“I’d ask the Latino community to help their neighbors, their relatives, anyone they can. It’s time to share our food, to offer shelter.”, said Aide Castro.
Aide Castro doesn’t stay silent. She suffers seeing what’s happening—it hurts her. The ICE raids have fired her up; she believes now is the time to show the solidarity that characterizes Latinos.
“There’s a lot of need. Some people aren’t even leaving their homes, they have no money, they can’t go out to get food. We need to help each other,” says Aide, a long-standing political figure who is always tuned in to her community’s needs.
Recently, she was driving back from Oceanside when she saw checkpoints and military vehicles. Her heart sank—she knew where they were headed and what they were planning to do. She turned to her friend Audrey López, with whom she’s run other campaigns, and shared her feelings.
“We have to do something, help these families,” she told her. “And Audrey immediately said yes.”
Audrey, a Lynwood Unified School District teacher, is the president of Mastering Hope, a nonprofit organization in Lynwood that supports people in need. She has worked with at-risk youth for over 20 years, advocating for student and family rights.
The two had already worked together during the pandemic, and now they’re teaming up again—this time with Terry ‘El Terrible’ Cortez, the number-one radio host in Los Angeles on 97.9-La Raza.
“Terry already suggested a name—‘Operation Hope.’ We’ll collect food, prepare boxes, and deliver them to families in need. They just need to contact us via Instagram, and we’ll take down their information. Everything is kept completely private,” Castro says.
Audrey, a Lynwood Unified School District teacher, is the president of Mastering Hope, a nonprofit organization in Lynwood that supports people in need.
When asked when the campaign begins, she smiles.
“We’ve already started. That’s how we are—when we decide to do something, we do it. Yesterday, we posted on Instagram, and some people reached out. We sent them food, and we already have about 20 volunteers,” she says.
The scope of the campaign is still uncertain. But just like them, other organizations are doing similar work.
“I’d ask the Latino community to help their neighbors, their relatives, anyone they can. It’s time to share our food, to offer shelter. We have to get through this—it’s not easy, but we can do it,” she adds.
Aide is very proud of the response from public officials and the community.
“There have been problems, but we’ve documented that there are infiltrators trying to incite violence at demonstrations. We’ve filmed them—when they see us, they back off, they run. I can speak for Lynwood—the work being done here has been incredible,” she adds.
She’s not sure what the next steps will be. For now, she says, ICE needs to be stopped from entering communities. How? That’s still unclear. But they’ll find a way.
“It makes me so sad. It’s all repeating again. They’re doing the same thing that happened during Operation Wetback years ago. We thought it wouldn’t happen again, and here we are, suffering the same thing. It seems we don’t learn. And then we see Latinos supporting Trump—they don’t understand he’ll come after them too,” she adds. “I feel like taking off my belt and going after all of them.”
Her advice: people who can’t control themselves shouldn’t attend protests. Stay home and help in other ways. She says people can record, be with their families, write down license plates, and take note of detained individuals’ names.
“If I had a magic wand, I’d tell everyone: ‘Stop working.’ But they can’t. They need to work. Trump picked the wrong opponent. California is the fourth-largest economy in the world—largely thanks to Latinos. Our people aren’t about fear—we’re about action. Just watch how we work. We never give up,” she concludes.
TO CONTACT OPERATION HOPE:
Instagram:
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Aide Castro – https://www.instagram.com/castroaide/
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Audrey Lopez – https://www.instagram.com/masteringhope/
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Terry ‘El Terrible’ Cortez – https://www.instagram.com/elterribleshow/
