In the last five years, Samantha Rodriguez and her five siblings lost both their parents to cancer.
The 20-year-old Orlando woman was not only left to raise her younger siblings alone, but take on the cost of feeding them, clothing them and getting them to school. But Rodriguez had one major roadblock — she didn’t have a car, CNN reported.
Earlier this week, Orlando’s Orange County Sheriff’s Department invited Rodriguez into their office without any explanation. When she arrived, the department revealed an image of a new Nissan Versa on stage.
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“It’s yours,” an officer said.
“When they told me the car is for us, I remember thinking, ‘They just took away all these worries and stresses,'” she told the site. “It was such a big weight off my shoulder and will help so much.”
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After her parents passed away, Rodriguez knew she had to keep the family together. Between the ages of five and 17, some of her siblings had the chance of ending up in foster care.
“I knew what I had to do,” she told CNN. “I learned so much from my mom. I was like her sidekick. I learned what it meant to raise a family.”
She moved to the county to be close to her grandmother.
“It can be tough knowing when to be like a parent and when to be their sister,” she continued. “Sometimes, it can feel like I’m alone.”
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The community first found out about this young woman raising her own siblings in December 2018. The sheriff’s department first shared the family’s heartbreaking story on social media after they came in for a tour during Christmas time. They also gifted them with new toys.
“We didn’t expect it at all — it blew us away that people stepped forward,” Sams said.
On Monday, the department shared this family’s story and announced that anonymous donors pitched in to buy Rodriguez a new car.
“Wow, I’m in shock,” she said in the video.
“You don’t know how much this means to us, it’s such a big help. You know, doing everything on my own is very hard, but I’m so glad to have people like you guys in my life.”
arti.patel@globalnews.ca