Jose Ricardo Flores-Mejia

Tuesday, November 23 2004 @ 08:03 AM EST

The-Signal --  

Santa Clarita family mourning the loss of a 21-year-old who died on an Iraqi battlefield suffered another loss when a beloved grandmother traveling to be with the family was killed in a car crash.
     Blue Barrel Disposal, which employs five members of the family, has rallied around Jose Ricardo Flores-Mejia’s family, establishing a trust fund for the soldier’s 10-day-old son. Interest in the fund snowballed Friday.
    â€œWhen this young baby lost his dad, he gained 60 dads,” said Dave Hall, route manager for the company. “There wasn’t a doubt in anybody’s mind to do this.”
    Twenty-one-year-old Flores-Mejia was killed in Iraq on Tuesday when an explosive device hit his convoy, according to an Army report.
    His grandmother, Eva Carrillo, died from injuries suffered in a collision Thursday in Mexico. She and her husband were en route to California to attend Flores-Mejia’s funeral. Her husband remains hospitalized in stable condition.
    Flores-Mejia was the nephew of four Blue Barrel drivers and the cousin of one of the firm’s mechanics. Eva was the mother of two drivers, Saul Mejia and Hector Carrillo.
    Hall consoled Mejia and Carrillo after they learned of their mother’s death.
    Antonio Carrillo is an uncle of the soldier by marriage; Luis Flores’ brother is the soldier’s father.
    Blue Barrel officials drew a tight circle around their grieving employees.

“You spend more of your waking time with the people you work with, you become friends, comrades, you become family,” said Chris Fall, the company’s public sector services manager. “Our local district has taken a loss of part of our family and we’re all feeling it.”
    Fall said the four employees have a combined 60 years of service to the company.
    By Thursday evening, every Blue Barrel driver had volunteered to donate $50 from Friday’s paycheck toward the family’s travel and burial expenses, Hall said.
    Friday evening, Hall learned that drivers from the other trash haulers in the Santa Clarita Valley — Burrtec Waste Industries and Consolidated Disposal Service — were lining up to contribute to the trust fund. A collection is being taken up at the Chiquita Canyon Landfill, owned by Consolidated.
    â€œWhen we learned of the original loss of Ricardo, we felt sorrow for the family,” Hall said. “When we learned about the (10-day-old) baby boy, everyone was saying ‘What can we do?’”
    â€œThursday morning, it was unanimously decided we were going to unofficially adopt the child, make him our own,” he said. “To make sure he has what he needs to grow up in his life. And to ensure the honor of Ricardo’s sacrifice does not go unnoticed.”
    Half an hour later, they learned of Eva Carrillo’s death.
    The deceased soldier had caught a glimpse of his child via a photo relayed over the Internet. Mejia-Flores’ wife, who is also in the service, is stationed in Honolulu.
    Blue Barrel is a residential waste hauler for the majority of residents in the city. Its parent company, Waste Management, will match its employee’s contributions to the trust fund, Hall said.
    Donations may be made to the trust fund at any Bank of America location in cash or check payable to Dave Hall in the trust for Gabriel Flores, account number 2427806413. Donations are also being collected at Blue Barrel’s offices at 25772 Springbrook Road in Saugus. For further information, call Dave Hall at 753-5266.

6 comments

http://iraq.pigstye.net/article.php/20041123080336457