Dedicated to a Cause : School Named for Woman Whose Generosity Gave it a Head Start

The children who came to Refugio Contreras’ Echo Park market for more than a decade could count on a free ice cream or a generous helping of candy from the owner, known affectionately as “Cuca.”

But Contreras gave away much more than sweets. For years she turned down lucrative offers for a 5,000-square-foot plot of Echo Park land, leasing it instead to a nonprofit group, which has run a Head Start preschool on the site the past 22 years.

“I wanted to help the children,” she said, explaining why she never sold the property next to her market, which has since closed.

On Saturday, about 250 Head Start parents and children returned to the school on Echo Park Avenue to rededicate the Refugio V. Contreras Echo Park Head Start-State Pre-School Center.

Contreras also received commendations from state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), Supervisor Gloria Molina, Mayor Tom Bradley and Councilman Mike Hernandez for her contribution to the Echo Park community.

As a Head Start teacher and a parent read quotes praising Contreras, the 92-year-old woman wiped tears from her eyes. Graduates from Head Start classes dating to the early 1970s turned out. A band played as children and parents sang in English and Spanish.

“I think this is a positive step for the residents, especially after the very distressing events of April,” said Shirley Cloke, director of the Foundation for Early Childhood Education, a nonprofit agency that administers Head Start programs in Los Angeles County. “This is a way of pointing people in a direction where they can contribute to the community” in the wake of the Los Angeles riots.

Contreras’ 31-year-old grandson, Anthony Ramirez, was also moved by the ceremony. “It’s very heartwarming,” he said. “I didn’t know the community was really capable of this.”

Contreras leased the property to the Foundation for Early Childhood Education for $75 per month until about five years ago, when she raised the monthly fee to $500, according to Cloke.

Contreras’ daughter, Alice Ramirez, said her mother rebuffed suggestions that she sell the property after she closed her store in 1966 and moved to Silver Lake soon after her husband’s death.

“We’ve tempted her and told her, ‘You’re not there anymore. Let’s do something,’ ” Ramirez said.

Born in 1900 in Chihuahua, Mexico, Contreras moved to California in time to witness the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. For 25 years, she owned and operated a market with her husband in what was once the neighborhood of Palo Verde in Chavez Ravine. She moved the market to 1962 Echo Park Ave. in 1951. Contreras has two children, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Rose Maria Lopez, senior field deputy to Molina, remembered going to Contreras’ Palo Verde market as a girl.

“She was very good to us, especially if you didn’t have enough money and you (would) just stand there with your other friend and have a tear or two. Boy, that worked,” she said.

Contreras has a soft spot for adults as well as children, according to Yolanda Valenzuela, whose 4-year-old son attends the Head Start preschool on Contreras’ land.

“I used to always go to her (Echo Park) store and do the groceries,” Valenzuela said. “She used to give credit to people. She was a real nice lady.”