Thursday, 4:30 PM
Lowell’s Cambodians lose center
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff
For 21 years, it was a beacon for Lowell’s Cambodians, a place where new immigrants could go to get health advice, winter coats, English classes, and friendly conversation.
Over the weekend, the St. Julie Asian Center closed its doors for the last time.
The old firehouse where it was housed was in such disrepair that it would have taken more than $500,000 to fix it, said Sister Janet Deaett the tall, soft-spoken nun who ran the center. Recently, toilets began leaking into the room that houses the children’s programs, and a chunk of ceiling crashed to the floor.
There was no way her order, the Sisters of Notre Dame, could raise enough money to salvage the building, and though she had been unable to find a new building for the center, despite several years of searching.
‘‘It was one thing after another,’’ Deaett said. ‘‘The problems were just insurmountable.’’
Those who work with Cambodian immigrants in Lowell say the closing will leave an enormous hole in the community. The city is home to at least 18,000 Cambodians, census figures show, but immigrant advocates here put the number closer to 30,000. Their needs are still great, said Vong Ros, executive director of the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Center. Losing the center will put even more strain on other immigrant service centers, he said.
