Borrego Sun Youth Intern Mia Garcia Interviews Community Resource Center Director Martha Deichler

Borrego Sun Youth Intern Mia Garcia: We are here at the Community Resource Center talking to Martha Deichler, the executive director of the Borrego Springs Community Resource Center.

Thank you for sitting down with me. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us more about the Borrego Springs Community Resource Center?

Martha Deichler: I came to Borrego about 20 years ago to be the principal at the elementary school.

It didn’t take me long to realize, having come from a very large school district in Chula Vista, that there were lots of opportunities for people in our town, especially our young people, that exist in big towns, but they don’t exist here.

After 15 years in the school district, I retired about five years ago. I was the principal and then the superintendent.

After I retired, I thought there was just too much work to do for me to go fishing and start reading all the books I wanted to read.

There was a real need in this town for a place for people to come and access all the services they’re entitled to. We are part of the county. We pay county taxes, but we don’t have all of those services here.

Then COVID hit, and suddenly people did not have jobs. There were so many needs in our community, including simply filling out the online form to get a COVID vaccination.

This building, which has now become the Resource Center, joined with Jim Wermers, the Fredericks and the high school food bank, and we started offering a food bank here. But it grew to be way more than that. We had a bank of computers, and we started signing people up for COVID vaccinations.

The first day they offered the COVID vaccination at the library, I went over there and looked at the line. There wasn’t one non-English-speaking person in that line. They were all people who knew how to access services, and I thought, “That’s not equitable.”

That led to helping people sign up for unemployment, which then led to people wanting to take English classes. They had some time off from work and wanted to improve their English skills. Then it expanded into helping people look for jobs.

Pretty soon, all the things that one can access at a resource center in any other good-sized town in America, we started offering here.

Then it grew to be even more. People who speak English wanted to learn Spanish. We began offering exercise classes. Today, we even have a dog-training class. We meet the needs of a variety of people in our town.

It is so rewarding to see Spanish speakers learn enough English to improve their lives. We teach them the English they need for their jobs.

I saw a young man become, first, a dishwasher, then a busser, then a waiter, and now he is a cook because he learned enough English to improve his life.

That’s what we’re about: giving people the opportunities they need to take the next step toward success in their lives.

We also have county services that come out here. If people wish to sign up for CalFresh, Medi-Cal or CalWORKs, they can do that. We have the Live Well bus that comes out and helps people, including veterans who need counseling.

Before that, I really wonder where people went for the services that could improve their lives. I really do wonder.

I’m excited about all the wonderful volunteers I have here, and it is working.

Mia Garcia: This town is really lucky to have you, Ms. Deichler.

Martha Deichler: Well, thank you. That’s very nice of you to say.

Mia Garcia: What do you love most about Borrego Springs?

Martha Deichler: Oh, that’s so easy to answer.

I always tell people I came out here to work because I love the desert. I knew nothing about the people, but I stay because I love the people.

They are some of the most sincere, appreciative and honest people. The families appreciate anything we do for them.

I also say that, at my age, you can have a purposeful life here. There is something for you to do, and you can see the results of your efforts.

A perfect example is my first day on campus years ago. Some ladies were sitting under a tree at the elementary school, and the first question they asked was, “Where can I go to learn English?”

I thought, “There is no place for you to learn English?” And I said, “Well, let’s see about that.”

So I talked to Elaine McVay, and we opened up literacy classes.

I’m going to jump ahead. One lady learned enough English—she didn’t speak one word of English at first—to begin driving a van for the school district.

Then she learned enough English to drive the school bus. She continued going to literacy classes, and eventually she became head of transportation for the Borrego Springs school district.

Then she moved out of her mobile home and bought a home. Her daughter just graduated from UCLA.

You can see how a little bit of assistance at the beginning can grow into this fabulous story of success.

That’s why I love Borrego. You can make a difference, you can see it, and you feel good when you go to bed at night