“I love 1199,” says Yahaira Vasquez, a team assistant at Brooklyn’s Visiting Nurse Services (VNS). “The Union is the main reason I’ve been at VNS for the last 11 years. The family benefits are great. I got my college degree through the Union.”

Her love for 1199SEIU is one of the reasons Vazquez and her husband will join other 1199ers at this year’s Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City on June 9th. This year’s parade has special significance because for the first time, the parade’s International Grand Marshall will be an African American – 1199SEIU Pres. George Gresham. The theme of this year’s parade – “Puerto Ricans and Health” – also resonates with Vasquez and other 1199ers.

Vasquez, who was raised in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, recalls going to the parade as a child with her parents. “I stopped going for awhile, but in recent years I’ve participated with the Union,” she says. “To me, the parade is about pride, unity and togetherness. And I love that the Union takes part,”

Vasquez says that by marching she gets to celebrate her Puerto Rican heritage and her Union membership. She will encourage her children, who are 13 and nine, to take part.

The parade, which takes place along Fifth Avenue on the second Sunday in June, is one of the largest in the country. In addition to the New York parade, dozens of others celebrating Puerto Rican heritage and culture are held throughout the U.S. 1199ers in areas such as Rochester, NY, and Central Florida generally participate.

The National Puerto Rican Day Parade Committee will hold a press conference in Manhattan on May 7 to announce participants and other plans for this year’s parade.