Recently, one of our corpsmembers, Adali Gutierrez was the focus of an article published by The Los Angeles Times and written by Award winning American journalist Corina Knoll.

Adali came to our program as a referral from DPSS/LACOE (Department of Public Social Services / Los Angeles County Office of Education). At the time, his younger brother Guillermo, who was very shy and didn’t speak much, was enrolled in our Charter School and we had also met his little sister Roxana. But We had no idea of the real severity of their situation until we met Adali.

Adali was hired in 2010 as a corpsmember in our job training program and was assigned to the SGVCC Recycling Program. Soon his dedication and strong work ethic earned him a promotion as a crew supervisor working with volunteers with the Police Department in El Monte. Currently he is working closely with the Police Department on the weekends to take volunteers out to perform city clean up.

Adali has heavy scarring on the lower part of his face. At first he was withdrawn and had a hard time making eye contact, and when he spoke, he would constantly cover the lower part of his face due to his appearance. But Adali was immediately embraced by other corpsmembers and the SGVCC staff. And as Adali began to feel more comfortable he decided to share his story.

You can read his story here

If you would like to help Adali Gutierrez and his family, you may send your donations to:

SGVCC
Gutierrez Family Fund
3629 Cypress Ave.
El Monte, CA. 91731
Fed Tax ID: 27-0030016

Phtographs taken by Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times