By Marisol Joven
For George Zapata, the story of Kearny begins with family. George was born at Jamaica Queens Hospital in New York to a mother from Guayaquil – Ecuador, and a father from Medellín, Colombia.
His parents first met in Ecuador, found each other again in New York, and married there. Years later, another family connection would lead them across the river to the town that would become home.
“Kearny came into our lives through my aunt,” George remembers. “We spent weekends at her
house, and my parents fell in love with the town.”
They recognized something familiar in Kearny, the same community spirit they loved about New York, but with room to raise their family. In early 2003, his parents purchased a home on Woodland Avenue. More than two decades later, George is still here.
Kearny became the place where he grew up, attended its public schools, built friendships, watched his community change, and eventually discovered his own commitment to public service.
That commitment began remarkably early. In 2016, at just 19 years old, George was elected to the Kearny Board of Education, becoming the youngest person ever elected to public office in the town. He eventually served as Board Vice President and earned a Master Board Member Certification. Today, he serves the community as Kearny’s First Ward Councilman.
Yet for George, serving Kearny is ultimately about people. Whether helping a Spanish speaking
resident navigate an English-language document, connecting someone with resources, or listening to a neighbor who needs assistance, he sees community service as showing up for one another.
That belief is deeply connected to his Hispanic roots. “Un idioma compartido: a shared language. La familia: family, and everything that word carries with it. Una historia de resiliencia: a history shaped by migration, by starting over, and by building something new. Y un compromiso con la comunidad: a deep commitment to showing up for one another.”
It is also why “Unidos, Somos Más” — Together, We Are More resonates with him.“It doesn’t mean we’re all the same,” George explains. “It means our differences, brought together, add up to something greater than any one of us could be alone.”
George has watched that idea take shape in Kearny. When his family first arrived, the Hispanic community was much smaller. Today, Hispanic culture is woven into the town’s restaurants, businesses, schools, churches, celebrations, and everyday life.
“The Hispanic community’s story is Kearny’s story,” he says. And what George loves most is seeing those cultures shared. “When we raise the flag or hold a salsa class at the Legion, neighbors of every background come out to celebrate with us,” he says. “At a time when so much of the national conversation is about what divides us, Kearny keeps choosing to come together.”
His hope is that the next generation continues building upon what their families began. “My parents’ generation came here to survive: to work, to get by, to make sure we had what we needed,” George says. “Because of them, my generation gets to ask a different question. Not just how do we get by, but what do we want to build?”
For George, the answer is rooted in the town his parents chose more than two decades ago. Kearny gave his family a place to call home. It gave George a community to grow up in. And today, it is the community he has chosen to serve.
That is his Kearny story and one more chapter in a much larger story of families, cultures, and generations finding home together.
Unidos, Somos Más.
Marisol Joven is a longtime Kearny resident, freelance writer, community advocate, and one half of the Mari Twins, with family roots in Spain and Ecuador.
