Mary Vieira Rose remembers her first year at the Oak Grove School on Onset Avenue.

"We had to go to that school because the people in Onset" didn't want Cape Verdean children to attend school with the rest of the children, Rose explains.

It was 1920. Both of Rose's parents had grown up on the island of Fogu in Cape Verde. Though she'd spent her short life in America, Rose knew no English when she first got to the Oak Grove School.

"The teacher did have quite a job with us," Rose, who will turn 99 years old in the coming weeks, says with a smile. She notes that the students who could speak English well sat in the front of the class and helped translate lessons from English to Creole.

The Oak Grove School had two rooms. One with first and second grade students, and the other with third and fourth grade.

"Those days, things were different," explains Rose. "All the Cape Verdeans, we all came together. We took care of each other."

It's this rich history -- the trials, the tribulations, and the triumphs of the Southeastern Massachusetts Cape Verdean community -- that Rose, who serves as historian for the nonprofit Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center, wants so desperately to preserve.

The Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center Board of Directors and members are working diligently to raise the more than $1 million needed to build a home base at 314 Onset Ave., adjacent where the Oak Grove School once stood.

The cultural center will include photographs, art, artifacts, historical data, literature, films, and music, and it will have space for classes in Cape Verdean Creole, English a second language, and college extension courses.

A renewed fundraising effort is in full effect, as demonstrated Saturday, August 31, at a community barbecue held at 393 Onset Ave., not far from the old Oak Grove School, to both raise funds and awareness about the Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center's mission.

Attendees feasted on typical barbecue foods -- burgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken -- along with traditional Cape Verdean fare.

It was the first community barbecue that the center has hosted, but Marian June Rose, Rose's daughter and vice president of the organization, says: It won't be the last.

The barbecue is a way to "invite the community to see what we're all about," she says, and notes: "Community support is crucial" in order for the Cultural Center to get off the ground.

The organization has approximately $70,000 and counting in its coffers, and members are optimistic that despite years of working to get the center built, this push will be the one that makes it happen.

"We've been at it for a long time," says the elder Rose. "And it looks like this time, we may get somewhere."

Marian Rose concurs.

"Over the past year, [the community] has really stepped up," she says.

To help the effort, the Board of Directors recently took business classes together at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School and is currently coming up with a business plan to present to lenders when it's time to begin building.

"We're also hoping we can get sponsors" who would donate larger amounts of money to the cause, Marian Rose explains.

Del DeMiranda, director of the center, emphasizes: "Donations, we always need. ... And stay tuned: We've got more events planned for fall."

Want to make a donation to the Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center? Checks can be made out to "Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center" and mailed to 393 Onset Ave. Donations can also be coordinated with Paula R. Hatch, treasurer of the organization, by calling 508-295-0160.