Jorge Para may be just 19 years old, but he’s more like a 40-year-old in a teenager’s body. As the oldest of five kids, he’s helped raise his younger siblings while also going to school and working full time to support his family financially.
He never turns down extra hours at his job, and sometimes he even sleeps on campus in his car to make sure he gets his course work done.
He didn’t think anyone was paying attention to all his hard work, but his supervisor definitely noticed who her hardest worker is and decided to do something to help him and his family.
“What he does is he helps his mom pay all the bills,” says Mirima Nuu, Jorge’s supervisor. “There’s never a time he doesn’t come in or turns down overtime hours. He deserves a break because I don’t know any other 19-year-olds who would do this.”
And a break is exactly what Jorge got when the Fox 5 Surprise Squad came to his office.
Dressed in a Santa hat, one of the Surprise Squad members, Cassandra Jones, finds Jorge in the middle of work. Jorge wasn’t expecting anything, so he looks completely confused at first.
Then Cassandra tells him that his supervisor wrote to them about all the hard work he does, and how they would like to thank him for it.
“We heard about all the hard work you do, and we would like to take you on a shopping spree for your entire family. How does that sound?” Cassandra asks Jorge, who can only say yes as he wipes tears from his eyes.
But the surprise doesn’t quite stop with the shopping spree. Cassandra then hands Jorge a box with a piece of paper on it, and inside is a $5,000 scholarship for him to stay in school.
With a big hug and a few more tears, Jorge is ready to go Christmas shopping for his family.
“There’s always someone out there who can be your angel, and I’m so glad we can do this for him,” Mirima says.
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