Students Seek to Aid a Distraught Family

When students at Heritage Oak Private School in Yorba Linda heard about a Santa Ana family living in a garage, they wanted to help. But even as they started a food and clothing drive, the students learned that the family’s situation had worsened.

Following the media attention that first alerted the students to the plight of Paola Chaparro, her husband and five children, the family was evicted from the 400-square-foot, unheated space they rented. They are now staying in a single bedroom in another home but are struggling to find a better place to live.

The school and others have stepped forward to do what they can for the family, which survives on potatoes, instant noodles and handouts. Greg Cygan, the husband of the school’s executive director, said several parents have been asking what they can do to help. He has offered to put his money and other monetary donations toward helping the family find a new home.

“We do canned food drives, but we have never done something to help a family,” Cygan said. “It’s much more relevant.”

He said he was touched by The Times’ story on the family because he has six children and “could not imagine the challenges of raising them in a garage.”

After other media outlets picked up Chaparro’s story, her family was evicted. The landlords feared that they would be cited for renting the garage illegally. The single bedroom the family now rents costs $400 a month.

Catholic Charities assisted the family by giving the Chaparros cash for the first month’s rent, boxes of food, a turkey and gifts for Christmas, said Lupe Savastano, outreach program director.

The organization also is providing the family supermarket certificates to keep them fed throughout the weekend. Additional help may be forthcoming next week, she said.

Chaparro, like Savastano, wants the family to move to more suitable housing, something larger than a single room.

“It is very nice that so many people have been interested in what we are going through,” Chaparro said. “We are hoping we can find housing again and get on our feet.”

But that’s a problem Savastano and others have not been able to solve.

“What we really need now is a place where they can live,” Savastano said. “They have no credit and have no credit history. We need to find someone . . . who is willing to take them in with first month, last month [rent] and security [deposit], and we will need financial help to get them into the place.”

Others have raised concerns about Paola’s health. She has an ailment that prevents her blood from coagulating, but she cannot afford needed drugs. Her problem was diagnosed by doctors but several medical facilities were unable to provide free treatment and medications, said Miriam Gonzalez at the Maternal Outreach and Management System, a nonprofit, community-based organization dedicated to helping low-income mothers.

Chaparro’s husband earns about $300 a week working in the stockroom at an auto parts store. Chaparro’s condition makes it difficult for her to work full time, but she collects bottles and works some weekend days at a hotel.

The children--ages 3, 5, 10, 14 and 15--wear donated clothes. Before recent donations, the younger children’s toys all fit into a single plastic supermarket bag.

The story has resonated as far away as Miami, where Hugo “El Gordo” Cadalago, a deejay at national Spanish-language Radio Unica, has told his listeners about Chaparro’s plight.

The station has turned away offers of monetary donations to the family because it does not want to handle cash. But Ruben Bermejo, El Gordo’s Los Angeles representative, said he has received a bicycle, a Christmas tree with lights, clothes, toys and other donations for the family.

Bermejo also has joined the hunt for permanent housing for the family. But so far, he, too, has had no luck.

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To help the Chaparro family, contact Catholic Charities Outreach at (714) 668-1130.