(WLIO) - Crime Victim Services of Allen and Putnam Counties take time to honor a woman whose life was dedicated to helping others. Sartaj Singh has her story.
The Elder Victim Ministry at Crime Victim Services commissioned a portrait series to reflect the full range of the elderly population in our area and one of the names that came to mind to be featured was Putnam County resident, the late Vicenta "Cindy" Velasquez.
"So we asked around in the community and Vicenta's name popped up as a person who would be a good fit with Elder Victim Ministry as a person of faith and then also as a person who represented the migrant community and the Mexican-American community in Putnam County," explained Elysia Bush, Elder Victim Ministry director.
Even after retirement, Vicenta spent her life finding ways to serve others, especially those in the migrant worker community, where she and her family started in.
"My mom was a hero to many, she had never set out to do that, to be one, she just did what came naturally to her and that was something that took her into many walks of life involved with many people, she just welcomed anybody that came her way that needed help," said Irma Ayers, Vicenta's daughter.
Her nine children have continued her work of giving back. Her son Baldemar Velasquez wanted to do more to help the working conditions of migrant workers, so he formed a labor union for them. But it wasn't until Vicenta got involved did the older male migrant workers started to listen to him.
"And she started talking to all her ring of women friends in the church, the prayer group that she was in, why the men weren't helping her son improve the conditions of the farm workers in the labor camps, and so the women started participating and so when the women came with my mom, the men had to come and I started getting the attention of the men at that time because the women had my ear," stated Baldemar Velasquez, Vicenta's son.
Even up to her death in 2003, she was finding ways to help out any way she could for people who needed help. The elder portrait series will be displayed in both the Allen and Putnam County offices of Crime Victim Services.
