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On July 9, 2024, my grandmother Maria Rodriguez was robbed of her life savings. That morning between the hours of 9:00-11:00 AM, she went to her local recycling center to recycle her plastic water bottles as she usually does every now and then. Upon her return, exhausted from the heat, she left her backpack on her cart that she always carries around as she went into her home for refuge. She left her backpack that she always carries with her everywhere on that cart just outside the back door of her house. Around a couple of hours later she went to bring her items into the house. She realized that her backpack was gone and with it the up to $100,000 that she had in it. Her family did not know how much money she carried around since she always remained private about it– until yesterday. Her home is near the train tracks where houseless folk tend to reside. In the past, some of these folk have come to the back of my grandma's house to take her recyclables for themselves. They have also taken bikes from her house as well. This time, someone took her life savings. While anyone could agree that it is not responsible to carry such a huge sum of money around, my grandmother, a Mexican immigrant, has experienced trauma leading her to such practice of saving her money this way. This practice has led to this unfortunate event. My grandma has lived off her Social Security Income and her savings, the latter of which is now gone. I humbly ask for your help in recuperating some of her savings for her to be able to pay her rent and bills with as little hardship as possible. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

