Wednesday, December 24, 2008

YDI finds way to help family of soldier who is heading to Iraq

Julia M. Dendinger News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdendinger@news-bulletin.com

Los Chavez Last Wednesday, Theresa Nipp was on the popular Web site Craig's List looking for spare parts for her family's quads. "I'd like to say it's the kids that break them, but it's my husband," Nipp said, laughing. "When I'm on the site, I always look at the wanted section."

And she found a posting from someone in Los Chavez asking for an electric cook stove and a wood burning stove. Nipp e-mailed the woman immediately, telling her an electric stove was available through Youth Development, Inc. where Nipp works.

"The next day her daughter and son-in-law came to pick it up. We had the furniture dolly, we were ready," she said. But the stove wasn't there. "I almost cried. I thought someone had stolen it. I just hoped it had gone to someone who really needed it."

Turns out it did go to someone in need and it wasn't stolen. "We had that stove for about two years, and I've been trying to give it away to different agencies. It just needed to have the cord replaced," said Kathy Chavez, YDI director. "And the day before she saw that wanted post, I finally found someone who needed it."

Asking the woman not to give up on her, Nipp sent out an e-mail asking for another stove. "Within an hour, literally an hour, we had a cord of wood, $200 cash, a wood-burning stove and an electric stove," she said. "In the middle of this economic crunch, people still gave."

Chavez said she isn't all that surprised, calling it a "YDI miracle." In the past, when the need has been there, the community has always come through, she said.

"One year we went caroling in Carson Park, and we had a few donated stockings to give out; not many. They grew in number as we went around," Chavez said. "Another year, we had arranged to get donations from the Walmart Distribution Center for 50 families and their kids. There was some miscommunication and they thought it was only 50 people. We didn't know what we were going to do.

"The next day, the schools donated $500. It's just all a matter of faith sometimes."

Now Lucy Baca and her family are benefiting from the generosity of the community and the faith of YDI. "I only asked for an electric stove," she says. "I can't believe this."

Over the last two years, Baca's family has been through a series of challenges. While she was in Texas taking care of her father, Baca's daughter Victoria gave birth to a son here in New Mexico.

"She is in the Navy and was pulled from active duty when they found out she was pregnant. After the baby is born, they give you six months to go back on active duty," Baca said.

Taking advantage of those six months, Victoria and Baca's new grandson Andres came to visit her in Texas.

"While they were there, his eye swelled really bad. We thought it was a mosquito, because they're bigger there," Baca joked. "But when she went back home, it happened over and over and kept getting worse."

Finally the young mother demanded a CAT scan. Doctors discovered that Andres had abscesses on his brain. "They were basically pockets of pus on the top of his brain, thankfully, not down in the brain," Baca said. "She called me and said, 'Mom, I need you.'"

Baca and her mother drove up from Texas to be with Victoria during the extensive testing of her son. "When he was born, he had this little hole in his nose," Baca said, pointing to the bridge of her own nose. "It led to his sinuses and that's how the abscesses formed. It was something that happens in one in a million babies."

Calling the University of New Mexico Hospital the "total bomb," Baca said they were wonderful during Andres' stay. "They let my daughter spend seven weeks in the hospital with him," she said. "They were awesome."

After weeks of keeping the baby in isolation, doctors were ready to remove the abscesses from his brain. "Instead of taking off part of his skull, they decided he would be their little guinea pig," Baca said. "They went in through the hole in his nose. He was home the next day."

With the baby out of danger, Baca's mother returned to Texas to continue caring for her father. In the meantime, Baca, her adult twin daughters, her son Paul and her two oldest grandchildren had moved into a house owned by her mother.

"It had enough space for all of us, so that was good," she said. "But there was a problem with the furnace; it doesn't heat every room so we have electric heaters everywhere. It runs on propane, and the gas is so expensive right now, it's not worth running it for the rooms it does heat. I asked for the wood stove to try and save on electricity.

"We also didn't have a stove to cook on - the house didn't come with one. We are just trying to get things right to live there."

Baca said she is thankful for the unexpected generosity of the community. "You just don't realize how many people there are for you," she said. "When somebody 'just' donates some money, it's more than that. You never know what could be the turning point for someone."

The donations of the stoves, wood and money are coming at just the right time for Baca and her daughter. "She has to leave for training before she ships out for Iraq sometime in January, so Andres will be staying with us" she said. "She will be gone for this Christmas and maybe next year too. I tell God, 'I know she is yours and just on loan to me.' But I know he will send her back to me."

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