- Olga Guerra, a well-known Family Market IGA employee's son died suddenly over the weekend.
- Community members are coming together to support her by fund raising for funeral expenses because she can not afford it.
- Olga's close family friend, Julie Johnson, started a GoFundMe page which raised over $3,000 in the span of one day.
- Shopers at Family Market IGA love Olga and want to do whatever they can to help her during this difficult time.
Olga Guerra is a well-known Family Market IGA employee who has been working there as a store clerk and department manager for two decades. Olga's son, Juan Francicso "Pancho" Collins, died suddenly in his sleep this past weekend. Community members in Port Aransas are coming together to support Olga by fund raising for Juan's funeral expenses.
“The community has been helping me out a lot. And I appreciate it, every minute of it. Everybody, all my employees, everybody here in Port A, my best friend, my best friends daughter, and her friends, everybody has been real, real, real, real nice," Guerra said.
Port Aransas neighbors refer to Olga Guerra as a local celebrity. They say she brightens her day every time they go grocery shopping at Family Market IGA, which is why they want to give back to her in her time of need. The leader of the effort is Olga's best friends daughter and close family friend, Julie Johnson.
“When you see somebody that you love is hurting because they lost someone they love, you gotta do what you’ve gotta do," Johnson said.
Johnson started aGoFundMe fund raising page over the weekend. In the span of 24 hours, the page raised over $3000 in donations, along with many supportive and thoughtful comments to Olga and her family on social media.
Olga's son Juan died at age 44 and he was the youngest of three sons. Juan lived with Olga in her trailer in Port Aransas. Olga said Juan had several underlying health issues, but his death was still sudden. She wants to lay him to rest properly.
“I would like to cremate him and then have a little service. The only thing that he told me was, Mom I’m gonna go, you're gonna be okay," Guerra said.
However, she said she can not afford funeral expenses at this time.
“If it’s a dollar that you got, that’s fine. If it's two dollars, I mean, whatever your heart tells you," Guerra said.
Along with the fund raising page, several donation jars can be found inside of Family Market IGA and also in other businesses all over Port Aransas. The Port Aransas community members want to give back to Olga after she's given back to them over the past 20 years.
“It’s very true, she is a local celebrity in this town. She’s kind, and genuine, and selfless," Johnson said.
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