10 SERVICE - We are all responsible

We worked in the corn fields and the pea fields.

And by me being the oldest one out there, I took over being like a mother to the younger kids.

I cooked their food, fixed their hair, made sure they had their clothes ready for school.

I'll always remember when I turned 15, and I'd never been out on a date or anything, and these young boys had come out to the farm.

And one of them asked me, and I thought he was cute.

I was looking at him, and he said, how many kids do you have? These are not my kids, these are my sisters and brothers.

Being raised the way I was raised and having to take over with the younger kids is why I find myself being motherly with a lot of the families that come in.

It's a role that I know.

When you grow up where you're told you'll never amount to anything, you believe it after a while.

Don't let anybody tell you it's true.

You grow up with that, you marry into that, and become a part of who you are.

For young people that don't believe in themselves, I would say take a good look in the mirror at yourself.

See the beauty in yourself.

It's there.

Look for it.

And remember, if you smile, the world smiles with you.

If you cry, you cry alone.

I got here in June to California.

In September, I got hired at the American Red Cross.

And what a joy.

They wanted a person that knew the community.

I had no idea about the community.

I didn't even know how to get across the freeway from East Palo Alto.

But I told them, if you hire me, I will learn this community.

They hired me and I just loved the growth, the changes you can make in the lives of the families that you see, and the changes the families can make in my life.