Preparing the Dominican dish Pollo guisado con habichuelas guisadas, arroz blanco y ensalada verde.
Carmen Betances never stops moving. She can work the kitchen for hours straight, making sure each individual gets their particular meal exactly how they like it. She may start with one of her special chicken entrées from her native Dominican Republic, but she’s ready for rejection with back-up pasta and meatballs or sauce, or pizza.
When not working at her full-time job, and filling in extra shifts to support other BCArc programs, she’s managing the businesses she owns – including All-Star Barbers in Pittsfield (she does not cut hair herself), and rental properties in the Dominican Republic.
Why take on so much?
“I like to work hard,” she says. “And I like to take care of people.”
She retired as a nurse in the Dominican Republic, and came to the United States eight years ago – joined by her three daughters — for new opportunities. Since moving, she worked in restaurant kitchens, picked blueberries, worked at Head Start, and bought and sold another barbershop.
Called Celina by family and friends – her middle name — a medical order to rest kept her from working at BCArc for several weeks. So she cooked take-out meals for families, quickly building a small business in a few short weeks. “Some of the families started depending on my dinners,” she said, laughing, “so they were upset when I returned to work at BCArc.”
Her daughter Kimberlyn also works in a residential program at BCArc and shares her mother’s work ethic.
“Nothing stops her,” said Erwin Figureoa, her supervisor for the residential program. “She climbs over any obstacle. The individuals love her, and all the managers ask for her when they need to fill a shift. She only has so much time in the day, but she says ‘yes’ to everything.”
