The United Low Rider Coalition is spreading holiday cheer beyond their signature hydraulics, gifting a pop-up trailer to a South Bay mother and her three daughters who have been experiencing homelessness.
On Friday, the coalition surprised Aracele Zamarripa with a fully equipped pop-up trailer after raising $4,000 in just one month for the purchase.
"This is actually a pop-up trailer. It'll pop up, then go out, and it sleeps 5 people inside, and it has a little refrigerator in there. It has a little cooking area, where there are beds, and it's perfect because this family is homeless," said Jovita Arellano, president of the United Low Rider Coalition.
Zamarrripa and her daughters have been struggling with stable housing while she battles Stage 4 kidney disease.
"I've been sleeping in my car for the past few years, and I really haven't been able to work due to my health conditions. I don't qualify for a low-income apartment, and it's really hard," Zamarripa said.
The coalition found Zamarripa through the Chula Vista Community Collaborative, which connects organizations to adopt families in need. Beyond the trailer, they decorated it and stocked it with food supplies.
"I'm excited, blessed, overjoyed," Zamarripa said.
The surprise held special meaning for Zamarripa, whose father previously worked with lowriders doing chrome work on their cars.
"He used to do like all the chroming for the low rider cars, and when they called me, and they told me that the low riders had adopted my family, I was like crying because that just symbolized my dad," Zamarripa said.
Arellano said the moment was deeply personal for her as well.
"I wanna cry," Arellano said. "For me personally, it brings me so much joy that this family is going to get off the streets. I was homeless way back in the day, and I know how that feels, and they're gonna be safe from now on."
The United Low Rider Coalition started about four years ago to help pass the statewide bill AB43, which ended the ban on lowrider cruising. Now the group focuses on helping families and youth in their communities.
