STOCKTON, Calif. — Juan Heredia has been honored by Stockton's elected officials and the state senate, but Sunday's recognition for the volunteer diver was different.
"Right now, we're doing car washes; it's just donations," said Felicia Ramirez who organized the car wash to raise money for Heredia. "The best way I could explain it is, I'm a mother and I couldn't imagine, first of all, not finding peace."
Giving that priceless gift to grieving families is Heredia's specialty. In the past three months, he's recovered the bodies of five drowning victims from rivers and lakes across Northern California before law enforcement.
"I can't stop thinking about them until we put (them) to rest," Heredia said. "I have a picture of every single one of them in my living room."
Behind each name is a different face and a different story — the kinds that Heredia will never forget — but each face and story comes at a cost for Heredia who never collects money from his recoveries. Ramirez noticed that.
"The other day there was a post made and it showed that his last dive that he went to retrieve somebody, (his wet suit) was all cut up from, I guess, really bad conditions," Ramirez said. "I'm like, how come we don't do a fundraiser?"
The idea turned into reality Sunday as car after car showed up to support their own community hero, raising more than $500. Stockton store Justin's Scuba Time is helping out as well by setting up a donation account to go toward Heredia's purchases.
While still processing the community's support and the five difficult scenes he's had to witness so far this year, Heredia said he's ready to do more. He is training his children to dive as well and plans to meet with a lawyer to start a nonprofit on Wednesday.
"It's amazing to see the support. I'm doing this to support somebody else, and it's hard to believe that now I have many families trying to support me," Heredia said. "I was talking to my wife when we were driving here and I said, 'I can't believe it.' It's amazing, the community here in Stockton."
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