¡Super Gregorio!

by Elaine Reimers, Adult Ministry Director

The majority of you know him. You'll probably hear him before you see him if you walk through the door of Mission Adelante on a Thursday night. I have never seen him have a bad day, or at least it never shows in class. In fact, when I think of Gregg Frost, our beloved and faithful volunteer who has served for nearly twenty years, I hear his heartfelt chuckle and see his kind smile, not to mention the excitement in his eyes about teaching another level 1 ESL lesson!

I cannot recall any vivid memories of the first time Gregg and I met; however, I know we met years ago, probably sometime around 2007, when I was a volunteer in his class. A vivid memory I do have of that period of time (and also a bit of a trip down memory lane for others and me) is that I would show up with my two small children, Raúl and Nicolas (Nicky). I’d drop off my oldest, too-young-for-Kids Adelante kid, Raúl, off in the kids room with Megan Fountain (previously Megan McDermott) and head to the chapel with Nicky fast asleep, chucked over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. After laying Nicky down on a pew at the back of the chapel, I would sit down in front of my students and wait for ¨Gregorio¨ to start the class.

Since taking the Latino ESL program under my wing in December of 2023, Gregg and I have welcomed approximately 140 first-time, level 1 students to Mission Adelante; that means we welcome around 70 students every year. Multiply that by the approximate 19 years he has been volunteering, and you will see that Gregg has welcomed a little under 1,350 students during his volunteer career at the mission! Wait a minute! I can go on. He has facilitated approximately 600 classes. Wow! Also, don´t let me forget to mention the number of hours he has sacrificed to serve with us for so long - approximately 2,000 hours!

Numbers aside (because numbers are not all that matter!), Gregg is a light at Misson Adelante. His beaming smile is inviting and breaks through any language barriers that exist between him and students. His enthusiasm and desire for students to learn, to really ¨get it¨, is obvious when you see him carrying in a bag of props from his house every other class. (I would like to add that one of them has like a 10lb. dumbbell inside! lol) He blindfolds students and puts props in their hands, and has them guess what it is and say it aloud to the class. He sets a table for I can´t remember how many with plastic plates filled with fake food, real cookies, and a Beanie Babies chicken (I think?), and calls students up to the front of the room to identify items on the table.

He even goes as far as running out of the classroom, through the hall (where the class can´t see him, mind you), only to appear running through the opposite doorway of the chapel shouting ¨WHAT AM I DOING?!¨. All of this is so fun to watch, and even though I have seen him do it at least a half-dozen times, it never gets old!

Lastly, I don´t want to forget to mention the impact that Gregg has had on me, personally. As the still-a-work-in-progress director of the Latino ESL program, I have been encouraged and affirmed by Gregg numerous times in the last couple of years. Whether it was the chaotic time when I forgot to pair the students and make the name tags until volunteers and students were already flocking into the chapel on the first day of class, or whether it was the other dozen or more times when I felt like I had failed at something else. Gregg is always positive about it, never judging, never shaming, but always affirming.

What a blessing to work alongside someone like that! And as a person, class aside, I am inspired by him and the life he chooses to live. I may not know much about him, but just knowing that he has been here with us for almost the entire time Mission Adelante´s doors have been open, and that he basically blocks Thursday evenings off on his calendar and doesn´t even let his professional life interfere with his commitment to our community, leaves me in disbelief. Not many people are dedicated to that degree these days, unless it´s to TikTok.

Gregg, we thank God for you! Our hats go off to you, man! What a GIFT you have been to our community, and to me personally. The faithfulness and support you have demonstrated over these years are absolutely priceless, and we cannot thank you enough!

Key Dates in 2025

Trimester 3

Come and See nights: November 10-13 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm