Chapala resident Octavio Romero Alvalos, 35, the popular waiter at Mom’s Deli and Café, drew on an agonizing personal experience to create a loving and giving Christmas tradition.
At age 10, Romero was severely injured in a bicycle accident. Abdominal surgery kept him in Guadalajara’s Hospital Civil for six weeks, encompassing the entire Christmas season.
Parents of the sick and recovering children at the hospital were only allowed to be with their offspring for one or two hours each day. For hours Romero was alone with his pain and the other sick, frightened and lonely boys in the ward.
None of the children were anxious for Christmas to arrive; they knew that there would be no money for gifts. Their parents had missed weeks of work, waiting outside the hospital in the cold. They were determined to be on hand in case of a sudden change in the child’s condition and to be ready to dash inside.
“On Christmas Day a stranger walked into our room,” says Romero, taking up the story. “He walked up to my bed and handed me a toy and some candy. I don’t think I ever felt that happy before. I was so excited. It was just a small toy, but it was so important to me and the best thing that had happened in so long. I couldn’t wait for my mother to come to visit so I could show her what I had.
“While I waited for visiting time, I started thinking about when I grew up to be a man. I thought I was dreaming, that I would never be able to do it, but I wanted to be sure that every child in the hospital at Christmas had a toy to make they feel happy like I did.”
Romero started making that dream come true for him and for the children in Guadalajara hospitals ten years ago. For the first six years, in spite of having to support his own wife and sons, he saved some of his wages and tips from the restaurant.
“I found out how good it feels to give something to someone else. It makes the whole world so bright.”
After the first year or two, the entire extended family jumped into the project, saving money, buying toys and most importantly by giving up their own Christmas together at home to spend time in the hospitals delivering toys to the children.
“These past three years, we’ve had help and we’ve been able to reach more and more kids. My church, El Templo de San Francisco in Chapala, has become involved. Last year was the best year of all. We were able to give toys and blankets to 700 hospitalized children.
“This year will be different. I’m putting my mother, Carmen Alvalos Elesondo as my main mission. As I’ve gotten older, and with my own two sons, I’ve thought more and more about those parents and what it must have been like for them, waiting all night in the cold outside the hospital hoping that their children were getting better. Some of those families wait for months for their children. With no work and no help, it is desperate for them. There are terrible stories outside among the people, big stories, sad stories, and some miracles, too.
“My mother told me that sometimes people came with big pots of soup, and that at Christmas someone gave them tamales and atole. And that is what we are doing this year. We’re taking blankets and tamales and bolos (gift bags of candy) to the mothers and fathers who are waiting.”
Romero is quick to credit his family and, especially, his customers for helping him with his efforts.
“Two years ago a man asked me to walk outside with him and there he handed me 6,000 pesos that he had collected from a group of friends to help my kids.
“Even though Christmas is nearly over this year, it is never too late to help these kids and their parents. My family and I will go to back to the hospitals on el Dia del Niño (Children’s Day) on April 30 to give more toys to the children on their special day.”
(Readers who want to assist Octavio Romero Avalos in his efforts to help hospitalized children can see him at Mom’s Deli and Café on the Carretera in Riberas del Pilar at the intersection with San Jorge.)