GRANADA HILLS : Latina Students Boost Drive for Needy Children

This Christmas, children in San Luis Rio Colorado will receive bandages, cans of soup, stuffed animals, clothes and other items from Granada Hills when Isabel Martinez returns to the small Mexican town of her birth just south of the Arizona border.

Her truck will be filled with items collected by Martinez’s San Fernando Valley neighbors--including a group of students from Granada Hills High School.

Martinez initiated her own private donation drive for San Luis just two weeks ago after a visit to her hometown. Circumstances at an orphanage and elementary school in the Mexican border town made Martinez determined to provide the malnourished children at the two facilities with some necessities as well as holiday cheer.

“It’s that time of year when people feel they really need to do something for someone else,” Martinez said. “I’ve received a lot of positive responses from people who heard about what I am doing. I appreciate their efforts very much.”

To show that appreciation, Martinez has visited everyone who’s donated items for the children so she could thank them personally.

Her most recent excursion of gratitude took Martinez on this week to Granada Hills High School. Upon learning that Martinez was assisting children in situations similar to those they’d experienced, a group of Latina students took up a collection to make sure Martinez went back to Mexico with her truck loaded.

The students, who belong to L.A. Latina, a campus organization working to help members overcome language and cultural barriers encountered at school, packed Martinez’s truck with bags of food, clothing and toys.

“People should help each other with what little they have because life only happens once,” said Alejandra Huerta, 19, who called Martinez for a list of most necessary items.

“This makes me feel good,” Huerta said. “It’s beautiful to see that children are going to eat another day.”

Esperanza Castillo, 14, was one of the 19 L.A. Latina members who this week surveyed the items Martinez will be taking with her to Mexico.

“A lot of people would rather know where the things they give are going,” she said.

Upon hearing that most of the 200 children at the government-funded orphanage sleep on the floor, Esperanza asked, “Why not give them beds?”

“Wait,” Martinez replied. “Let me give them these things first.”