Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

Charles Brunal (center) runs a lap while playing a game with a group that includes Natalie Guacheta, 11 (left), and Andrea Ulloa, 13, in his afterschool program for Hispanic youth at the Preston Park Community Center.

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• See and hear more about the scouting program

It was the boy's first week of school at Monterey Elementary, and he knew no English. Although he'd ridden the bus to school that morning, his father had said he'd pick him up from school that day.

Colombian-born Carlos Brunal tried to explain that to his teachers when they insisted he get on the bus that afternoon, but the 6-year-old couldn't articulate his thoughts. When the bus dropped him off in front of his Northeast Roanoke apartment complex, where all the buildings look the same, he didn't know which one was his.

"He was frantic and crying," recalls his father, Charles Brunal, who had been driving around the neighborhood searching for him and was frantic himself. Unfamiliar with American school procedures, Carlos' parents hadn't known to send a note that morning.

That was three years ago. Carlos, now 10, has barely a trace of a Hispanic accent -- in fact, he sounds like a native Southerner -- and gets As and Bs in school.

But that incident weighed on Charles Brunal, who'd been a civil engineer in his native country. He knew there were other area Hispanic students struggling to assimilate, more than 500 this year in Roanoke City Schools alone.

As the national debate over immigration rages, children like Carlos continue to arrive in Roanoke -- some legally, many not -- kids from such countries as Mexico and Honduras, with scant knowledge of English or even how to register for school. Some homes have so many people living in them that students can't concentrate to do their homework. Many parents are busy working multiple jobs, and immigrants who arrive as teenagers are especially vulnerable to dropping out of school.

They may not have heard of the Boy Scouts of America when they come to the United States, but the Boy Scouts have definitely heard of them, thanks to Brunal. Along with his wife, Sandra, he runs an after-school Scouting program for Hispanic boys and girls at Preston Park Community Center.

Last spring, 35 boys joined his Soccer and Scouting program to play soccer after school and get help with their homework. "Most Latinos don't know about Scouting, but everybody knows about soccer," said Charles Brunal, 35, who coaches three teams.

A former Boy Scout in Colombia, Brunal was recruited by the local Scouting council last spring. With participation in Scouts dwindling nationwide -- membership dropped about 6 percent from 2000 to 2004 -- the organization is wisely courting the fastest growing population in the country: Spanish-speaking youth.

"We realized quickly that the Spanish-speaking community is very family-oriented and so when they come to a game or a meeting, the whole family tends to come," said Johnny Wadsworth, director of field service for the Blue Ridge Mountains Council of the Boy Scouts.

Brunal's wife, Sandra, a prosecuting attorney-turned-stay-at-home mom, noticed the girls were sitting idly around the soccer field watching their friends and brothers play -- which explains why the local Boy Scouts are now in the business of catering to girls. With both programs combined, the Preston Park Scouting venture reaches 100 Latino kids.

The girls program, called Learning for Life, emphasizes homework, life skills, decision-making and arts and crafts. The Brunals hope to address issues such as sex education, drugs and alcohol and dropout prevention.

"The males especially tend to be macho; they don't want to let people at school know they're not understanding the language," said Vivian Sanchez-Jones, a school liaison for Roanoke's Refugee and Immigration Services. "I had one boy who kept going to the wrong class at school. He didn't understand where he was supposed to go but wouldn't ask for help."

After a day of maneuvering around those language barriers -- even the English Language Learners classes are taught in English -- Hispanic students are relieved to be able to ask the Brunals for help in Spanish. (Some studies have shown that immigrant students learn English faster when taught in both English and their native language.)

Sixth-grader Maria Martinez said the program has helped her adapt socially. Her family migrated to Chicago from Honduras three years ago and recently moved to Roanoke. "I'm really missing my friends in Chicago, but this helps some," she said.

On Saturday, the Brunals took 26 kids to Washington, D.C., where they were scheduled to tour the Smithsonian Institution and catch a professional soccer game. "I want them to know the community here, but also to see that the U.S. is bigger than just here," Charles Brunal said.

Wadsworth of the district Scouts office praises the Brunals' dedication and ingenuity. They've found creative ways to finance scholarships for some recipients: One student gets a free ride in exchange for her mother giving another student transportation home from the park. Brunal talked the soccer team into donating tickets to the game.

Though the Scouts take a neutral view on issues involving immigration, Wadsworth said, he acknowledges that the council's Hispanic outreach has helped stave off what had been a steady decline in membership, fueled in part by the group's well-publicized exclusion of gays and atheists.

"We are not going to knowingly break any federal laws or anything like that, but these children are here and they're going to school, and we have pledged that we're going to be on the forefront of serving people from all cultures," he said, adding that he hopes to expand the program to Lynchburg and Martinsville as well as offer English as a Second Language classes to participants' parents.

"We're going to do everything we can to teach them the core values and making ethical decisions and just try to prepare them for making good choices in life," Wadsworth said.

Participants like the program so much that one asked the Brunals, "Who lives here?" referring to the community center at Preston Park.

When the couple explained that the center belongs to the entire community, the Scout offered: "Oh, I want to live here then."

"They feel like this is their space," Sandra Brunal said. "They feel good."

Vivian Sanchez-Jones is recruiting volunteers to help tutor Learning for Life and Soccer and Scouting participants in English.

The group meets Tuesdays and Thursdays after school and on Saturday mornings. Call Sanchez-Jones at 342-7561.

Sandra and Charles Brunal are also looking for volunteers to help coach soccer and lead craft projects; call 915-9432.