Rep. William Tong Visits Stamford's Neighbors Link

The students of Neighbors Link's Tuesday night ESL class received a surprise guest on Oct. 11 in the form of Rep. William Tong, invited by friend and Neighbors Link Executive Director Catalina S. Horak.

The class, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., had already begun when Tong arrived, but several of the fifty-plus students recognized him when they saw him enter. Horak guided Tong around Neighbors Link facility, which is located at 75 Selleck Street in Stamford.

Last March, Tong, a member of CT's House of Representatives since 2006, announced his candidacy for Joe Lieberman's soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat.

"This is amazing," Tong said, observing the routine lesson. Tong took a break from the tour to speak to ESL students, and Horak, who had previously worked with Tong in the "Person to Person" program, was eager to translate for him.

"My parents were immigrants. When my father came to Connecticut, he had just 57 cents left in his pocket. They didn't have access to programs like this," Tong said. "But they worked hard, they did what you're doing, they provided for their families. They learned English, they opened a business, and in one generation, I've gone from being the son of a cook in a Chinese restaurant to having a chance to run for the United States Senate."

Indeed, cultural diversity may be an important issue to Tong, who is the first Asian-American to serve in CT's General Assembly, and was one of President Barack Obama's earliest supporters prior to Obama's presidential run.

Tong and Horak were careful not to disturb the class, and toured the rest of the large facility. While Horak stated that she desired Neighbors Link's profile to remain somewhat low, Tong seemed to take issue with the fact that more local politicians had not toured Neighbors Link.

"I would hope more of my colleagues are coming," Tong said.

"So do I," Horak said. Tong encouraged Horak to get in touch with him if some of his colleagues did not respond to her invitations.

"To see her [Horak] start this from the ground up, for new immigrants, like my parents were so many years ago, this is the definition of social entrepreneurship," Tong said. "This is how you get people started in this country."