Recycle-A-Ride: Young woman gets new car, will help with work transportation

After a record number of nominations there is a winner of this month’s Recycle-A-Ride Giveaway.

Several sponsors, including Joe Malone and employees with Malone’s Collision Repair, met with KION to surprise 22-year-old Jackie Loaiza with a Kia Rondo.

Loaiza’s coworkers also gathered outside Trumpet Behavioral Health in Salinas to congratulate Loaiza.

Loaiza was nominated by her co-worker Stephanie Ahumada.

In her nomination letter Ahumada wrote, “Jackie is an extremely hardworking person. She is in her early twenties and is the youngest of her siblings. Due to life struggles that her family has been faced with, she is the sole provider of the house hold. Witnessing how hard Jackie works to provide for her family is absolutely inspiring and motivating. She always has a great attitude and lightens up any room she walks into with her smile so much that it is shocking to hear the amount of responsibility she caries on her shoulders.”

Loaiza holds two jobs and is studying to become a teacher. She also takes care of her mother who is ill and legally blind.

She depends on a car to get to and from work and says she is very grateful she was chosen for Recycle-A-Ride.

“I mean in general for my work we do home visits. We work with children with disabilities so being able to have a reliable car that won’t have a flat tire, that won’t just stop in the middle of nowhere it will be very very helpful,” said Loaiza.

Joe Malone told KION that it means everything to him to be able to hand over the keys to Loaiza.

“What really stuck out about her story is that she’s very rare. She’s only 20 something years old, she works two jobs , she goes to school, she takes care of her parents. She sacrifices everything for others,” said Malone.

Loaiza told KION besides going to work, she plans on taking a well deserved road trip.