Family displaced by Hurricane Maria given car by son's new teacher

Roxanne Murillo helped her student's family by giving them her car.

ByABC News
February 6, 2018, 1:22 AM

— -- They're a family that lost nearly everything when Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico last year.

Now, Milagros Galindez and Angel Baez are rebuilding in Kansas and getting a big boost thanks to their son's new elementary school teacher.

Galindez' sister, Kelsye Ortiz, helped bring the couple and their two young children to Wichita from Puerto Rico.

Milagros Galindez, center, and her husband were gifted a car from their child's new teacher after moving to Kansas from Puerto Rico.
Milagros Galindez, center, and her husband were gifted a car from their child's new teacher after moving to Kansas from Puerto Rico.

"I'm glad they made the choice to come out here," Ortiz said. "I think that it was, now that I know that it was meant to be."

Galindez and Baez enrolled their son, Jael, in Cloud Elementary School.

Jael's teacher, Roxanne Murillo, learned of their struggles and that the couple had just given birth to their youngest child three days after the hurricane hit.

"They sat in water. She had the baby three days after the hurricane," Ortiz told ABC station KAKE.

Murillo and her husband wanted to help, and, while shopping for a new car, decided that instead of trading in their old car they would just give it to Galindez and Baez.

They couples hadn't even met yet.

Milagros Galindez, left, was given a car by her son's new teacher.
Milagros Galindez, left, was given a car by her son's new teacher.

"So we kind of just decided that this car was meant to be a gift to this family who was in desperate need," Murillo said.

"It was amazing," Nicolas, her husband, said. "I mean, it's definitely a moment that takes your breath away and gives you the goosebumps."

A GoFundMe page was started to help the family get work done on the car.

Murillo tells ABC News that others at Cloud Elementary School and the entire Wichita Public School district is coming together to help the family with donations of furniture, household items and baby products.

Related Topics