DENVER — While on her way to and from work every day, Daniella Maldonado, passes a group of migrants looking for work. A few weeks ago, she rolled down her window and met a family from Venezuela.
“They came here to have a better life than they were living in Venezuela,” said Maldonado. "They're asking for jobs. They're not asking for handouts. If people aren’t stepping up to help them, I’m not sure where they’re going to end up.”
Maldonado is a fitness trainer and owner of Boom Lab Fitness in Denver. Her business didn’t have any job openings, but she still made one available.
"I offered them a job,” said Maldonado. “They showed up the very next morning."
Renny and Humeisy were ready to work. The couple cleaned the gym while their boys, 3 and 5 years old, stood by watching.
"She did an amazing job and through that is when we started talking about their story,” said Maldonado.
Maldonado quickly learned what the family of four went through on their three-month walk to seek refuge in America.
“I can’t imagine going through everything they’ve gone through with your babies right there alongside you,” said Maldonado. “Half of us complain about taking our kids to the grocery store with us and how difficult that is, and they crossed nine counties with their children.”
“The last day in the jungle, we were there five days, we ran out of food,” said Humeisy.
When the family wanted to give up, Humeisy said it was their 5-year-old who kept them going, encouraging his parents to find the strength to continue walking.
“I could no longer keep going and he gave me the strength,” said Humeisy. “He would say, 'Come on mom, you can do it.'"
Humeisy said they were 11 days away from getting kicked out of the hotel-shelter when the gym community at Boom Lab Fitness stepped in to help.
“They knew that if they wanted better for themselves and their children, primarily, they were going to have to leave everything they’ve ever known and make a huge journey to get here,” said Maldonado. “It touched me, and then it touched a bunch of other clients too.”
So much so, Maldonado said, everyone started pitching in. First, they found an apartment where the family could stay rent-free until they were financially stable. Then, they found furniture to make it home and clothes for the kids to make them comfortable.
“I didn't know I was going to find a person as good as her along the way,” Humeisy said with tears in her eyes. “We thought that the days in the hotel were going to expire, thinking about where we were going to go with our babies.”
“These people are basically being told, ‘If you haven’t figured out what to do yet, too bad, I’m sorry but we’ve given you all we can, now you just need to go,’” said Maldonado.
The gym community is now taking steps to help the family set up a banking account and obtain U.S. citizenship.
"I would love to see them live the dream that they came here to live,” said Maldonado. “I would love to see their kids get into school and one day go to college here in America. I would love to see them learn English, get good jobs, and just be able to live comfortably. That's just what I'd love to see. That's what keeps playing over and over in my mind."
Maldonado said they’ve also set up a GoFundMe to help the family with basic needs.
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