenics on their feet or from chairs, while the most popular form of exercise is when Rigo Alvarez busts out the boombox for an impromptu dance party.

Dance is important to the group. Leading up to the Wise Senior Expo last fall, the ladies in the dance group were locked in. They had been rehearsing for weeks. From hairstyles to dresses to choreography, they pulled together. 

Soon they would become Wise County famous.

The show served as a goal, a motivation, giving them a reason to be excited in the morning. It provided purpose. 

And once the music started, a wide array of community members and caregivers looked up from booths and brochures to see part of the culture in Wise County that wasn’t always celebrated.

“It’s such a motivator,” she said. “And now, I have heard from members saying they were ‘recognized’ at Walmart. They’re like celebrities now.”

The work was worth it. The folklorico dance was a celebration of the group’s culture.

Depression has been replaced by joy. 

Thanks to a counselor who cared, and a group of seniors who have found joy together, it’s beginning to feel like an important part of Wise County culture, too.