I received this letter from Cindy Shirai at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach. I thought I'd share it and the article she wrote for an in-house publication in May about Francisco Hernandez and his sister, Maria. I didn't know about this when I wrote the story that ran Sunday about Francisco's success. I'm glad she shared this with me. There's lots of good people out there.
Dear Mr. Altman,
I read your article in this Sunday morning issue of the Daily Breeze on a LennoxAcademy student, Francisco Hernandez. I wanted to share with you an article I wrote for Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach about a group of employees that were also touched by Francisco's story and his sister, Maria.
We also wanted to reach out to them in a special way so myself and a team of 14 others selected them for one of our diversity and inclusion events we promote here at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach. At the time we received his application for the "adopt a family" program, his mother Ana, was still alive. She was ill, but not in any danger of losing her life.
You can imagine that we were all in quite a shock when we learned that from the time the application process was completed, to the time we selected that family, Francisco's mother took a turn for the worse and suddenly and unexpectedly passed away.
After the shock, we now were on a mission to give these two teens the best Christmas we could possibly give them in the wake of their tragedy. Our team of employees went from just taking part in "some gift giving program" to "going full steam to making all their dreams come true." Our goal was to fulfill all the items they asked for on the sheet received from the coordinator of this event.
While some of our team made their own purchases, we also collected money from the remaining team members so we could purchase the remaining items. We actually made a personal delivery of these items to Francisco. His eyes filled with tears as he received our gifts for them.
We knew that as we gave Francisco and Maria's spirits a lift, they touched our lives -- and our hearts forever.
Sincerely,
Cindy Shirai
Cindy's story is after the jump.
By the way, the photo shows Cindy Shirai, Desiree Wong and Nancy Sue presenting the new guitar to Francisco, which he gave to his sister, Maria.
Space Park Team Aids Two Motherless Teens
By Cindy Shirai
They say, "It takes a village to raise a child." However, it only took 14 of us to completely raise up the spirits of two children this holiday season who just lost their mother about a month ago.
When I first received the list of potential families to adopt from Space Technology's Asian Pacific Professional Network, what first struck me about the background of brother and sister Francisco, 17, and Maria, 16, was the fact that the one item Francisco wanted the most was a guitar for Maria-not for himself. Besides his unselfish spirit, I also noticed that there was no parent listed with them. It was then that I realized that their mother had only recently passed away.
As soon as I chose them, I immediately sent out an e-mail asking some close-knit friends if they would be willing to help. I didn't know how much we could really do--especially during these tough economic times. I had no idea what a generous and giving team I had! When the money started coming in, the first three people handed me $100. In the end, we collected $750 in cash to buy the items the family wanted the most.
Two people generously bought a Dell laptop for Francisco--the one big item he needed the most. Another team member provided and installed all the software for the laptop. Several people bought tons of clothes: ties, jackets, socks, shirts, blouses, jewelry and even makeup for the girl who will no longer be getting these items from her mother. Some of the cash was used to buy the electric-acoustic guitar Francisco wanted for his sister.
While we were at Francisco's home, he called Maria so that we could each talk to her personally. She kept thanking us profusely. I hugged Francisco several times before leaving and I thanked him for giving us this opportunity of giving our spirits a lift this holiday season. As we talked about his sister and his mother, his eyes welled up with tears. He pulled the crucifix he wore around his neck up to his mouth and gently kissed it. With that same hand, he raised it toward heaven, as if to say, "Thank you, Mom."
I would also like to raise up my hand to each one of those on my team and say, "Thank you and may God bless you for opening up your hearts and giving so generously to these two children who needed us so desperately this holiday season." This is truly the reason for the season. The Mission Systems "Giving Your Spirit a Lift" Team was made up of: Nancy Sue, Desiree Wong, Nina Ishida, Don Sasaki, Judy Erickson, Maria Reineking, Ralph Ramos, Marianne Souza, Karen Kitchen, Pedro Jaime, Brenda Altamirano, Neil Velie, Jannie Reese, Debbie Herrera , and Cindy Shirai .
I am a school teacher in the Lennox School district (Academy is part of our district) as teachers we have always been so full of gratitude for the Northrop Grumman employees who give their time, support and kindness to our "kids." Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the help you give!