Woman spends free time driving donations to people in need

MENDOTA, Calif. -- A woman in Central California is spending all of her free time taking donations to people in need, including farmworkers.

"In this community and its surroundings, there are many families with need," said Ofelia Ochoa in her home in Mendota.

Ochoa works with Jenny Rodriguez, who collects donations and gives them to Ochoa to distribute.

Donated items range from clothing to ground coffee. Ochoa takes bags of items to areas in need around Mendota, allowing people to get what they need.

"Because I come from a farmworker background and I have worked with farmworkers for a thousand years, I felt the need to provide any service I could to that community that feeds us," Rodriguez said. "The whole Central Valley of California, we are the breadbasket of the world, and that comes at a cost... it's the most badly paid work."

Ochoa also has connections to the farmworker community. Her husband works in the fields, as do many other family members and friends.

Her son was born with a disability in 2010. Despite her own family's challenges, she still makes time to distribute donations multiple times a week.

"To have a child with special needs and still find the time and the energy and the love that she has to go out and help is beautiful," Rodriguez said.

Both Ochoa and Rodgriguez hope other people will do similar work in their communities to help people in need.

"Its a pleasure, they are very appreciative when I bring them the clothes, the shoes, food, masks, and sanitizer," Ochoa said. "They are very happy, they are very grateful, its something very beautiful."