Armed Services YMCA residents rally to help after vehicle gets stolen

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Residents at the Armed Services YMCA in Northeast El Paso are seeking the community’s support to help raise funds to replace the facility maintenance manager’s stolen vehicle.

Victor Martinez has been the ASYMCA’s maintenance manager for over 10 years. As the sole provider for him and his wife, he travels to work from his home in Chaparral, New Mexico, each day.

Last month, as he was taking a lunch break during work, Martinez received a call from one of his co-workers asking him if his son was supposed to pick up his truck because they saw a young man was trying to get into his truck. Confused, Martinez responded that his son was not supposed to be there, as he and his co-worker soon realized his truck was being stolen. The young man fled with Martinez’s truck before he could get there.

“I was shocked, getting there and realizing my truck is no longer where I had left it. ‘Why is this happening to me’?’ I asked. That was followed by anger and resentment for the person who stole it. But days later I came to the conclusion that I had to keep moving forward,” Martinez said.

Martinez has since relied on his son to get to work. But the other day, he received a call from his wife telling him that the residents at the ASYMCA were trying to raise money to help them get a new car.

“I want to thank them. I feel flattered that they recognize me like that and that they want to do this for me. It shows me that my work has been very valuable,” Martinez said.

To residents and staff at the ASYMCA, Martinez is a dear friend and family. They said he’s the kind of person that often goes beyond his duties to help and assist them.

Maria Cordero, the ASYMCA’s lodge manager, said that when Martinez’s vehicle was stolen, the first thing she heard him say was: “I’m glad that it happened to me and not the residents.”

“The residents are always on his mind. He’s always caring for them and ready to assist,” she said.

“All we could think about was: ‘What can we do?’” said Dana Apo, a resident at the ASYMCA. “We don’t have to just take what happened. We can rally together to say, ‘Whoever stole that vehicle, that’s on you, but we’ll replenish that and conquer what you did.’ We want to raise sufficient funds not only to replace the truck he had, but to go beyond that and say, ‘We can do more for Victor.’”

“We want to let him know that we appreciate him, the work that he does, and how it impacts us,” said Keith Gant Jr., another resident at the ASYMCA. “We are here away from our families and he provides that family atmosphere for us.”

Luis Colon, a resident at the ASYMCA, said Martinez is the kind of person to “give you the shirt off his back.”

Colon created a GoFundMe page where people can help to get Martinez back on the road. You can help by clicking here.

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