Hundreds Found Her When San Antonio Lost Power. It Took Us Three Stops<\/p>\n
SAN ANTONIO \u2014 When a powerful storm tore through portions of Bexar County at the end of August, straight line winds ripped apart roofs, knocked down trees and left more than 100,000 people across San Antonio without power.<\/p>\n
On the West Side, the damage did not disappear when the storm did.<\/p>\n
San Juanita Torres and her family were left without electricity for nearly three days as temperatures soared. Food spoiled. Her 10-year-old daughter pleaded to go somewhere cooler. Weeks later, cracks in the family\u2019s roof remain.<\/p>\n
But Torres also remembers the moment help began arriving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt opened up my heart,\u201d Torres said. \u201cIt gave us the love that we needed and stuff. And she really did. Like I said, she really did a lot. I wasn\u2019t. We weren\u2019t expecting that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cshe\u201d Torres was talking about is Cecilia Chavez.<\/p>\n
Chavez runs the popular social media page 210 La Chismosa. When she learned what was happening in a neighborhood she once called home, she used the reach of that platform to ask San Antonio for help.<\/p>\n
People answered.<\/p>\n
Volunteers and organizations brought food, water, ice and cleanup supplies. Lines formed as families searched for relief from the heat and the prolonged power outage. Chavez says 876 people came through during one day alone.<\/p>\n
She helped turn a social media page known for sharing chisme into a community lifeline.<\/p>\n
When FOX SA asked viewers to nominate someone for its next Cash for Kindness award, Chavez\u2019s name kept appearing.<\/p>\n
Volunteers nominated her. Administrators who help run her page nominated her. People who received assistance nominated her.<\/p>\n
Chavez received more nominations than any Cash for Kindness recipient FOX SA has seen in years.<\/p>\n
Finding someone who deserved the $1,000 award was easy.<\/p>\n
Finding Chavez was not.<\/p>\n
The original plan was to surprise Chavez on the West Side, where Torres could thank her personally. Chavez believed she was meeting community members and a possible sponsor for her page.<\/p>\n
But she never arrived.<\/p>\n
The surprise then moved to a second location on San Antonio\u2019s South Side. By the time FOX SA\u2019s Ryan Wolf and Chavez\u2019s friends arrived, she had already left again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where we\u2019re supposed to meet Cecilia for the surprise that she doesn\u2019t know about,\u201d Wolf said as the plan began unraveling. \u201cUnfortunately, she\u2019s left location again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group tried a third time.<\/p>\n
Chavez\u2019s friend and fellow page administrator Michelle Ramirez persuaded her to stop in a Home Depot parking lot by claiming she needed Chavez\u2019s help signing documents.<\/p>\n
There were no documents.<\/p>\n
When Ramirez reached into the backseat of her vehicle, she pulled out an oversized Cash for Kindness check. Wolf, who had been hiding behind another vehicle, emerged to complete the surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, hello there,\u201d Wolf told Chavez. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to finally meet you. You are a very, very hard woman to find.\u201d<\/p>\n
FOX SA and DJC Law<\/a> presented Chavez with $1,000 for the work she led after the West Side power outage.<\/p>\n After three locations and repeated changes to the plan, Chavez\u2019s first response revealed exactly why so many people had nominated her.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you feel right now, looking at that $1,000?\u201d Wolf asked.<\/p>\n \u201cUm, how am I going to give it back?\u201d Chavez replied.<\/p>\n Chavez said she never organized the relief effort expecting recognition or a reward.<\/p>\n \u201cWe never meant to do it for anything like that,\u201d she said. \u201cWe just wanted to help our community out.\u201d<\/p>\n