In partnership with the Milpitas Beat and Hope for the Unhoused, Inc., Milpitas Wishes brings back to the community the holiday spirit of giving, giving to those less fortunate than us. We hope to facilitate the warm feeling you can get once you make a difference in someone’s life. Each year, we envision highlighting a handful of community members in Milpitas who have experienced challenges and how we, as a community, can give them a hand.
Asked what she wants most for Christmas, Alessandra, a Milpitas High School student, smiles and says, “A Barcelona sweatshirt.”
The answer is sincere, yet she wants – and needs – so much more…
Alessandra lives in a full house with a variety of family members. As of now, the household is facing a hefty PG&E bill, coming in at over $1,000. The family consists of immigrants from Nicaragua, and they have lived here in Milpitas for almost six years.
“It’s OK,” Alessandra says about her new surroundings. “It’s not like my country…”
The family was exiled from Nicaragua in 2018, amid unstable political conditions. The government was taking five percent of people’s income to give to seniors. As a result, protestors were rioting in the streets. They would steal everything out of retail stores, making it harder for people to buy food. Complaints to the protestors went unheard; everyone was consumed with their own well-being.
Alessandra’s family was impacted because her father made his living selling cell phones. There was pressure on him from the government, which routinely threatened his life. Alessandra says now, “Our lives were threatened most of the time.”
Upon moving to Milpitas, Alessandra’s dad attained a cleaning job, but he suffered an on-the-job injury that put him out of work. Along the way, misplaced paperwork had made getting work or a place to live difficult to begin with.
Her dad’s recovery will involve a lengthy process. Going into the holidays, the family is concerned about paying their power bill.
Readers interested in making donations to help ease Alessandra and her family’s hardship heading into the holidays can do so using the link below. Milpitas Wishes would like to provide them with $500 toward their PG&E bill.
