Diaz family fundraising nears $10,000 target
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Tillsonburg’s Romel and Amanda Diaz had only one realistic option to keep their younger cousin, Karen Diaz, in Canada.
Adoption.
“She came to Canada from El Salvador when she was 11,” said Amanda Diaz. “Her father had passed away when she was little and her mom, who has two other kids, could not afford her any more.
“We couldn’t sponsor her here because we were not a close enough relative. My husband is her cousin, and you can only sponsor if you’re an aunt, uncle, grandparent. So we applied for refugee status – and she was denied. They said they would deport her if we did not adopt her, so ever since then we’ve been trying to adopt her and raise the funds for it. It’s well over $10,000 between the immigration lawyer and the international adoption lawyers.”
As of Friday, they still owed lawyers $3,537.60.
“We’ve been to the deportation office three times. Once the Children’s Aid stepped in they bought us more time. Basically, Children’s Aid was saying we’re going to fight for her because it’s inhumane to deport her back (to Santa Rosa, El Salvador).”
On Saturday they held a yard sale, car wash and bake sale at North Broadway Baptist Church, their sixth fundraiser in the past year to help keep Karen in Canada.
“It’s been hard,” Amanda admitted. “Financially, emotionally…”
“Really hard for all of us,” agreed 31-year-old Romel. “It’s been a lot of work. A lot of emotion, especially when we go to Toronto every time to the deportation office. So much pressure, so much stress.”
“That was stressful,” Amanda nodded.
“Financially it’s been a struggle as well,” he admitted.
“We couldn’t let Karen go back,” said Amanda. “As hard as it’s been on us, it would have been harder for her to go back.”
Fundraising has been hit-and-miss so far, including Saturday’s efforts hampered by cool, wet weather.
A similar yard sale/car wash at North Broadway Baptist Church last year raised $1,700. They also tried another yard sale, pig roast ($2,000), St. Patrick’s Day party, and teen dance.
“Dave Beres has been amazing,” said Amanda. “Dave said he would like to see us do the pig roast again. It’s something that we could consider in the fall – the families that came to the pig roast seemed to love it. We had a huge turnout. We ended up getting out more and more tables as the night went on.”
“I think a pig roast would bring a lot of people in,” Romel nodded.
All money from their fundraisers went directly into Karen’s TD Canada Trust bank account to pay lawyer fees.
“The adoption is complete now, but they won’t release the documents until the bill is paid in full,” said Amanda, grateful for the extra time to raise money. “The lawyer is not giving us a deadline but she calls me pretty much every day to find out when the next payment’s coming. I think I have three voicemails from her right now…”
“Now Karen is here with us and she’s not going anywhere. Now we just have to pay,” summed up Romel, who wanted to thank Tillsonburg and area for supporting their cause.
“I just want to thank everybody in Tillsonburg, our family, all of our friends. Selena (Martinez) and her parents, they’ve been here with us every fundraiser we’ve had. I just want to thank everybody for what they’ve done for us.”
“I also want to thank all my family,” said 15-year-old Karen. “My mom here and Aunt Sharon Pettman, and Selena, and all my family’s friends who have come out and helped us with all of this. It has been a lot of work, but we’re almost there, we’re almost done. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for everyone – my aunts, my uncles, my grandpas, I could keep going – it’s a big list.”
SOCCER TOURNAMENT
The Diaz family will be hosting a one-day soccer tournament at the Tillsonburg Minor Soccer Park on a date to be determined.
Registration will be $10 per player (14-and-older) and there will be a cash prize for the winning team.
“We don’t know how much, yet, but… there will be a cash prize,” said Romel. “Some people will bring their own team or they can show up and we’ll make teams up.”
The soccer tournament might be their final fundraiser. Or maybe the pig roast. Either way, there will be a party when they reach their fundraising target.
“For sure there’s going to be a party,” Amanda smiled.
“Myself, I said from the beginning,” said Romel, “when this is done, I was going to have a big party at the soccer club… and the party goes on to midnight just to celebrate.”