Watch Diego's video

Overview

I need to buy household items and winter clothes for my children. This includes winter coats, shoes, kitchen appliances and linens.

Meeting this need will help me because I can buy winter clothes and shoes for my children who walk to school, linens and the kitchen appliances, which are the items we need the most that I cannot afford at this time. I can then use the money I earn to pay rent and buy food.

My current situation is that about a month ago, the hot water line in the apartment above ours broke. It flooded our apartment, the roof collapsed, and our entire apartment including living room, kitchen, rooms and bathroom flooded.

We were evacuated from the apartment and when we came back days later all the items that were wet had mold and smelled very bad. We lost our couch, our kitchen table, all the appliances and electronics like our TV, microwave etc., our linens and our winter clothes and shoes that were in the closet. At the same time I had to have emergency surgery and have lost days from work.

My goal is to slowly get all the items we lost, I hope to be back to work soon. It's getting colder and the holidays are coming, this will help be buy the things my children need the most right now.

I'm from Jalisco, Mexico, and now I live in Concord, California. Something interesting about me is that I am a community leader. I'm happiest when I am watching a soccer game or listening to music. I'm most proud of being a father. I have two children a girl age 15 and a boy age 13. I am a widower.

I am going through a hard time right now, I had surgery recently and can't work, and then we had the accident with the flooding in our apartment building. I feel that I will not be able provide the basic needs for my children and at this point not even a safe home.

Watch Nati's video

Validated

Validated by Nati from Michael Chavez Center & Monument Community Partnership (What does this mean?)

We met two years when our organization began to work in Diego's apartments, offering workshops and organizing healthy events. Diego always volunteers and participates in the events. He is a single dad and tries to be involved in these activities to be a positive role model for his children.

I think meeting this need is important because Diego, as well as his children, need to have warm clothes for this coming winter, linens for their beds and other household items that he needs in order to provide for his children. He had an unexpected surgery and lost days of work, he does not get paid time off and has to ensure he has enough money for rent and food. Diego is hard working and a leader is the community!

About Nati

I am the program manager of the Day Laborer, Health Promotores, and Civic Engagement programs. My work involves connecting people to resources, to jobs, providing ESL and other skills and training so that people are self sufficient, working along with the residents to transform our community and… Read more