A math teacher at a school in Los Angeles, in the United States, received a car as a gift from his students. Julio took about four hours to get to school and arrived at his home when his young children were asleep. His students coordinated raffles, food sales and others to achieve the goal.
A big surprise awaited Julio Castro, a math teacher at the school YULA school Los Angeles, a party that his own students held to thank him for his dedication to them.
Los Angeles Times reported that the event had video testimonies, a tunnel of students with their arms extended above their heads, so that Castro would later find the gift: a Mazda 3 hatchbackto ease the tortuous journey of a dear teacher.
Julio is 31 and is Peruvian, lives -currently- in Valle de Santa Clara and to get to school he must travel about 11 kilometers to the subway stop by scooter. From there the bus takes around 90 minutes to get to Century City. Then, he must travel a kilometer to reach the Jewish campus, where the school is.
The teacher told the Times “I wake up at 4:00 in the morning and come back at 9:30 at night, when my three young children are asleep.”
Despite the long trip that he must make daily to the establishment, Julio does not neglect his vocation and commitment as a teacher. This was confirmed by Joshua Gerendash, a student of Castro. “He will skip lunch to help a student and stay after school. It also helps students who are not in their classes. He is very, very, very dedicated to our future.”
Fundraising for July
The students of the school started a fundraising campaign through Facebook and Instagram and it only took a month to collect for the car, a year of insurance and gasoline.
Castro was aware that his students knew his reality, but he never expected such a gift. “I did the best I could,” he said. “I always told them: when life doesn’t go the way you want, what do you do? Don’t cry about it. Don’t complain about it. Just be grateful for what you already have, and then move on. And one day some good things will happen.”
“And that’s the proof,” he said, marveling at the dark blue 2019 Mazda with its 2.4-liter engine, inline front-wheel drive, leather seats, Bose stereo, sunroof, and only 30,000 miles.
How did they manage to raise the money?
The mother of one of the students works as a manager of a non-profit organization and managed to contribute a large sum of money. While another of the proxies created a donation platform, those that came from all over the world.
Finally, the students and teachers raised much of the value of the car through raffles, food sales and events.
Castro, listening to the story of how they managed to raise all the money, said that their work is a pleasure, the school “opened doors for me, they accepted me as a member of the family. And you can’t buy that. I want to be here”.