Nancy Valencia, a mother of three, finds no excuse when it comes to her children’s education.In rain or shine, Valencia walked her children to Davis Elementary, pushing her granddaughter in a stroller.
Walking a stroller down a loosely cemented pathway, with rain pouring down, was a harsh task for Valencia.While some may find an excuse, Valencia’s children were punctual for class everyday.
In April, community members, including students at Delta College, came together to provide a helping hand and ride in the form of a rebuilt 2014 Honda Fit to Valencia. The car was presented to her at a ceremony that included Delta College representatives.Jennifer Willis, the fifth-grade teacher of Adrian Valencia, mentioned how she would arrive to school early and see the elder Valencia walking her children.
“Often it was rainy and it was cold and sometimes the sun wasn’t even up and it just pulled up my heart strings,” said Willis.
Willis took initiative to speak to the school principal about helping the family.
“She (Willis) offered to help me out with clothing for the kids and I told her yeah because they need it because all their clothing is in storage right now,” said Valencia.
Not only was the family without a car, Valencia said she and the children are homeless and are staying at a local hotel.Once Willis took action with speaking to the school board to help the Valencia family, ideas flowed and other companies and organizations opened up their hearts to help too.Fabian’s Collision Center was part of the idea to help.
“We wanted to use our resources from the body shop to help somebody to help the community. We thought about donating a vehicle, we thought it was a great idea. We started inquiring with insurance companies about having a vehicle donated to us and we could fix it and give back to somebody in need … Luckily, doing my research, I came across this organization called National Auto Body Council… They shared our common goal … We fix them (cars) we do a safety inspection; we make sure that this vehicle will be a solution to somebody in need,” said Fabian Ceballos, Co-owner of Fabian’s Collision Center.
The gesture would be impossible without many helping hands.Students from Delta Colleges mechanics department were amongst those who were apart of the team who used their crafted skills to create this vision.“I helped take apart the car and paint it,” said Omar Macias, a Delta College automotive student said.Covered with a gray car cover, the tangerine orange vehicle was unveiled by the students when presented to Valencia.
Valencia said this is going to help her life a lot.“It’s a blessing because no one out there would have done this for my family and they were the first ones to do this for me,” she said.