HOMESTEAD, FLA. (WSVN) - A NASCAR driver in South Florida for a big race is fueling a happy holiday for 100 families, including a Navy veteran and her two children.
Just a few months ago, Lorena was homeless and jobless. “The last year has been a journey. We’ve had highs, we’ve had lows,” she said. “My kids have seen me cry and seen me struggle and figure out how I’m going to put food on the table, how I’m going to pay the rent.”
The U.S. Navy vet is back on her feet, but at one point it felt like that wouldn’t be possible. “There were moments that I thought that I wasn’t going to make it,” she said.
Lorena is currently working at the VA Hospital and has moved into a brand-new home in Homestead where she is raising her two children: 7-year-old Sofia and 3-year-old Gabriel.
“I got the opportunity to get exactly what I promised my kids,” said Lorena. “They each have their own room, a yard. I have had amazing, loyal people who have helped me throughout this process.”
Three weeks after moving in, more help arrived.
Just a few blocks away, Lorena and her children were one of 100 families who were taken grocery shopping at the Publix supermarket in Oasis Plaza. “Timing by far is perfect because we do have to do groceries,” said Lorena,
The guy taking her shopping? None other than NASCAR driver Joey Logano.
Logano’s foundation returned to Homestead ahead of NASCAR weekend.
The racing champion once again partnered with Joshua’s Heart Foundation to bring a little relief to these families.
The families were selected by Start Off Smart, a nonprofit organization led by the Homestead Police Department.
The giveaway was overwhelming for some, like Arla Huck, a single mother of two. “Sixteen years living here in Homestead, and this is the first time that I’ve been blessed this way, to be honest,” she said.
Mothers like Huck and Lorena are the reason why Logano started his foundation in the first place.
“Hopefully, everyone watching can find their way of going out there and doing the right thing and helping people when they need it and not turning your head to it and saying, I wish somebody would do something about it,'” said Logano. “Be the person who does something about it.”
Those families to whom he has been able to lend a helping hand have taught Logano a valuable lesson. “We live in a society where everybody is so worried about me, me, me, but tomorrow you’re going to need someone,” he said. “Just be grateful. Don’t judge a book by its cover. You don’t know the stories behind them.”
Logano is racing this weekend as part of NASCAR’s Ford Ecoboost 400 at the Homestead Motor Speedway.
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