CENTER— Following the Center Christmas Parade Saturday, Poor Boy Car Club members surprised a 2010 Center graduate seriously injured in a car accident in July with a $500 check to help cover medical expenses, Car Club President Richard Garcia reported Tuesday.
Sandra Marquez was involved in a one car-crash near South Fork July 20 and was airlifted to Penrose-St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs with serious injuries. She spent a good deal of her hospital stay in intensive care.
Marquez suffered serious back and neck injuries requiring surgery, an injury to her left hand requiring surgery and damage to the sight in one eye. She still hopes to attend college once she fully recovers, a friend says.
Paul Foster of First Southwest Bank in Center also donated a1989 Honda Accord to the Poor Boy Car Club for Sandra. Car club members will make sure the vehicle is road worthy and will then donate the car to Sandra at a later date. Marquez is still wearing a neck brace and cannot drive yet, Garcia said.
Beth Jayne, the wife of South Fork’s New Hope Church pastor Paul Jayne who is a member of the car club, helped put together the funds for the donation, Garcia said. The funds collected from the car shows each year, held in the parking lot of Center Schools, are donated to worthy causes in the Valley and elsewhere.
Previous individuals and organi-zations receiving Poor Boy funds include St. Francis Jerome Church, the Reyes Casias leukemia fund, Shirley Sierra, the Jazmin Vasquez fund and St. Jude’s Hospital in Denver. The club also plans to make another donation soon to a child suffering from cancer in the Sargent area.