Fundraiser For Angelo Mendoza Is Sat., July 18th
| Jul ’09 |
| 18 |
| 10:00 am |
by Adam Hanes
“Why is there so much evil in the world?”
That was asked of me recently when I was told about Angelo Mendoza and I didn’t have an answer. So much of the news we receive is focused on affliction towards innocents and we should be in the know. However, the coverage on the people trying to make things right I find to be quite lacking.
In April of this year a neighbor woman found Angelo Mendoza, Jr. on the floor behind a chest of draws in his father’s apartment in Bakersfield, CA. The 4 year old was naked in a pool of blood, both eyes swollen shut. “My Daddy ate my eyes out!” the mutilated boy told police. Angelo Mendoza, Sr. was found by another neighbor, Ramon Rodriguez, and was later captured by police. The police report states that the wheelchair-bound father had appeared to be on PCP. Angelo, Sr. is charged with torture, aggravated mayhem, and cruelty to a child. Little Angelo’s injuries consists of the left eye and muscle missing, the right badly damaged and a profuse amount of bite marks on his face and hands. Doctors say Little Angelo’s left eye is ‘completely gone’ and his right eye may be damaged beyond repair as well rendering the boy permanently blind. Hope for brighter future is not exactly dim however. Angelo’s cries for help have been heard over a thousand miles away.
Bonnie Bingham of Kent told me about Angelo’s story. Instead of just crying after reading the tragic news and then going on with her day, the 29-year old mother of two contacted the Mendoza family and local news in Bakersfield searching for a way to help. Her tireless inquiring paid off when she found out that Angelo’s Uncle was in the process of starting a website for his nephew’s recovery. The website was created to raise funds. Bonnie took it upon herself to do more, and on July 18 she will be holding a car wash and bake sale to further help with donations. The event is taking place at Eastridge Baptist Church in Kent. Bonnie is looking for all sorts of volunteers for child care, bake goods (in advance), sell baked goods or wash cars. She also needs help with the design of a large poster to hang on the church to inform people what they are doing next month on the 18th.
All the information for this function and more links about Angelo please visit www.angelosrecovery.com. If you can help in anyway please look at the website and find something you can contribute.
Here are the details:
WHAT: Fundraiser Car Wash and Bake Sale for Angelo Mendoza
WHEN: Saturday July 18th, from 10am to 2pm
WHERE: Eastridge Baptist Church, located at 12520 SE 240th Street in Kent, WA. 98031 (see map below)
“If you cannot attend this event, feel free to contribute to this little boy’s recovery and restoration at this website. Sometimes we are limited to what we can do for others. We cannot show him a parent’s love or teach him to trust again. But we can help him in this way. Please help Baby Angel.”
NEWS LINKS:
Loading ...
This story is the very defintion of "yellow journalism" – The lurid recounting of a gruesome tragedy that ocurred months ago a thousand miles away as a means to further the fundraising agenda (and I daresay public profile) of a private religious establishment – what's lacking in integrity is more than made up for in gross sensationalism.
I'm new to Des Moines. I was so excited when my husband brought home the flyer for this blog from the Des Moines farmer's market. I work in West Seattle and the West Seattle Blog is such a shining example of newsworthy community reporting – I thought surely a Des Moines blog would a great way to get connected to my new community. When I logged on and found that your top story was this Angelo Medoza thing, I was not only dissappointed, I was appalled.
Really, is that what Des Moines is all about? fundraisers for out-of-state crime victims noone's even met?
I was hoping you'd have more to offer your readers and your community.
Galen Guffy
Galen – Thanks for your Comment. After reading it, I re-read the headline and realized just how sensationalistic it was. So I changed it.
However, I disagree about your allegation that we don't offer newsworthy community reporting. Have you read the other postings here? Or did that headline just turn you off so much that you closed your browser window? If that's the case, then I doubt you watch much TV news as they're far far worse than anything we do.
And may I just also say that we are rare in that we actively support our community here at The Waterland Blog – we even held our own fundraiser for the local food bank in April,where we raised nearly $600 (see: http://www.waterlandblog.com/2009/04/01/food-bank...
We think this helps everyone, including disfigured little boys in California who are trying to be helped by some good local Samaritans. We also see nothing wrong with that deed, at all? Would you object if someone did a local fundraiser for earthquake victims in another state or country?
thanks,
scott schaefer
publisher/editor
Galen Guffy, you are a very sick person. That’s all I have to say.
Wow, you're right! How dare a community blog promote a community fundraiser for a crime victim. Don't they know that you can't raise money from out of state? Oh wait…
I wonder if there would be suck outrage if the victim didn't have a Hispanic surname.
What does matter is that a child was viciously attacked. To ask about whether the victim’s surname being hispanic is to miss the point of a child whose life is forever damaged.Awkward comments to say the least here.