Photo: Jorge Macías / Impremedia
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The academic degrees of Homero Ochoa, from 14 years old, they are excellent and for this reason he became one of the 125 children and adolescents who live in foster homes that were awarded with school bags, suitcases, blankets and a laptop for their return to school.
“I already have where to do my homework, “said the boy excitedly, who is under the care of his grandmother Cristina Ochoa, from 50 years, after receiving the free laptop that he will use to do his homework at Baldwin Park High School .
“The grandmother picked up the child from the age of nine,” said Victoria Vázquez. “He is very intelligent”.
She told Real America News that Homero’s father is imprisoned in Mexico and his mother got involved in drug problems in this country. The child ended up in the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).
On the premises of the former MacLaren Children’s Center orphanage of El Monte -closed in 2003 due to a Lawsuit that exposed decades of abuse and is now projected to be transformed into a community park – County Supervisor Hilda Solís and managers from cable company Spectrum delivered the laptops.
“We know that our future is about our youth. I know this facility it was problematic, ”Solís said. “And for the many, many thousands of children who passed through here and their families there are many who have yet to heal, including our community that lives in this area.”
In the past, MacLaren Children’s Center, a county-run shelter had become a notorious dump for hard-to-locate children, and DCFS authorities would send children to wait in a large space of offices where workers responded to abuse and neglect calls the 24 hours of the day. The center functioned as unlicensed community care facilities.
Digital education
In addition to laptops, Spectrum spokesperson Pamela Hoeft presented a grant of $ 30, 000 to the Southeast Community Development Corporation (SCDC), one of the beneficiaries of Spectrum digital education programs 2020.
Funds will be used for the Senior Digital Literacy Program as part of the $ 6 million national multi-year commitment of the companion Going with digital education in communities across the country.
“High school students will teach seniors to learn custom settings of a laptop so that they can make their purchases online, make their payments or also communicate with family members via the Internet, “said Emma Gómez, acting executive director of the (SCDC).
Rescue all his brothers
Justin Ávila, his brother Jaydian and his girlfriend, Gabriela Álvarez, could barely carry suitcases, blankets, backpacks and three laptops that were given to them.
Justin, from 23 years old, who works for offices from the Los Angeles County Vital Statistics Office, he lived a difficult childhood with his late mother, who was addicted to drugs, and his blind father, who beat him and “my brothers from the homes to which they had been sent.”
“My little sister Jaylene couldn’t come for her laptop, but we took it to her,” Justin said.
Griselda Guzmán, from 20 years old, a biology student at USC, said that she never knew her father and with her mother there was not a good relationship. He currently lives in the home of Alma Seguera and Guillermo Hueyopa.
“They love me as their daughter and they make me feel part of the family. ”Said the student, who plans to graduate from 2023.
For her part, Marilyn Piceno said she was happy because she will soon regain custody of her three children: Gerardo (13 years), Derrick (8) and Matthew (5), who are under the temporary care of their sister-in-law Carmen García.
“As a child I was abused and When my husband was deported to Mexico two years ago, the world fell on me. Problems erupted, I didn’t know how to deal with them and I got into drugs, but I’ve been clean for eight months, ”said Marilyn. “It was hard to see reality when I was left alone and with the trauma of the abuse that I lived through. I exploded and everything went wrong. ”
During the event, dozens of people also went to the Fulgent Genetics mobile clinic to get vaccinated against Covid – 19.