AUBURN - Six years ago, Margarita Martinez, 28, was forced to work two jobs and wait for her children at the school bus in the cold, apologizing to them for not being able to better provide.

She needed help and found it in the Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency.

Thanks to the Agency's Wheels for Work program, Martinez was able to get a reliable vehicle, return to only one job, and finally provide for her five kids, four of whom have benefited from Head Start.

"The assistance I have received has been given with respect and kindness," said Martinez, of Auburn, who was a special guest and speaker at the agency's 40th anniversary celebration Friday night. "They help anyone and everyone they can. They've helped me a lot."

Martinez was one of many speakers who came forward at the banquet to give thanks and praise to both the agency and Gloria Griffin, its executive director since 1975. Among the other guests were Evelyn Harris, director of the New York State Department of State Division of Community Services, Assemblyman Gary Finch and Sen. Michael Nozzolio, who presented the agency with a check for $40,000.

"When I think of Gloria, I think of the loaves and the fishes," said Nozzolio. "That parable says it all. She helps so many people."

The celebration concluded with a video presentation on the history of the agency as well as a night of drinks and dancing. The agency started in 1964, when President Lyndon B. Johnson declared an "unconditional war on poverty in America." This declaration led to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and programs like Job Corps, Volunteers in Service to America, and many community action agencies dedicated to fighting poverty on the local level. The Cayuga County Action Program was incorporated in 1965 and started with a staff of three and a budget of $87,000. After changing its name in 1995, it is now one of 1,100 agencies across the country with about 110 employees and a budget of more than $5 million.

"It is nothing less than a miracle and nothing more than God's will that we are celebrating 40 years in this community," said Griffin. "There are so many people to thank for our success."

They receive help from the Community Development Block Grant, FoodLink, the Department of Education and many other groups to tackle a variety of different issues. Currently, the agency administers 22 community programs, including Attire for Hire, Male Mentoring Program, Take A Step Ahead, and its largest program, Head Start.

But the work is far from finished, Harris said. She surmised that the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina was a message from God to show them that there was still poverty in the South, that people still needed their help all over the country.

"We have to make sure that people do not forget what happened in the 1960s," Harris said. "Why community action agencies were created."