Support For Families of Victims, From One Who Knows
By KYW community affairs reporter Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (CBS) -- A mother of two, Aleida Garcia knows the feeling of despair. Her son Alex was murdered earlier this year in North Philadelphia, leaving behind two children of his own.
"My children were everything -- they are everything to me," says Garcia. But instead of giving up, she looked within.
"I asked myself, are you going to fall apart and surrender to the chaos, or are you going to take a stand?" she recalls.
Her choice was to take a stand.
She started JusticeforAlexNow.com with her ex-husband, Wilfredo Rojas, to raise awareness about their son's murder and to increase community pressure for finding his killer.
That strategy, along with good police work, led to an arrest in the case.
Garcia also took to the airwaves with two shows, one in English and one in Spanish:
"Loving Legacy, on G-town Radio, and Legado de Amor," she says.
The shows provide an outlet for families of crime victims, allowing them to connect and to support each other.
"People leave the radio show feeling better, feeling like someone heard their voice," Garcia notes with satisfaction.
And she says they've formed a group that is growing, attending court hearings together, pushing for justice, holding press conferences when necessary, and more.
Garcia says that by helping others, she's healing.
"It's my passion, it's my mission. It's all I think about," she says.
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