When devastation struck California in January from the wildfires, Jocelyn Reyes knew she wanted to do something to help out the first responders in Santa Clarita.
Reyes decided that she would help raise funds to help her local firefighters at Station 111, and give them donated gifts such as wine, sports memorabilia and gift cards.
Her motto is “making a difference, one heart at a time.”
“I did the first part (the dancing fundraiser) on March 22. I had over 20 instructors … Councilmember Patsy Ayala danced with us for like an hour and a half. And then she donated some gift cards for raffles,” Reyes said.
Reyes and her fellow Zumba instructors danced for two hours straight to raise the funds at Dance Studio 84, which donated the space for the fundraiser.
When the day came, Reyes was able to obtain donations of food, champagne and professional sports teams’ merchandise among other donated gifts from local donors and businesses.
Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, presented the firefighters with an award and donated some gift cards, too.
Station 111 Capt. Ara Mouradian said he was caught off guard because the recognition was completely unexpected.
“I’ve come to know that the community really comes together when it comes to their first responders … just knowing how the community loves their first responders out here and how they support them and all that is very nice,” Mouradian said.
During the ceremony, Station 111 was called to a medical emergency and had to head out immediately on assignment.
“Well, as you know, we’re on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so we respond to all kinds of emergencies, so it just so happened during our event, we received a call in our district, so that was the reason why,” Mouradian said.
